What's the smallest gill you will keep to clean?

[Spawnwalker]

Just wondering what's the smallest you will keep to fillet?

[Rumrunner]

Ive been known to fillet spawn.......Right out of the steelhead.  LOL

7-8 inchers for gills/specks/ a bit bigger for the perch.

[outdoor junkie]

8".  To fillet any thing under that just aint worth it to me.  I don't pickin around bones.

[nickabod]

they can be pretty small... i try to mark my rod at about 6" but i will make exceptions to finish a dinner (9-12 fish for me and the boss) I figure that once i'm cleaning, I'd better make it worth a meal, if you compare fillets (completely boned out) from a 5" and a 7.5" gill, its close to the same, especially with some drakes and lemmon pepper

just my thoughts

[Swift]

8", rarely keep anything smaller.

[DR.SPECKLER]

7in blugills 8in specs but only keep them if they swallowed the hook.

[MnSportsman]

If it bleeds I keep it, Just because that was the way I was taught.
"WHen ya hunt or fish, if Ya wound it, ya finish the job &  kill it, then ya eat it. Other wise stay home. " < from my ol' man, years ago, RIP.
 Now, of course, if the species ya get is "out of season" or by law must be returned, you have to follow the law. But , other than that, I follow the same rule I was taught.

 BUt, my general "rule of thumb", is actually the "rule of the hand". I only keep fish that are as large as my hand, or larger, if I'm gonna keep a meal. & generally smaller than my hand, I don't usually filet, I scale, gut & eat.

[Quack_Attack]

Like to draw the line at about 7.5" as that's when they start gettin' shoulders but if I'm hungry I'll drop to 7" or a fat 6.75, as it's still an edible fillet. I just don't like cleanin' too many of the little ones.     If I gill hook 'em I'll keep 'em a little smaller as I don't like killin' em without eatin' 'em.

If I had ta hold out for all 8" - 8"+ fish there wouldn't be to many meals with some of the local lakes I fish.

[slabgill]

It depends on where i'm at but most of the time 8 inches for gills and probably 9 for crappie and depends 8-9 for perch......

[filletandrelease]

I caught one 8.5" gill right off the bat today; threw it on the ice and didn't get another one over 6" the rest of the afternoon.  Released the others as I went.   I felt stupid, but I took that one fish home and cleaned it.  The fish wouldn't have survived had I put it back.  I've cleaned some 6-7" gills but it isn't worth it.  Besides my filleting skills could be better. 

[Rumrunner]

Like to draw the line at about 7.5" as that's when they start gettin' shoulders but if I'm hungry I'll drop to 7" or a fat 6.75, as it's still an edible fillet. I just don't like cleanin' too many of the little ones.     If I gill hook 'em I'll keep 'em a little smaller as I don't like killin' em without eatin' 'em.

If I had ta hold out for all 8" - 8"+ fish there wouldn't be to many meals with some of the local lakes I fish.

The good ole hand rule....Doesnt work well for me...I was blessed with giant sandwich clamps.  LOL

[wildpig]

8", rarely keep anything smaller.

They get that big? I must be fishing the rearing ponds....

[Swift]

  Most lakes have them, just need to get away from the crowd and find them, then figure them out. Not really that hard to do.

[ketchemall]

8", rarely keep anything smaller.

Yup right around 8-9 inches but try to only keep 9" and bigger  I throw everything smaller back

[scavengerj]

Nothing under 9". Smaller then that I think of them as bait for pike 

[ketchemall]

Nothing under 9". Smaller then that I think of them as bait for pike 

Thats where i put a few of them smaller ones right on a hook 

[walleyesteve]

The good ole hand rule....Doesnt work well for me...I was blessed with giant sandwich clamps.  LOL

Sandwich clamps! Thats funny. I refuse to feed "sky rats" the one's that won't make it. Perch-7.5" Gills-7" Specks-8". Rockys taste really good though the ice, 5.5" for those bugers!

[spartaman12]

ya cant really give a measurement... it depends on the lake- if the lake is known for having bulls in there dont keep a 7" gill but if its known to be a lot of the same size fish- just keep a ton of the smaller ones- the only real difference is one bite!

[jjmoser]

I love small perch.  Can be tough to clean but in the end popcorn perch is delicious dipped in cocktail sauce.  6" on a gill is fine by me too.  Fry them up suff em in a hot dog bun with mayo, shredded lettuce, some pickles and presto you got a blue gill poor boy. 

[Quack_Attack]

....  Fry them up suff em in a hot dog bun with mayo, shredded lettuce, some pickles and presto you got a blue gill poor boy. 

That sounds good! Will have to try that.

[icecaptain]

4"-5"  JK....lol

[bart]

8" for Gills, at least very rarely smaller than that, occasionally one about 7-1/2". Perch 10", I don't like to clean a lot of fish. More than 12 or 15 and it's more like work. Sometimes I don't keep any...

[Ice Diva]

I love small perch.  Can be tough to clean but in the end popcorn perch is delicious dipped in cocktail sauce.  6" on a gill is fine by me too.  Fry them up suff em in a hot dog bun with mayo, shredded lettuce, some pickles and presto you got a blue gill poor boy. 

That sounds  DEE-LISH-ISS !!! I am going to try it.. never heard of it. Is that your own creation?

[jjmoser]

That sounds good! Will have to try that.

That sounds  DEE-LISH-ISS !!! I am going to try it.. never heard of it. Is that your own creation?

Sandwichs where the way I got my family into eating fish.  I work as a chef so I come up with endless ideas on preparing my fresh water harvest. 

here is a pic of my classic beer battered walleye sandwich.  (mayo, onion, pickel slices, red leaf lettuce, and tomato on a seasme seed bun.
 

put those lil buggers on a bun they are delish.
dinks its whats for dinnnnahhhh!

[carver1]

I love small perch.  Can be tough to clean but in the end popcorn perch is delicious dipped in cocktail sauce.  6" on a gill is fine by me too.  Fry them up suff em in a hot dog bun with mayo, shredded lettuce, some pickles and presto you got a blue gill poor boy. 

AMEN!!!!!!! Jumbos and big bull gills are nice but they are not on every outing. I have no problem eating smaller perch. I actually prefer 10-11inch perch over 12-14 inch perch anyway. I do like catching those big perch but for cleaning a 10in perch is just about perfect. I did keep a couple 5-6inch gills yesterday, I had a 9.5 inch gill ( my biggest this year) and 8.5 and a few nice specs. I figured I would keep a few small gills just for a little more meat

[Bgreen02]

The smallest gill I will clean is 6 inches if it is a fat one. For perch 7. I've done smaller because my group has kept smaller fish with out me realizing  and it really does stink.

[djkruszewski]

i have tried to fillet the ones smaller than 7 inches and had a tough time.  didn't do bad with the bigger ones at 8 and 9 inches.  i would have say 8-9 inches would be the fish i would keep and clean.