Yellow Perch......I know the meat is not the same and I don't really have a preference. Crappie and Blue Gill are harder to fillet than perch. I've not had success getting blue gill worth keeping, and it's mostly the same for crappie, too many too small to mess with. In Western Oregon it's much easier to find larger concentrations of perch to sort though for keepers.
:twocents:

Smj

 

Good point.
At Pothole Res. last month the perch were often 11", some bigger, so I'd have to say I prefer those big perch over the typical 6-7" (or even 8.5") crappie/bluegill any time. But I prefer the elusive 9.5"+ bluegill over just about any perch, and a 12"+ crappie over just about any perch.

Brownlee Reservoir can have decent numbers of keeper 'gills, some argue.

 

For quantity, crappie. For taste quality, bluegill. The 16" white crappie pictured will taste great for dinner tonight, though.

 

SIXTEEN INCH crappie(!).....maybe there is a god....

 

Tough choice between crappie and perch. Love a gill's gumption.
I've eaten more crappie than any other fish.

 

'gills fight harder imo.

 

Since I really dont eat many, I would say Bluegill hands down from a fighting ability perspective. Crappie and Perch have pretty much zero fight, real duds, even at up to 15" in my experience. Hooking a random Bluegill while Crappie fishing makes one think he has a state record size Crappie on the line, only to find out its a 9" Bluegill...

 

At certain times of the year and in the right water temperature, crappie will step it up. The ones out here have motors on 'em.

 

I've gotten plenty of tussle from a lot of crappies, but agree, ounce for ounce, nothing beats a bluegill for pure fight, with shad right behind.

 

If shad tasted as good as halibut they'd be extinct in about 5 years.

 

I love bluegills but crappies are delicious too, here's why....

 

perch are my favorite for eating but blue gills at pelican reservoir in utah are hands down the hardest fighters.They averaged over a pound with some 2 pounders caught.I fished with a float tube & fly rod & it was a blast.

 

Taste wise I think bluegill and crappie are about on par with one another. If someone else is cleaning them I'll happily eat either, as both taste delicious when battered and fried. If I have to clean 'em - crappie. 10+ inches minimum because I hate, hate, hate cleaning fish. The fewer fish I have to clean to make supper the better.

I'd honestly rather eat ocean caught fish though - halibut or cod are my favs.

 

Hey Mark, I caught these yesterday and they are already cleaned. Come on over for dinner!

 

Oregon netted and trucked thousands of perch to Idaho in an attempt to eradicate perch in Phillips reservoir. Now , Cascade Lake has a world class perch fishery. no contaminants that I can find reported. Troubling that almost all our spiny rays have high levels of some crap in them. yes I 'll still eat a few fish out of Brownlee and there are some nice gills in there. harder to find. love big gills on poppers.

 

2lb BG's .... because .....

 

Man thats a butterball 'gill! Nice

 

We have caught 2 over the state record out of our pond so far ... both caught on 6 inch senko's fishing for bass ...

 

If you need any help sampling that pond feel free to pm me! ☺

 

Shotgun: A few comments, questions on your cool pond. What is the secret to getting big gills to live in a pond? These appear to be real gills, not Georgia giant strain that are stocked. Correct? Did you originally stock this pond or were the gills already there? I hear that the proper balance between bass and bluegills is the key, agree? Do you have a lot of big gills of just a few brutes? Some guys stock a few male gills only and these things get huge with big humps on their heads with no females around??? Saw the best bluegill lake I have ever sen ruined by a family of otters, be on the lookout. How big and deep is your pond? Thanks.

 

Secret ??? ... not sure , they were already in the pond along with bass ( picture is my pets around the dock ) ... when we bought the property 5 years ago .... The pond is the last of the 4 old Silverton quarry holes ... It is 18 acres and 45 feet at its deepest ... Water comes in from Abiqua Creek through springs and very clear in summer being able to see down 14 feet or so .... There are alot of BG's of all sizes .... along with a good population of bass up to 6 pounds .... Otters , beavers , and nuetria are not welcome and taken care of .... I am in the process of trying to turn it into a trophy bass lake ...

Quarry pic is before water ... and ariel shows it on the right ...

=========================================

 

I miss all of them. When I lived in the Tri-Cities fishing the backwater sloughs of the Snake and Columbia were as close to a sure thing as it can get in fishing. While I did not take many trophies it usually was not that hard most days to get a good mess of 10-12 in Crappies, 7-9 in Bluegills/Pumpkinseeds/Green Sunfish/Rockbass for a fish fry. Fishing a small soft hackle wet on a 12-24 inch dropper below a small popper on my 5 wt. was a gas especially when a bass decided to latch on or better yet a huge carp! Since I have been on the coast my panfish options are somewhat limited but I do go over to the valley and probe along the Willamette just have not found that much success yet.

 

.....When I lived in the Tri-Cities fishing the backwater sloughs of the Snake and Columbia were as close to a sure thing as it can get in fishing. While I did not take many trophies it usually was not that hard most days to get a good mess of 10-12 in Crappies, 7-9 in Bluegills/Pumpkinseeds/Green Sunfish/Rockbass for a fish fry......

Great!
What's the absolute most accurate location description that you're willing to give out about those spots?

 

Western OR is hard to find decent size panfish on a public water. This year the crappie were bigger than last year but less in numbers. Last year in a few hours I could get 50, this year I had a hard time getting a dozen, part of it had to do with timing though I think, first the water was too cold and then the water was too warm and algae turned the water off color. I've only once ever kept a perch I think, we did perch, bass, and crappie to see if we could taste the different, there was but it wasn't anything huge. They're all delicious fried. As far as filleting I think bluegill are the worst, then crappie then perch. Perch has the longer body which makes it easier I think. I still would rather fillet a salmon though.

 

You guys ever seen redears this size?

BTW this video is a little over 6 minutes long and the size of these fish are amazing.

My dad caught one 14 1/2" back in the 70's at Rough River Lake in Kentucky. I was in the boat at that time at that's still the biggest one I ever have seen. I caught one 11 1/2" back in the mid 90's at Patoka Lake in Indiana where our camps are. Every so often I'll catch one 9" to 11" long tight lining for crappie in deep water. I throw everyone of them back too. For their size they pull like little freight trains.:flag2:

 

Those are beauties. Get out the fly rods. If you want to see some monsters, look up Lake. Havasu where they are catching these things over 5 pounds. Did you catch the part about how they are managing the fishery on these fish? Heck they even have a limit of 15 for these guys . Can you imagine that?

 

Those are what my dreams are made of.

 

Caught a couple Gills at Brownlee this past week, cooked them up with the Crappie, we both agree the Crappie were better, caught a few small Gills at Havasu back in Dec, used them for Catfish bait , sometimes Gills are very good, but it varies a lot from place to place, & they are not as numerous nor consistant as Crappie IMO.