GREAT OUTDOORS: Small yellow perch fillets add up

After looking promising in late July, yellow perch fishing became challenging, with anglers on some days needing to decide how small of fish to keep when bigger ones were not biting. While never specifically seeking small perch, I have learned that in many cases if I want to take some home, settling for smaller ones is the only option. I have cleaned thousands of perch under 8 inches and have settled on 7 inches as the smallest size that produces worthwhile fillets for me. It may take a few more of these petite fish fillets to fill a plate or bun, but it is better than having a meal of just cole slaw and fries. To do a good job cleaning small fish, I have found that it is important to allow them to achieve rigor mortis and become firm. It is much easier to get a complete, cleanly sliced fillet from a stiff fish than one that is flaccid from not being cold or dead long enough. This can be achieved by chilling them in a cooler of ice as they are caught and then transferring them into a covered bowl in the refrigerator for a couple of hours after returning home. A smaller knife is a must-have tool when filleting small perch. There is less wasted meat when the knife can be precisely steered around the finer rib bones of small fish, then closely following the edge of the vertebrae to the tail. I use Rapala's 4-inch fillet knife. Keeping the knife sharp is critical to being able to slice cleanly, instead of pulling and tearing the fillet. A dull knife leaves shredded, wasted meat attached to the skeleton. With a sharp knife, I can fillet a shiner. Due to its comparatively soft steel, it dulls quickly when subjected to cutting through lots of scales, but I touch it up frequently with ceramic sharpening sticks that I keep near my cutting board. Scaling the perch first, especially when they are bigger than 10 inches and have thicker, knife-dulling scales, will keep the edge sharp longer. For the do-it-yourselfer, there are a number of tools designed for scaling fish, such as serrated scrapers, drill bit attachments and home use tumbler scalers that either plug into an electrical outlet or are towed behind a moving boat. Leaving the skin on perch makes the fillet a little bit thicker and many agree that it enhances the flavor as much as serving chicken with the skin. A 30-perch Western Basin limit will provide 60 fillets. After rinsing the fillets well, I use pint-size freezer bags to add 10 fillets each and freeze them in water with the air burped out. I defrost as many packages as needed to cook for family gatherings, deer camp or outdoor writers meetings. Using an hour-long milk bath prior to cooking, fillets become sweeter. I dust mine in Frying Magic seasoned coating mix instead of wet batter that can overwhelm a thin fillet. On April Fools' Day 1995, I used my previous season's catch of about 1,800 (mostly small) yellow perch fillets to serve to about 300 guests at our wedding reception (with leftovers). Trust me — pint-sized perch can add up to big meals! With perch fillets selling for more than $20 per pound, if I didn't save every perch worth filleting, I would not be eating them very often because I hate paying for anything that I can harvest for "free." Well, fishing isn't free, but that's another story...