Anyone scaling their perch anymore?

[Johnr]

After a few outings with some old friends of mine for perch in the pond, we decided to scale the last few batches that we caught. Brings back memories of the sore knees and hands I'd get scaling em in the bathtub. The taste seems worth the effort. Almost forgot where my scaling tools were.
Just curious to want to know if anyone still scales their perch or eat them with the bone in?
Johnr

[wyle_e_coyote]

We still scale a few batches. Love the flavor that you get with the skin on. Most of the time we just fillet and skin them though. Easier, faster, and less mess.

[wally-eye]

Haven't scaled a perch since the middle 60s........as I filet them, or should I say I get SFW 1960 to filet them "all".....:lol::evilsmile:evil::SHOCKED: Robert actually likes to filet perch........LMAO.....

[huntingmaniac45]

Not me! Its the electric hair cut for them all.:lol:

[kbkrause]

My uncle made and electric drum scaler. The only time I have scaled fish is when he brings it on a perchin trip.

[WALLEYE MIKE]

I got a drum scaler. Love perch with the skin on. Have done walleye that way too. Skin does add more flavor.

[Blaketrout]

Ditto on the drum scaler. Only way to go. Gotta have the skin, that's where the flavor's at! :D

[wally-eye]

I'll have to get Robert to get one of them scalers so the next time we go after perch it'll be a little easier on him.......:lol::evil:

[Final Cast]

I fillet everything.

[talon]

Ditto on the drum scaler. Only way to go. Gotta have the skin, that's where the flavor's at! :D i bought a drum scaler from an oldtimer in saginaw last year for like 30 bucks and he''ll ship it to you. it works great you can put about 50 small perch in it with some water hook up your drill motor and walla :lol: cut the heads off the smaller ones and fillet the bigger ones.---------seen a cooking show late last year on small perch the 5 and 6 inchers just cut the heads off and gut them deep fry em in your favorite mix and eat the scales and all ( no bull ) i tried it lot easier than scalling those little buggers --- almost like eating smelt

[huntingmaniac45]

"Eat the scales and all":SHOCKED::yikes:

[talon]

"Eat the scales and all":SHOCKED::yikes: the ribs and spine come out easy after there deep fried --yep scales :D

[lead bouncer]

If you are careful you can just about get most of the scales off by moving "against the grain" realy slow with a dull butter knife in one pass.
I actually use a medium size spoon. They clump up in a heap and its not hard to aquire the technique.

After that, butterfly fillet the and you will have a very fine and tasty treat.
Leave the tail attatched, of course, for a crispy potato chip crunch!

-LB :)

[Priority1]

I have a bucket type scaler that will do about 50 perch. I prefer perch with the skin left on. Like mentioned above I fillet the larger ones and leave the bones in the smaller ones. To me the the bones add flavor also. I saw the bucket type scalers @ Frank's Great Outdoors in Linwood for $40. I can get the bones out of a perch in less than 30 seconds on my plate. :)

[Topshelf]

When I was a kid me and the old neighbor guy would go out perch fishing and bring back buckets full. All he ever used was cane poles with two drop shot type hooks and a sinker. It was the norm to get doubles all the time. Great stuff as a kid.

He had this skiner thing that your turned the handle on and peeled off the skin. Talk about sore hands after a doing 150 of those things.

All I do is filet now but I also miss the peeling of the meat off the backbone. Goooood stuff

[sfw1960]

I'll have to get Robert to get one of them scalers so the next time we go after perch it'll be a little easier on him.......:lol::evil:
Funny you say that Dan'L... br0ther Bill offered to GIVE me his Bear Paw Fish Scaler since he doesn't use it much nowadays.... I told him "NO" - but if I spent less time chasin' those fanG t00tHeD DraC-U-PerCH - I might have a use for it...
Dang... I think you made me into "damaged goods".....
:rant: :yikes: :rant:
I'm blamin' YOU!!!
:lol:

[MUSHY1]

i bought a drum scaler from an oldtimer in saginaw last year for like 30 bucks and he''ll ship it to you. it works great you can put about 50 small perch in it with some water hook up your drill motor and walla :lol: cut the heads off the smaller ones and fillet the bigger ones.---------seen a cooking show late last year on small perch the 5 and 6 inchers just cut the heads off and gut them deep fry em in your favorite mix and eat the scales and all ( no bull ) i tried it lot easier than scalling those little buggers --- almost like eating smelt

Been looking for an old Potato Pealer for quite some time, but always come up short.....do you have the name of the guy who makes them, if so, PM me and let me know. Thanks

Mushy

[talon]

Been looking for an old Potato Pealer for quite some time, but always come up short.....do you have the name of the guy who makes them, if so, PM me and let me know. Thanks

Mushysent you a pm i have seen similar ones at the bait shops for sale at 70.00

[D-Fresh]

Been looking for an old Potato Pealer for quite some time, but always come up short.....do you have the name of the guy who makes them, if so, PM me and let me know. Thanks

Mushy


We have a potato peeler and it works great, we can do anywhere from 50-100 perch depending on size, in exactly 5 minutes, no longer. Be aware that most/all of the barrel scalers are waaay slower, friends of mine have them and we are always waiting around for fish to clean. Most of the barrel type take upwards of 20 minutes. Cleanup on the potato peeler is much easier as well, because we have it hooked right up to a water faucet and permanent drain. Run some water through it and clean the scale screen out and bam it is done. No mess. Another benefit is that you don't have to pick the fish out of a peeler, as most of them have a side door that you can open up and it spits the fish right out into the bucket. Everyone that sees our setup is completely amazed at how fast/clean/easy it is to scale 400 perch. On our big trips to Simcoe we have scaled 1000+ perch in a couple hours.

The barrel scalers work fine and get the job done, only downside is the time (at least on the ones I have used). The time thing can work out good if you like to enjoy a cold beverage while cleaning your fish...

FWIW..We got our potato peeler from a guy who was closing his restaraunt down, so places like that are good to look. Although that was 10 years ago... Most are going to the barrel scalers now, because the old potato peelers are hard to find.

[Joe Archer]

I filet everything, but this post reminds me of my chilhood. My dad would just scale the fish, gut them and fry them with the bones. Those were some good eating fish! Dang! I think I will have to scale and filet the next batch of perch I get!
<----<<<

[Blaketrout]

The time thing can work out good if you like to enjoy a cold beverage while cleaning your fish...

That's usually the way we work it. :corkysm55:corkysm55

Actually a few of us have the drum scalers and we usually get 2 or 3 going at a time when we get into the big batches of perch. It usually works out pretty good because we set up a production line of sorts. One person baby sitting the scaler, a couple filleting, and a couple frying.

Them potatoe peelers are hands down the best thing going for scaling out perch. The old Linwood Bar (on Saginaw Bay) used to have one in the back room you could use for free (as long as you bought beer, etc.). It was standard procedure for us after a morning of perching to head in there for lunch and scale perch at the same time. If we really hammered the perch we would be in there for a while and got pretty hammered ourselves. :D Good place to get perch reports too!

[roger23]

Perch limits are so low now my drum scalier keeps up ,I throw them in it when we hit the dock ,by the time we get the boat cleaned up and covered the first batch is done just throw the second batch in and keep going

[fishnfeathers]

I have been fileting all my pan fish but this year I'll be breaking dowm and getting a drum scaler. I scaled some of my perch last year and the skin is where the flavor is at. :D

[dtg]

I found a nifty scaling devise at Meijers a few years ago and it takes off the scales like butter with minimal flinging. It kinda lookds like the snout of a pit bull and has serrated edges on the side, there is an indentation in the middle to place your index finger and you gently push it from the tail towards the head and the scales just slide right off. You may end up with a couple of scales on your hands, from handling the fish and a few might find their way on your sleeve, but you don't have to worry about them ending up on your midsection or face and it only costs like $3.