Crappie....

Caught these on Fork yesterday. I had one that was so big, I could not get it in the boat! I got a 10 foot pole, 6lb test line, I tried to swing it into the back of the boat and the line snapped just before I got it in! I should have used my net!! Damitt!!





This lay down tree is really cool. You can see it is like 60 foot long, and it is just loaded with fish. And I could not trick any of them to bite my jig. I tried all jig colors too. The fish just did not want to play. If you dropped a minnow down there they would probably bite that, but I like to trick them with a jig!!



3 crappie make a good dinner, that is 6 fillets that is a lot for me. And 3 big ones, that is a really big dinner.





I drop them in to zip lock bag of "Louisiana Fish Fry New Orleans Style", into peanut oil 350 degrees, 2 and a half minutes. Drop the big ones in first, normally it takes half a minute to drop the last one in, so some only cook 2 minutes which is the minimum all they need.







With some of my home made tarter sauce and some of my son's home made bean soup.

Nice pics, food looks delicious !

Excellent!

Ha ha. The big one was 14 inches. The other 2 over 13.

Looks GOOD!

Nice catch!

Very nice

I’ve seen four pounders come out of Fork.

I think I overcook my fried fish

All 3 in one trip? Dadgum leave some in the lake.

I like my crappie fried.

You gave away your fishing holes?

You suck but good job!!! Swing by and pick me up next time

Nothing better than fresh Crappie! Even better than popcorn shrimp!! Nicely done brother !!!!!

Right on

Its really hard to undercook, but really easy to overcook.

My favorite fish to go after. And one of the best eating. Good job.

A nice brown outside and firm flaky inside is just right.

I always do 350-375, peanut oil, 6-8 minutes. After 2-3 minutes they never look that browned.

No ski photos
Nice job

Probably personal preference, but for me you are way over cooking them. At least for crappie. If I go over 3 minutes or more, I can really started to tell they are over cooking, the fish is not moist and flaky, starts to dry out, becomes jerky like, especially when it cools off.

I have also found that 375 is too hot, you start to burn the oil at that temp. I get everything ready, slowly bring up to 350. If I go over 350, I turn heat off and wait till it drops down. When I get it up to 350, I turn on high, and drop them in. 2 minutes is all it takes, I go 2 and half because it takes half a minute to drop all the fish in. Try this and see how you like it. It wont be as brown and crisp as yours, but it will be much more tasty, fish will be tender, moist, flaky, steamy, delicious..

Also I use the Louisiana fish fry "new orleans style", but you might like the "crispy" style. I used to us that fish fry looking for that crispy texture, I just don't like it as much.

After removing from hot grease, the fish will continue to cook inside the coating for a little while longer. 6-8 minutes is too long in my opinion. The filets should be floating before then.

The "floating" concept as a measure of it being done does not help me much. When you first drop them in, there are so many bubbles you cannot see if they are floating. What I have found, at about 1:45 minutes, you can just begin to see the fish, which always seems to be floating, another 15 seconds and the bubbling really slows down and you can see it bubbling through the fish, you know then it is done. When the bubbling slows down, the moisture has cooked off, this is the point where much longer and it will overcook and dry out.

To me the key is to know your cooker, and time it.

I think if you are focused on getting it crispy and brown, you are gonna over cooked it. Your focus is on the outside of the fish and not the inside.

I use the same Louisiana mix that Guy uses. Its the yellow label one, not the blue label which is the crispy mix. The biggest difference between the two is the yellow label is a corn flour base and the blue label is a corn meal base. Doesnt sound like much but makes a world of difference in the texture of the crust. I like a very light crust so the yellow label is more my style. I buy it by the gallon at Academy for $9.99.

For Crappie I start the oil at 350 and drop in 5 fillets and it cools to 325. It holds there for a couple of minutes and then starts to rise slowly back to 350. I cook for about 4 mintues and even at that Dad thinks it needs another minute longer for his taste. Sandbass are a little thicker so I will go as long as 6 minutes on those if they are thick enough to need it. If oil drops below 325 its gonna get soggy and if it goes about 350 its gonna have a burnt taste to it. At 375 you will start to smell the breading left in the oil burning. The taste of that smell will end up on your fish.

Call me crazy but I've gone to coating my crappie fillets heavily in sour cream, then dusting well with a flower / seasoning mixture.

Breading comes out great, zero flavor from the sour cream.

i let crappie soak in sweet milk all night long before cooking I Love this fish fry.

These were from last Friday during the Legend Tournament on Fork

I have cooked them like that before. About 30 years I used to bake fish like that, coat them is source cream, season, bread crumbs.

14 inches, that was the size of the big one I caught on Saturday,

I might have to try that. I love Tony's seasoning, I like to mix it with black pepper, that is my go to season mix.

Cornmeal for me. Let it set for awhile and it clings better. I still give it a little shake before I drop it into the 350°.

I have tried my own mix, all kinds of ways, not as good as Louisiana. So I just us Louisiana, but I may try my own mix again some day.

Agreed. Light dusting of flour, dredge in milk/buttermilk, drop in cornmeal seasoned with Old Bay, then into the fryer at 350-400. Perfect fried fish.

But, but, but no sauerkraut.

Awesome!
Bet that was fun!
Great eating right there!

Are crappie any good to eat?

Looks good Guy. Crappie are my favorite fresh water fish. My son and I have been known to put on crappie eating exhibitions. Yep on 350. I soak it in beer and use Zatarans southern crispy batter. When the bubbles slow down and get smaller it is done. No tarter for me. Salt, ketchup and cold beer.

I’ll have to try the crispy mix. I like the corn meal style best.

Beer batter is hard to beat.

Drakes

I use the Louisiana blue seasoning then I may lightly salt fish before putting in meal bowl. For those that cook a lot of fish get a Bayou classic cooker. Best fish cooker made and one you get it to temp it does not drop.

Do you use fried crappie to make crappie tacos?

Grilled or beer batter for fish tacos!

Really not a bad idea. Sauerkraut makes (almost) everything better.

Have not. I do like to "blacken" them with butter/seasoning on cast iron, and enchiladas.. Home made green chili sauce...

I now have some crappie thawing out for dinner, this threads made me crave it

Guy, them crappie enchiladas look dang good!

Nice job!