A lot of people don't like the flavor of the skin. I think most of the time when people cook panfish whole they leave the skin on which makes it too strong for some. I want to try skinning whole fish cooking them on the bone like you would a catfish. The meat is likely going to be more moist and you probably have less waste that way. If you're deep frying whole skinned fish then you'll get a lighter finished product because each "fillet" only has one side battered/fried.
And that's all I'm going to say about that.
