Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass How small is too small?

I'm starting to manage my pond for trophy bluegill and it seems the formula is cull all bass above 10-12 inches. How small can a bass be to be worth filleting?

conner - it depends on how good one is with a fillet knife. I can get a decent fillet from an 8" LMB and probably a 7" bass. I've filleted a 7" YP which at 7" has a similar body shape to a LMB.

Well this one is in the learning process...

When I fish at the ocean, I even filet my 3-4 inch mullet I catch in a cast net. I use the filets for flounder cutbait. I've fileted really small bass (like 4-inches) for catfish cutbait.

Maybe it is over 50 years of practice, but fish in the sunfish family, like bluegill and bass, are by the far the easiest fish for me to filet. I filet bluegill for cooking that are as small as about 5-inches. I've certainly fileted a lot of perch and bullheads in the 6-7 inch range, and to me, they are more difficult to filet than a bass of any size. A reasonably husky 7-8 inch bass will make a good filet, suitable for deep frying in beer batter.