Sunfish Keep or Not?

I recently kept enough gills and sunnies for a meal. (mostly gills) Now I know why a lot of my buddies won't bother keeping sunfish. Not only was there flesh covered with black dots, but they have kind of a fowl smell to them. I realize the flesh is fine with the black dots but it sure looks terrible presenting these fish to family or guests. Anyone else keep sunnies on a regular basis? Anyone ever experienced that different smell they have? Thanks!

I've cleaned just under 500,000 in my life I'd say!

I've gotten some with a bad smell already and they were alive when I was cleaning them. From what I can assume it's based on what they are eating or the water they are in. The smell I have noticed smells just like weeds or muck, the water was always dark or stained. That just happened to be where I caught the fish. My hands smelled like it too and the meat was the same way. Not sure if it has to do with temps as well. I've only noticed it with fish I catch in the weeds. They always taste fine though. This has only happened to me on a few select lakes, definitely not the norm. I won't get into the how many fish cleaned battle, I'm sure we all cleaned 1000's lol. I just know one lake for sure where I can go catch some stinky fish and when I fry them up my house smells like stagnant weeds. I don't go there any more.

not trying to start anything here but there is a difference from cleaning a freshly caught fish that was alive an hour before you cleaned it and then those that die and are not kept on ice for hours before you clean them. I have seen several people post pictures on Lake-Link of fish that look like they have been dead and sitting out without ice for hours. Some are so bad that they look like they are begining to rot. I think thats where some of these people are getting the bad smell or maybe they are just filleting into their guts. I have cleaned hundreds of fish from various types of water and have never had any bad smelling fish. I always try to keep my fish alive within an hour of cleaning them with no problems at all.

10 inch redear my grandson put back to service the ladies during spawn.

crappies are delicious. but i would agree gills are king for me. i think they are the best eats and the most fun to catch. walleye is great too.

there great eat them from the wisconsin river all the time fry em up and there the best. Would rather eat gills then walleyes any time easyer to catch sometimes too.

Sunfish like Pumpkinseeds, and Redear sunfish have pharyngeal teeth that allow them to consume snails and zebra mussels....their diet is much different than a bluegill, and the flesh is far tastier.

Sunfish are good. Did notice something after catching a mix from Long Lake through the ice. When water was added to the bucket of cold dead fish to thaw them. The Blugills sank and the Sunfish floated.

sunfish taste good. I always keep em if the size is good. i think those black specs are parasites. nothing that batter and 350 degree oil wont fix....yumm

you tend to find the pepper,in sunfish species more like the Pseeds, because they eat alot of the snails that are part of the life cycle of the pepper you find in your sunfish.Bluegills not as much because they spend a good part of their time in deep water in the summer and not in the weeds with the seeds where the snails are.Dont get me wrong some gills have loads of them too, but I think its a more lake by lake basis.As far as smell I never noticed it.