Here's something you can try ...

[Jerry Freeman]

Visiting this evening with my Amish neighbors, conversation went to the topic of the wringer washing machine that had appeared in their yard.

I learned that this one had been out on loan to their recently married daughter, who now has her own washing machine (and I have the electric motor that came off it; they remove the electric motors from every manner of contraption and run them with lawn mower engines).

Ananiah (20ish son in the family and one of the sweetest personalities I've ever encountered) told me that a washing machine works very well for cleaning fish. Fill it up with bluegills and run it awhile, and the scales come right off. (I didn't ask, but I believe you are supposed to remove the clothes from the washing machine first.)

Best wishes,
Jerry

P.S. Can anyone tell me where in the Old Testament the name Ananiah comes from?

[emmline]

From wiki:

Ananias (Ἁνανίας) is the Greek form of Hananiah (Hebrew for "Yahweh is gracious"), or Ananiah, a name occurring several times in the Old Testament and Apocrypha (Nehemiah 3:23, 1 Chronicles 15:23, Tobit 5:12. etc.), and three times in the New Testament.

Ananias may refer to:

* Ananias, spouse of Sapphira, a member of the first Christian community, who dropped dead suddenly after attempting to deceive the Holy Spirit by withholding part of the profit from the sale of a piece of land.
* Ananias of Damascus, also called St. Ananias II, missionary, martyr, and patron of St. Paul. Figures in the story of the conversion of Paul of Tarsus
* Son of Nedebaios (Josephus, Antiquites xx. 5. 2), a high priest who presided during the trial of Paul at Jerusalem and Caesarea (Acts 23:2, 24:1-5). He officiated as high priest from about AD 47 to 59. Quadratus, governor of Syria, accused him of being responsible for acts of violence. He was sent to Rome for trial (AD 52), but was acquitted by the emperor Claudius. Being a friend of the Romans, he was murdered by the people at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War.
* A priest and fellow martyr of Simeon Barsabae
* St. Ananias III, martyr, priest of Phoenicia, modern Lebanon

[mutepointe]

Who is eating so many bluegill at one sitting that descaling in a washing machine is efficient? Could you ask your Amish friends how many they descale in one load? And if they are so kind to answer that question (I'm going to guess 200) how do they catch that many bluegill? Are children spending their days with bamboo poles? Are they net fishing? Do they have traps? Are they farming bluegills?

We've only ever ate bluegill as children when we were camping for fun. They're a lot of bother for what they are but they are tasty. I can't imagine an Amish family making regular meals out of bluegill.

[Jerry Freeman]

Who is eating so many bluegill at one sitting that descaling in a washing machine is efficient? Could you ask your Amish friends how many they descale in one load? And if they are so kind to answer that question (I'm going to guess 200) how do they catch that many bluegill? Are children spending their days with bamboo poles? Are they net fishing? Do they have traps? Are they farming bluegills?

We've only ever ate bluegill as children when we were camping for fun. They're a lot of bother for what they are but they are tasty. I can't imagine an Amish family making regular meals out of bluegill.

They love to fish, they know the best places, and they're really good at it.

And yes, there are lots of children with poles (bamboo, I'm not sure; they may have rods and reels). Lately, they've been skinning and filleting the fish instead of scaling them. Five or six of the family will sit with filleting knives at a picnic table, five gallon buckets of fish on the ground beside them and a big pile of fillets on the table.

And a throng of happy cats underfoot.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[dwest]

My family ate bluegill or perch several times a week during the warmer months when I was growing up. I fished in a slough close to my school almost everyday after class. Everybody knew that was my fishing hole and I even left my equipment, including my prized steel rod, there with no concern that someone would take it. My bait was either white bread or worms from my worm bed outside by the back door to the kitchen. There was always some kind of tumble action washing machine type descaling machines in the local hunting and fishing shops plus plucking heads that you could chuck into a hand drill for cleaning waterfowl or chickens for that matter.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Who is eating so many bluegill at one sitting that descaling in a washing machine is efficient?

Large families require a large grocery list.

[BrassBlower]

We've only ever ate bluegill as children when we were camping for fun. They're a lot of bother for what they are but they are tasty.

Pretty much any type of sunfish is good eating, even though crappies, redears and goggle-eyed perch (a.k.a. rock bass) are easier to clean and usually make bigger fillets than bluegill.

Of course, just one decent-sized catfish can feed the two of us several meals, so they're a much better return on investment. Just make sure you cut out the fatty layer under the skin and any yellow meat.

FWIW, I think I'll just leave the washer to its intended purpose and invest in a decent fish knife.

[dwest]

Seven people, 2-4 bluegill a piece, 3-4 times a week, always on Fridays, over a hundred fish/wk. I could have made good use of a auto scaler.

[The Weekenders]

I'm "only" 53, but we actually used one of those as a washing machine when I was little. Then, after we got the new-fangled kind, my Dad tried to soak a deerskin in brine or something but forgot about it and it got all stinky. So it ended up in a gulch....Like I said, that was the old days.

[mutepointe]

My father was member of a Sportman's Club that stocked trout when I was a kid, so we ate a lot of trout. Pennsylvania was plagued with a water condition caused by mining whose name escapes me but the vivid color of the orange water is still in my memory. There wasn't a lot of stream fishing where I was a kid. They have since repaired most of the damage, especially the visible signs. Now West Virginia is all gung-ho on mountain top removal mining that is wiping out entire mountains and burying mountain streams. I will be so happy when every bit of coal is out of those mountains.

[Doug_Tipple]

In 1969 I rented a trailer in a small town in southern Arizona only a few miles from the Mexican border. I worked as a mineral prospector, and I helped build houses. The place where I lived was called Scorpion Ranch, and it was in the high desert. I remember that the wringer washing machine stayed outside, sitting by itself away from the house. If I wanted to wash clothes, I had to get the hose to fill it with water. Then you needed to get an extension cord to get electricity to it. Of course, I had seen my mother using a similar machine, and I knew that you had to be careful that you kept your fingers away from the wringers. It was so hot and dry there in the desert that clothes would dry on the line in only a few minutes. That was an interesting chapter in my life.

[cowtime]

Of course, I had seen my mother using a similar machine, and I knew that you had to be careful that you kept your fingers away from the wringers.

My brother learned that the hard way on grandma's old "warshin' machine". His arm went through up to the shoulder. I still remember sitting at the hospital emergency room while he was checked out. Luckily nothing was broken.

Housing those wringer washers was one of the main uses for the "utility porch", found on the back or side of most old houses.

[missy]

filet bluegill?

I've caught many a bluegill over my lifetime, but never any big enough to filet. You just pan fry them and pick the meat from around the bones.

Same with crappies.