Instructions: Scale, dress and draw the fish. Do not fillet them. Leave the heads on or off.

Adjust the broiling rack in your oven to hold the fish about 4 inches from the heat. Preheat the broiler and the broiling pan.

Brush the fish liberally with lemon juice inside and out, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat the bottom of the broiling pan with melted butter, then arrange the fish in it. Baste with Italian salad dressing. Broil for 4 or 5 minutes, until the fish start to brown. Turn them, then baste and broil them for another 4 minutes, or until they flake easily when tested with a fork. Very large bluegills will take longer; small ones, not as long. If the outside of the fish starts cracking and separating around the top fins, theyre done. Do not overcook. Serve with hot buttered bread and a green salad or steamed or boiled vegetables.

Comments: Heres a good method for cooking a batch of about six hand-sized bluegills and similar panfish, which are usually readily available and fun to catch on the fly, light spinning tackle or natural bait.

Eating these fish is easy if you first PULL out the top and bottom fins. In short, any spiny fin that sticks up will have a related bone inside the fish. Its usually these small, hidden bones that cause problems.

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