Fillets

[Mobasser]

As a kid, we kept all the fish we caught to cook. Back then, everyone I knew always cleaned the fish the same way.                                Gut them, cut the heads off, and scale them, then pan fry.            When I was around 20 yrs old, I was taught how to fillet a fish, and have cleaned fish this way for over forty years.                          If I have a big mess to clean, I use a Mr Twister electric fillet knife. With just a few, a Rapala fish fillet knife. Years ago I picked up a board with a clamp on one side. It didn't really work out well, and I've done best by just gripping the fish by the mouth.                                                         I always try to start the initial cut just behind the side fin, and lay the knife flat, cutting back to the tail. I was taught to not cut all the way through the tail section of the fish.                              Stop the cut when you reach the tail section, flip the meaty part of the fish back over, then cut the skin away. The only other cut is removing the rib( side) bones of the fish.                            Some fillets end up as sort of a Y shape, with no bones. The fish we cleaned as kids always tasted good, but we had to pick through bones when we ate them. An old cook once told me that he liked the old gut/ scale method better, and that he thought the fish tasted better this way, but I still like fillets the best.                                                          And, I can strongly recommend the Mr. Twister electric fillet knife. I've had mine a long time. It's cleaned a bunch of fish over the years, and still working well.                                            Another big plus with fillets comes with young children. They can enjoy fresh fish also, with no fear of getting any bones caught in they're mouth or throat. I think this helped my own kids learn to like fish when they were young, and they still like it now.                            Do you do anything different when you fillet your catch? Have you found any fillet knives that have worked well?                IMO, fillets are the way to go. No bones about it.

 

 

 

[TOXIC]

Totally agree in regards to panfish.  I fillet pretty much the same way.  Bigger saltwater fish with bigger bones I will cook whole.  I spend many an hour in my garage with a folding table, 2 five gallon buckets, a Cutco fillet knife and usually 2 limits of crappie (50 fish).  Normally takes about an hour.

[scaleface]

I fillet them the same way except I cut the ribs out with a regular fillet knife "before" cutting the meat from the skin . I get more  that way . On small fish I use a  regular fillet knife through the whole process because I have a tendency to cut through the backbone .

[GreenPig]

Yes. From 50 fish to 100 boneless fillets in 35 minutes.

[tander]

Fillet all the way. Don't take long and no bones. I use the Rapala electric knife.

[Functional]

I'll start my cut behind the side fin, cut at the tail, score down the spine and then gut. I'll get a corner of skin with pliers and rip it off. I'll then pull the meet taught from the spine ad I work my way down raking over the ribs. Quick, easy and never had bone issues.

 

Of course I'll cut the stomachs open after I'm done to inspect what they have been eating. 

 

Lately I only keep the ones I don't think will make it after a nasty hook. 

[A-Jay]

Fillet all the way.

Been part of more than a few 'Fillet Fests' over the years.

Can be a little tedious but may be directly related to 'size' 

So worth it though

A-Jay

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

Yes. From 50 fish to 100 boneless fillets in 35 minutes.

 

You're making me hungry!

[MN Fisher]

I don't catch the numbers of panfish at a time that most do - maybe 1/2 dozen a trip - so I just use my Rapala fillet knife.

 

Yep - fillets...pack into the freezer better and no worries about bones.

 

Take them off the 'skeleton' first, then just a run down the inside of the skin to separate.

[WRB]

Heavy scaled fish fillets work, fine scaled fish like trout are better gut, gilled, washed out and cooked whole, deboned  after cooking. Big salt water fish can be filleted in quarters, 2 back strips, and 2 belly strips cut into blocks for cooking or into steaks.

Tom

 

[TnRiver46]

I never use an electric knife unless I’m very very sleepy and there’s a bunch still left to clean 

[GreenPig]

11 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

 

You're making me hungry!

Sorry. This should help.?

[bulldog1935]

I use my cordless Rapala only to get through redfish ribs and thereby avoid the the foul language

I use my self-sharpening Titan titanium MMC for the rest of the spine (and smaller ribs),

and KOA Coho only for skinning - especially thin-skinned specs

 

normally don't fillet these big female specs, but Lou had her badly gut-hooked (that's a 15" OL knife) - and a stingy fillet

 

I prefer redfish grilled on the half-shell, which is an easy fillet with the ribs left in and skin left on

 

Dad gave me a Shrade for my 20th birthday

I learned to fillet 25 white bass at a time in the dark, and this knife is still great and will never see the salt. 

 

I've been through all the folding fillet knives - the only good one for function was Benchmade, unfortunately, blood exposure made the blade steel pit even with immediate soap washing. 

[Catt]

Mr Twister electric fillet knife & fillet everything! 

 

I worked as a deckhand in a charter fishing boat the heck with manual knifes.

 

I got one for y'all ?

 

Back in the 70s on Toledo Bend & other area lake many marinas had scaling machines the looked like a big upright washing machines that had wire mesh inside. You put the fish in, a couple quarters & your fish came out scaled & slime free. This was extremely fast when you had dozens of Bream or crappie. 

 

Y'all ever heard of that?

[Darth-Baiter]

I love me some easy eating fish!

 

but.. it goes against my thought process.  I try to utilize as much as the fish as possible.  Whole fish cooking for me. 
 

we once hammered Oregon walleye.  The fishing guide didn’t even know how to gill/gut a fish.  My brother Took his knife and did the cleaning. I was shocked really. 
 

bu yea. Fillets are nice. I use a regular fillet knife on salmon.  Bones go into soup. The head grilled Japanese style.

[Fishin Dad]

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

I use my cordless Rapala only to get through redfish ribs and thereby avoid the the foul language

I use my self-sharpening Titan titanium MMC for the rest of the spine (and smaller ribs),

and KOA Coho only for skinning - especially thin-skinned specs

 

normally don't fillet these big female specs, but Lou had her badly gut-hooked (that's a 15" OL knife) - and a stingy fillet

 

I prefer redfish grilled on the half-shell, which is an easy fillet with the ribs left in and skin left on

 

Dad gave me a Shrade for my 20th birthday

I learned to fillet 25 white bass at a time in the dark, and this knife is still great and will never see the salt. 

 

I've been through all the folding fillet knives - the only good one for function was Benchmade, unfortunately, blood exposure made the blade steel pit even with immediate soap washing. 

I have that same Shrade knife!   I usually use my electric for walleye and panfish, unless I only have a few or do not have electricity.   That Shrade is a great knife.  

[TnRiver46]

39 minutes ago, Catt said:

Mr Twister electric fillet knife & fillet everything! 

 

I worked as a deckhand in a charter fishing boat the heck with manual knifes.

 

I got one for y'all ?

 

Back in the 70s on Toledo Bend & other area lake many marinas had scaling machines the looked like a big upright washing machines that had wire mesh inside. You put the fish in, a couple quarters & your fish came out scaled & slime free. This was extremely fast when you had dozens of Bream or crappie. 

 

Y'all ever heard of that?

I have heard of those but never seen one

[Mobasser]

41 minutes ago, Catt said:

Mr Twister electric fillet knife & fillet everything! 

 

I worked as a deckhand in a charter fishing boat the heck with manual knifes.

 

I got one for y'all ?

 

Back in the 70s on Toledo Bend & other area lake many marinas had scaling machines the looked like a big upright washing machines that had wire mesh inside. You put the fish in, a couple quarters & your fish came out scaled & slime free. This was extremely fast when you had dozens of Bream or crappie. 

 

Y'all ever heard of that?

I've never heard of this Catt. Sounds like a fast way to get the job done.

[A-Jay]

44 minutes ago, Catt said:

Mr Twister electric fillet knife & fillet everything! 

 

I worked as a deckhand in a charter fishing boat the heck with manual knifes.

 

I got one for y'all ?

 

Back in the 70s on Toledo Bend & other area lake many marinas had scaling machines the looked like a big upright washing machines that had wire mesh inside. You put the fish in, a couple quarters & your fish came out scaled & slime free. This was extremely fast when you had dozens of Bream or crappie. 

 

Y'all ever heard of that?

Wouldn't want to be the poor soul who had to clean that particular mechanism. 

#stinktank

A-Jay

[QED]

For sufficiently large fish, the fish cheeks are considered a culinary delicacy.  Cutting off the heads is a no-no unless you are using them for fish stock.

[Catt]

13 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Wouldn't want to be the poor soul who had to clean that particular mechanism. 

#stinktank

A-Jay

 

Actually the machine was really clean, it looked like a big dryer but operated with high pressure hot. Back the it pumped the used water & scales straight into the lake.

[Mobasser]

I've been a fish fillet lover for many years now. I don't know how many of you guys like hot sauce on your fillets, but I'll recommend Zatarains Cajun hot sauce. It's super good.  I've tried most of the brand's on the market, and so far it's the best.

[Skunkmaster-k]

33 minutes ago, QED said:

For sufficiently large fish, the fish cheeks are considered a culinary delicacy.  Cutting off the heads is a no-no unless you are using them for fish stock.

Walleye cheeks are the best part of the fish , in my opinion. 

[gim]

5 hours ago, Mobasser said:

and I've done best by just gripping the fish by the mouth.

 

5 hours ago, Mobasser said:

They can enjoy fresh fish also, with no fear of getting any bones caught in they're mouth or throat

 

I assume you aren't talking about filleting walleyes or northern pike because they both have sharp teeth and if you gripped one by the mouth, it would slice you.  Additionally, pike filet has y-bones and if you don't remove them, you might choke on one.  I'm not proficient at removing them so I have to pick through the filet and remove them when I choose to keep a pike and filet it.  I've seen people remove the y bones in them many times, but I never really observed it closely.

[Mobasser]

Just now, gimruis said:

 

 

I assume you aren't talking about filleting walleyes or northern pike because they both have sharp teeth and if you gripped one by the mouth, it would slice you.  Additionally, pike filet has y-bones and if you don't remove them, you might choke on one.  I'm not proficient at removing them so I have to pick through the filet and remove them when I choose to keep a pike and filet it.

I don't have pike or sadly many walleye close to home, so I do this with bream, crappie and bass.