Off Topic Curious. How do YOU clean your fish?

[Trevor M]

Pretty sure we all clean fish in pretty much the same way. With some water, and a knife right? But while we all probably clean fish in almost the same way, we each might do something a little differently too. Just curious how YOU do it.

IE the way I do perch (or bass if I ever keep one) is I take my knife (either my electric if I'm doing a lot, or the one in my tackle box if just a few where I'm the power) behind the gills, cut down to the back bone, then go laterally along the back bone cutting through the rib cage to the tail, remove the fillet, then I remove the ribs and take my knife along the underside to remove the skin. I do the same thing on the other side. I don't scale them, I'd never hear the end of it about the mess that would make.

I do Walleye pretty much the same way, but I'll also take the cheeks if it's big enough, but since I don't have any front teeth, I don't bother with the wings. Tried once, couldn't get what little meat there was off them because it just pulled right back through When I'm about to cook them, that's when I zip'em.

For Catfish, I don't use the electric knife. I use the other one in the tacklebox. I'll go behind the gills as usual, but just barely put the tip of the knife through the skin along the backbone to the tail, same along the belly to the tail. Then using a pair of needle nose pliers, I'll pull the skin off by grabbing it by where the cuts I made at the backbone and behind the gills meet, and then I remove the fillet starting at the tail and working my way back towards the head, removing the ribs as I do it leaving them in tact on the carcass.

With Rainbows, IF I've decided not to leave them whole, removing only the innards, although I know a couple different ways to do it, I'll do kind of the same thing as I do with catfish, but once I have the fillet off, I use the pliers to remove the small bones I cut through. Takes a while depending on how big the fish was. If I'm leaving them whole tho, when I cook'em I score the skin and put some lemon slices on top along with any seasonings I might have chosen, wrap it in foil then in the oven or on the BBQ.

Pike, if or when I catch and keep one, or have one given to me, (happens once in a while) I do the 5 cut method.

 

[Ticker]

Pretty much same way as you , but I keep the filet on that I cut till the other side is done , find it easier , basically butterfly, I love the cheeks and wings too , I find it got lots of meat on the wings
Makes great appetizer

 

[Ticker]

Forgot to mention, I don't do 1 fish at the time from start finish
Do them take filets off on all , than ribcage out on all , than skin all , once you get going on one thing it's a breeze

 

[Trevor M]

Forgot to mention, I don't do 1 fish at the time from start finish
Do them take filets off on all , than ribcage out on all , than skin all , once you get going on one thing it's a breeze

Depends on how many I'm doing as to whether I do it one at a time or not.

 

[Heitman]

I use a manual knife, I cut behind the gills on both sides, then I cut beside the dorsal fin towards the first cut. I put my knife by the cut in the dorsal fin and cut down until I feel the ribs and just keep cutting towards the tail until I don't feel any resistance.
I then cut all the way through staying above the bottom fin and cut towards the tail but not all the way to the end.
I then cut just above the ribs leaving them on the carcass but cutting the meat off. Once I have the fillet off then I cut the meat from the skin.
Then the skin and carcass are still attached and the I only have one big thing to throw away instead of 3.
I do this on every fish I clean.

 

[Alby]

With a knife

 

[SilverTip49]

Here’s my addition which generally makes life easier when cleaning perch or walleye. It doesn’t matter whether you use an electric or manual life. I don’t cut the filet away from the tail. Instead, I flip the filet over (so it stretches in the opposite direction, away from the head) and skin the filet while still attached to the fish. Gives you a much better grip for holding while skinning. Then I flip the fish over and repeat the process.
Rib bones can be removed by making an incision along their length before skinning or cutting them out after the filet has been skinned. Very quick method for me.

 

[Trevor M]

With a knife

Pretty sure we all clean fish in pretty much the same way. With some water, and a knife right?

I said THAT already. Although, even I'll admit, if you were cleaning fish with a chainsaw, I'd REALLY wanna see what kind of fish you is cleaning.

 

[Alby]

I said THAT already. Although, even I'll admit, if you were cleaning fish with a chainsaw, I'd REALLY wanna see what kind of fish you is cleaning.

Or how good my chainsaw skills are

 

[DaveJ]

I also fillet walleye so the 2 sides are attached..butterflied..ribs removed when taking the sides off.
What I do a bit differently is leave the skin on....and when I freeze/vac seal I put the butterflied halves flesh side to flesh side with the skin on the outside..basically fold it back together. This leaves zero exposed flsh so there is zero freezer burn ever. When I dethaw I remove the skin then. Started doing this years ago bringing fish back from northern trips where you have to leave some skin on and it makes for easy counting of fillets for the MNR to check

 

[anonymoose]

soap and water

 

[Gtown]

I use a smaller knife and cut around the rib bones leaving them attached. Then skin and zipper to get the y bones and mud off. Keeps the kitchen clean and no stink from cutting into full bellies!

 

[Wilker Tim]

I use the same method as you Trevor, but do the first steps of cutting along the backbone and remove the skin with an electric knife when I get to the dock. Then I remove the ribcage and finish them off with a fillet knife when I get home

 

[Crummybun]

Here’s my addition which generally makes life easier when cleaning perch or walleye. It doesn’t matter whether you use an electric or manual life. I don’t cut the filet away from the tail. Instead, I flip the filet over (so it stretches in the opposite direction, away from the head) and skin the filet while still attached to the fish. Gives you a much better grip for holding while skinning. Then I flip the fish over and repeat the process.
Rib bones can be removed by making an incision along their length before skinning or cutting them out after the filet has been skinned. Very quick method for me.

Same. Fast, and effective.

 

[Josh Roelofsen]

I use a manual knife, I cut behind the gills on both sides, then I cut beside the dorsal fin towards the first cut. I put my knife by the cut in the dorsal fin and cut down until I feel the ribs and just keep cutting towards the tail until I don't feel any resistance.
I then cut all the way through staying above the bottom fin and cut towards the tail but not all the way to the end.
I then cut just above the ribs leaving them on the carcass but cutting the meat off. Once I have the fillet off then I cut the meat from the skin.
Then the skin and carcass are still attached and the I only have one big thing to throw away instead of 3.
I do this on every fish I clean.

I do the same. Im never in a rush.....super sharp blade, a mixed drink on hand and I take my time, no meat is missed, knives are constantly touched up and I try to be as surgical as I can. I certainly wouldn't win any fillet competitions And I'm ok with that....

Josh

 

[Crummybun]

I do the same. Im never in a rush.....super sharp blade, a mixed drink on hand and I take my time, no meat is missed, knives are constantly touched up and I try to be as surgical as I can. I certainly wouldn't win any fillet competitions And I'm ok with that....

Josh

It's kinda like people that are in such a rush to get to there destination, their miserable and stressed the whole way. Others enjoy the time spent getting there, part of the experience.

You may have takin it to a new level. You biology teacher must have loved you!

 

[Schmick]

Or how good my chainsaw skills are

Sawzall is for the detailed trim work…

 

[SilverTip49]

I like my electric knife for a number of reasons. What disturbs me is seeing fish that have not been kept cold. As soon as the fish starts to warm up, the quality of the flesh nose dives. With an electric knife I can clean fish quickly, keeping them cold, and get them to the freezer, vacuum sealed very efficiently. Then I have my coke. To each his own.