Filleting fish is a good, quick and simple way to enjoy your daily catch. This technique will take a little practice but overall you will find that it won’t take long to master. Before we get into the filleting there are a few simple rules you should follow about keeping the fish fresh until you are ready to clean it.
On long, warm summer days it can be challenging to keep your fish alive until the end of the fishing trip when you are ready to clean the day’s catch. Fish meat will begin to go bad rapidly so keeping them alive as long as possible is extremely important. Most fishermen will keep their catch on a stringer hanging off the side of their boat or stuck into the shore with the fish still in the water. This technique works well if done properly. The best way to keep fish on a stringer is to hook them through the lip and not the gills, since they will die faster if hooked through the gills. This is not always possible with smaller lipped fish such as crappie and bluegill. You must also be careful not to load the stringer with to many fish. Hey, you never know how the day will unfold, so keep an extra stringer just in case! The best way to keep fish is to place them in a live well or basket. Placing them on ice directly after the catch is advised.
Once you have your fish on the shore and you are ready to fillet them, take them out one at a time. You will want to kill them quickly with a sharp blow to the head. The only thing you will need for filleting your fish is a sharp fillet knife and possibly some gloves. Most outdoors stores will have a pair of fillet gloves.
How to Fillet a Fish:
1. Lay the fish on its side in front of you and grab the head firmly. Place your fillet knife directly behind its fin and cut downward to the backbone. Do not cut through the backbone.
2. Turn the knife flat in the direction of the tail.
3. Slowly begin to saw toward the tail of the fish making sure to stay as close to the back bone as possible. Cut to the end of the tail, but leave the skin attached at the end.
4. Flip the fillet so that is is laying flat on the table with the scales down.
5. Lay the knife flat on the table between the meat and the skin of the fillet where the skin is attached at the tail and use the same sawing motion to remove the meat from the skin of the fish.
When you are done with one side simply flip the fish over and repeat these five easy steps. Then continue with the rest of your fish placing the fillets in cold water. Most fish can be filleted in this fashion.
