Advice on filleting fish

[greenriverman1]

You do lose a little meat when your going the electric route. But the time saved, and the small amount lost, its worth it. And if I have to dig out the knife, I've either got a mess of gills or crappie, so there will be plenty. Wish some of you guys lived around me, the ol' lady won't stop harping about all the crappie taking over the freezer.

So just what is your address? LOL!

[Panfish Man]

I had the old school knives that would cut a frogs pube hair and switched to an electric knife after I used it the 1st time. Sooooo much easier to use and you can buy them with a larger long blade and a small blade. I cut up everything from gills to cats with it and it takes half the time. As stated above if you can chill the fish overnight it is 10000 times easier to clean but the downside is the fish get a slimecoat on them from the icy water so they are more slippery. I wear a glove on the hand I am cutting with to avoid the knife from slipping if I get slime on my hand.

Shawn

The glove on one hand to hold the fish is a great idea, especially on bluegills, one little slip, and the gill plate will eat your fingers up.

[Tyme2fish]

I too like to have a fillet glove on my non knife hand. It gives me more confidence that I won't slip and cut myself plus it helps me to hold onto a slimy catfish.

[crappiepappy]

Just remember, though .... those fillet gloves DO NOT PROTECT YOU FROM AN ELEC KNIFE BLADE !!! So, don't get in a rush, thinking your hands/fingers are protected by those gloves. (there's a disclaimer to that effect, right on the package !!)

I use an elec knife to filet all fish. I cut thru the ribs, and either cut them out of the filet with the elec knife ... or have my fishing partner cut them out with a reg filet knife, while I'm working on the next fish.
I make up for any "supposed" loss of meat (from cutting out the ribs), by angling my blade to cut more meat from the head of the fish. I've seen many people clean fish by making a 90deg cut, just behind the gill plate, and then fuss with trying to skim cut the meat away from the ribcage !! They're sacrificing two thumbnail to thumb size pieces of meat, in order to "gain" less than pinky fingernail size scraps ??? LOL !! Not me !! I'm making the first filet cut from above the eye, and down to & around the gill plate, then rolling the blade underneath until I contact backbone & riding the blade down along the backbone until I get to the tail fins ... flip'er over and run the blade between skin & filet, until seperated, then angle cut the ribs away from the filet. Flip carcass over & repeat proceedure for the other side. When I dispose of the "remains" ... it's mostly head, guts, bones, & fins, with little wasted meat.

If you keep your blade against the backbone, and exiting the fish against the top fins until you pass them ... then level off your blade as you cut from the top fins to the tail fin ... you'll get the biggest percentage of available meat. The longer & more often you use a elec filet knife, the better you'll get to be with it.

... pappy

[artcarney_agr]

Thanks guy's, i've been using 2 old rapala's knives, one with wood handles, one black plastic. I guess i've had the 10-15 yrs. I guess i'll be looking for an electric one.... Tr

Best electric knife to get is one that is NOT labeled as an electric fillet knife. The ones labeled as electric fillet knives are overpriced and usually not worth a darn.

Best knife to get is a Black and Decker from Wal-Mart in the Housewares section, right by the toasters and coffee makers. Should be about $10 and will last you many years. I think it's labeled as an electric carving knife or something like that, has a picture on the side of it cutting bread or a Thanksgiving turkey...works extremely well on fish. And yes, it'll cut right through the rib cage, which is the fastest way to do it.

[Hlleonard]

Best electric knife to get is one that is NOT labeled as an electric fillet knife. The ones labeled as electric fillet knives are overpriced and usually not worth a darn.

Best knife to get is a Black and Decker from Wal-Mart in the Housewares section, right by the toasters and coffee makers. Should be about $10 and will last you many years. I think it's labeled as an electric carving knife or something like that, has a picture on the side of it cutting bread or a Thanksgiving turkey...works extremely well on fish. And yes, it'll cut right through the rib cage, which is the fastest way to do it.

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LOL...You are correct about that ...I had one of those black and decker's for many years and it is a snap to fillet most any fish you are cleaning,it did eventually lay down and I replaced it with the same thing a few years ago and it performs the same... about half the price.