NDR: Cleaning Fish

Carl

Carl

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Staff member
So why is it that the first fillet on panfish comes off like a fishmonger with 50 years experience was holding the knife but the second side come off like some cave man cut it off with a dull rock?
Asking for a friend who had to fillet 56 saltwater panfish this morning.
😳
 
A geo-magnetic event likely caused this making the knife appear to be cutting at one angle while actually cutting at another. It is related to the shift in magnetic north and is not related to your skill as a cutter of fish, nor is it related to your age.
 
Carl said:
So why is it that the first fillet on panfish comes off like a fishmonger with 50 years experience was holding the knife but the second side come off like some cave man cut it off with a dull rock?
Asking for a friend who had to fillet 56 saltwater panfish this morning.
😳
Click to expand...
I attribute the phenomenon, to the loss of half the fish structure when filleting the second side. I have adapted my process to compensate for this as needed. (A) being right handed one side is always more ergonomic for me. This happens to be the left hand side of the fish. (B) Starting on the left side of the carcass, I make a cut behind the head. Followed by a cut along the spine, only as deep as the rib bones. Once I clear the rib cage, I plunge the knife deeper into the carcass and out just behind the vent. Slicing along the spine until I reach the tail. (C) I do NOT cut thru at the tail, instead, leaving the partially cut fillet, still attached to the carcass, (ribs, along the belly and at the tail).

(D) I then flip the fish over and repeat these steps on the second fillet, except this time I cut thru at the tail and the belly area, fully freeing the fillet from the carcass. (E) Flipping back to the first side, I complete the process and free that side from the carcass.

It is my experience that leaving the first fillet, intact and partially attached, helps me control my cuts on the second side. Works for me. I'm not real fast but I'm pretty thorough and don't leave much meat behind.
 
Well maybe I can add some thoughts.

When I fillet my fish, I cut till I get close enough to the tail, that it's just enough skin to hold it on the body. Then I place the knife on the fillet section and instead of using my knife hand to "cut" the fillet free from the skin. I pull the fish through the knife.

That way my knife hand only has to hold the knife in a single spot/angle.

I flip and repeat on the second side.

Very seldom do I ever mess up a fillet.

Between me and Dad we clean probably close to 2k pounds of bass,white perch, white bass, sand bass, bream, flat head and blue cats a year. We wear out a couple of knifes a year.

Hope this helps.
 
Carl said:
So why is it that the first fillet on panfish comes off like a fishmonger with 50 years experience was holding the knife but the second side come off like some cave man cut it off with a dull rock?
Asking for a friend who had to fillet 56 saltwater panfish this morning.
😳
Click to expand...

I absolutely know what you are saying. I didn't change my technique I don't think, I just am more careful on the second side. The head to "neck" transition is totally different on the second side. I fillet smaller fish with my hands way up in the mouth and gills to align that transition to have that head to spine straight. If I screw up a side it is on the second side for sure.

I screw up way more on centrarchids (which I seldon fillet) compared to salmonids or percids or saltwater fish.

It is way harder to get perfect fillets on a mixed batch like the pics I've seen you with. I do love a pile of fillets from cookie-cutter fish.

1737372935170.png
 
It's an art form to fillet without getting any bones in the meat. I've tried my whole life and I don't have an answer.

On small-ish firm, bony fish you might try simply running the knife along the entire backbone from front to back. I always fillet from the dorsal side of the fish because that's where the meat is. You'll take the entire rib cage with the fillet. Then simply trim out the bones along with the small amount of meat attached to them. The entire rib cage area will be tossed. Don't labor trying to separate out the meat. I find that on balance you will get just as much meat using this method on small fish as you will dithering over the process. Note that those guys cleaning 50 panfish on TV in ten minutes with an electric knife almost exclusively use this method. It's also the method an old fishmonger showed me for walleye, he can finish the fish in under 20 seconds. No bs.
 
I actually switched up my technique yesterday and started filleting side 2 from the tail forward. Worked better.
Grunts and porgies are like centrarchids when it comes to body plan and bone structure. Except they have the little pin bones along the initial part of the lateral line.
I came away with enough fillets for 8 meals for three people. What I didn’t fry up for fish tacos last night is all vacuum packed and frozen.
 
Also, I bought a two knife set with sharpener from bass pro this year for my Christmas present to me. And I use the hone side of the sharpener often while cleaning fish. Sharp knife makes a huge difference.
 
Carl said:
Also, I bought a two knife set with sharpener from bass pro this year for my Christmas present to me. And I use the hone side of the sharpener often while cleaning fish. Sharp knife makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Fish tacos - YUM!!!

Stuff like porgies crush a knife edge, I agree.
 
The Rapala is 20 years old, mainly used in to remove skin and cleanup fillets
Red handled one is new from BPS
 

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Huntindave McCann said:
I attribute the phenomenon, to the loss of half the fish structure when filleting the second side. I have adapted my process to compensate for this as needed. (A) being right handed one side is always more ergonomic for me. This happens to be the left hand side of the fish. (B) Starting on the left side of the carcass, I make a cut behind the head. Followed by a cut along the spine, only as deep as the rib bones. Once I clear the rib cage, I plunge the knife deeper into the carcass and out just behind the vent. Slicing along the spine until I reach the tail. (C) I do NOT cut thru at the tail, instead, leaving the partially cut fillet, still attached to the carcass, (ribs, along the belly and at the tail).

(D) I then flip the fish over and repeat these steps on the second fillet, except this time I cut thru at the tail and the belly area, fully freeing the fillet from the carcass. (E) Flipping back to the first side, I complete the process and free that side from the carcass.

It is my experience that leaving the first fillet, intact and partially attached, helps me control my cuts on the second side. Works for me. I'm not real fast but I'm pretty thorough and don't leave much meat behind.
Click to expand...

Dave,

I agree 100% with your process. I'm left handed and I take my time just as you do. Time was that PA had a 50 per day Panfish limit. As a artist living off of what I caught Bluegills and Crappies were a essential part of my diet. Filleting 50 fish was a real job but well worth it. Crappies are like butter to fillet. Bluegills are much tougher. I use 3 Rapala (have found none better) knives and strop often to keep the process going at my slow pace. I freeze some filets in Spring Water and they last a very longtime. When thawed they appear and taste fresh.

Now in my Geezer years I C&R almost all the fish I catch while I fly fish. The Bluegills and Rockbass in western NY can be really large and damn fine fishing with poppers. There are size limits thank goodness that some folks adhere to and others do not. A 9" or better Bluegill is a mighty fine fish in my world, enough for a Sangwhich....

Best regards
Vince
 
Good steel makes a huge difference. Most commercial fillet knives are stainless--and that makes sense since they get wet and often exposed to salt water. But I have a good flexible blade boning knife in my kitchen in good carbon steel that is a whole lot easier to get sharp and keep sharp.
 
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