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| Bill Kinney Photography |
To begin with you will need a nice fish fillet blade. The blade should be long, thin and atleast 9-11 inches, depending on the size of the fish you are filleting. The most important thing to remember when cutting up anything is to keep your blade sharp. A dull blade will just tear the meat and become annoying.
Next you will need a fish fillet board. These look like large clipboards and are used for holding the fish when cutting it. Fish are best when cut up fresh, so if the fish is still alive use either the knife handle or a hammer to hit it sharply and quickly over the head. This will stun and kill the fish so that you can easily fillet it. After that place the head of the fish in the clip so that it is held fast and won't slide around when handling.
Once you have secured the fish, place your fillet knife behind the gill at a perpendicular angle to the fish spine, and cut down until you feel a slight resistance, this will be the rib bones. In one smooth cut, fillet from behind the gill all the way through the tail by holding and cutting flat along the length of the fish. This is why it is important to have a sharp knife, so that you don't have to fight with the fillet and hack at the fish.
Turn the cut over so that the scales are facing the board. With your free hand hold the tail end of the fillet against the board. Starting near the tail, fillet the meat from the skin in the same motion you used to separate the fillet from the fish. This will take a little practice, but once it is done a few times it goes very smoothly.
Once you have just a fillet of meat, run your hand over it to feel for any bones. To remove bones, simply slide the point of the knife under the bone and slice it out. Once again, practice is needed so that you waste as little meat as possible. Its a learning process though! Just remember to have fun!
Place the finished fillet in a bowl of cold water, flip the fish over and repeat on the other side. Fillet all your fish this way. When finished rinse the fillets once again in clean, cold water and place in a bowl filled with water and about a 1/2 tbsp of salt. Let stand for 20 minutes. The salt helps to draw the blood out of the fish fillets and helps to clean them. Lastly rinse your fillets again in cold fresh water, pat dry, and either fry 'em up or store them for later!
The leftover fish pieces can either be buried in a garden and make for great fertilizer (just be sure to bury atleast 18 inches deep so something doesn't decide to dig it up later) or, unless you want the whole house to smell like a dead pond, place in a garbage bag in the freezer until garbage day.
Have fun fishing!
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