Cleaning your catch......

[66KingFisher]

Since my recent catch of a Chain Pickerel and a Saugeye was something new to me, and the subsequent filleting/butchering I did in trying to clean fish I knew nothing about, got me to thinking about the techniques used to clean different species of fish. So I had to ask:.....what cleaning techniques do you use for the species you catch?

As for me, the way I was taught to fillet a bass/crappie/perch and catfish, was to cut behind the gills and then run your blade down the length of the fishes back using the "backbone" as a guide.....You can kinda feel the bones with the knife and you basically cut the sides of meat from the fish without taking any bones with it.....flip that section of meat over and remove the skin/scales with your knife, and you have your fillets.

When I was younger and fished alot more regularly then I do now, I was pretty good at that.....After today, I realize it has been quite a few years since I cleaned fish on a regular basis and I'm nowhere near as good at it, as I once was.

When cleaning Trout we always just head and gut them and cook them...i've also cleaned small bluegills using that method only you have to remove the scales on them.

Not knowing any better I tried to fillet the Pickerel and Saugeye the same as I would any other fish, but I found it to be alot more difficult then I expected....it seems those fish must have extra bones that end up in the sides of meat that come off, and neither of them had a sizable backbone that I could use as a guide for my knife which seemed to add to the difficulty I was having.....I got meat off them but I kinda butchered them more then anything, and the meat still has tiny bones in it that I can feel, but can't really do anything about removing them that I'm aware of.....Just cook'm and deal with them at supper time I suppose...lol

So lets hear it guys.....How do you guys clean your catch?