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Old 05-31-10, 12:49 AM   #1
66KingFisher
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Default Cleaning your catch......

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?
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Old 05-31-10, 09:00 AM   #2
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I'll get my dad on here, he can fillet a decent bass in about a minutes, completely boneless, and gets every single hunk of meat off the bones as humanly possible!

I could try, but he'll be better at it than I.
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Old 05-31-10, 09:06 AM   #3
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I fillet all my fish, salmon included the same way you described. I've never filleted a pickeral, but I've filleted many pike and walleyes over the years with no trouble. One thing I'll add is that I purchased an electrical fillet knife 10 years ago and I can tell you it makes the job 100% easier and I end up with beautiful fillets. Simply guide the blade and the knife does the work.
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Old 05-31-10, 09:10 AM   #4
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You're technique for filleting is the same I've used for years for perch, crappie, gills etc. I never keep bass to eat though (nothing against anyone who does just don't like the taste of them). I've also use the same techique for walleyes and pike. However, with those you will get Y shaped bones left in and I'm not aware of an easy way to get them out. All of the fish I clean also get skinned using the filet knife.
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Old 05-31-10, 10:16 AM   #5
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66KF, the technique you mentioned is what we do. My dad's really good at, but had a TON of practice growing up. I'd butcher the fish, so I normally just skin the fillets. And let me (or bamabassman ) tell ya, we can go pretty quick.

Some people cut through the ribs and go back and cut them out, but I think that wastes some meat.

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Old 05-31-10, 10:26 AM   #6
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You can Youtube videos showing how to remove the y bones from pike. Looks fairly easy but I've never tried it.
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Old 05-31-10, 11:53 AM   #7
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My dad is a cut through the ribs and then remove kind of guy. It does waste a little meat, but even on a very large stringer, you may lose a filet worth of meat... nothing you will miss at teh dinner table...
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Old 05-31-10, 04:46 PM   #8
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Pickeral require the 4 filet method. Cut the filet off then the skin. Now feel down the middle of the filet for the bone line. Cut the bone line out with a super sharp thin filet knife. You end up with two nice backstrap filets and two thin belly filets.

Since I cleaned fish for extra money after my charters in FL and MD I have cleaned a lot of fish. But the one that takes the cake is a black drum,



You start with a carpet knife and cut from the inside out down the backbone. They have a X backbone so you also get 4 filets out of them.

Now black drum are very hard to cut but triggerfish take the cake. Two triggerfish will dull a knife so quick it is just not fair. I always double charged for cleaning one.

Pickeral and walleye taste the same.. but warm water chain pickeral can have a worm that if not cooked will kill humans. So once again I repeat no freshwater sushi.

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Old 05-31-10, 05:50 PM   #9
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Hey Capt Mike...Icaught a 75 lb. black drum in the Chesapeake Bay a few years ago and had to scale it with a garden hoe....
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Old 05-31-10, 06:12 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Captmikestarrett View Post

...but warm water chain pickeral can have a worm that if not cooked will kill humans. So once again I repeat no freshwater sushi.

Capt Mike

Thanks for the heads up Mike. I looked it up, cause I wanted to know more...here is a link that is at times a little disgusting..

http://www.thelifetree.com/fishtapeworms.htm

Probably a good public service announcement to cook your fish well.
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Old 06-01-10, 10:32 AM   #11
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I've cleaned a lot of walleye/saugeye from our fishing trips up to Canada. We cut along the gills, then down the backbone the same way. The majority of the time you will have pieces of the ribcage still down the middle of the fillet. What we do is make a V or wedge shaped cut to get those bones out. It obviously takes off some meat, but for us seems to be the quickest and easiest way to do it. And it saves having to pick those bones out of your teeth at the dinner table.
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Old 06-02-10, 10:26 PM   #12
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Filleting a pike isn't too bad....yep, just cut out those Y bones.

If you want some fun...try cleaning your first Florida flounder, when you've cleaned nothing but Indiana catfish, bass, and bluegill all your life hehe. Definitely took me a while to get that down. I ate a lot of "flounder nuggets" for a while until I mastered it.
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Old 06-03-10, 06:03 PM   #13
66KingFisher
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CaptMike....thanks for the tips. I'll be using them on my next catch. I can't imagine cleaning some of them big fish your used to dealing with....Must be some slabs of meat come off them guys.

And no worries.....I don't eat sushi.....In fact I like all my dead animals cooked pretty well done....hahaha.
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