How to Clean the Fish You Catch
Tools Needed To Filet Fish
I ate fish often while growing up. Most were small bream and cats caught in local ponds. After I got married, Linda and I ate fish a lot - out of economic need. We would fish for bass during the day but release all them and run trot lines at night for cats. Then I learned to filet bass and now filet everything I catch. Filets are much better to me than fish cleaned any other way.
Fileting fish is fairly easy.
Following is a step by step process that works for me.
1. Catch a fish. I prefer bass of about 1 1/2 pounds and never keep bass over three pounds, letting the bigger ones go to catch again. You can filet any fish but bigger bream and crappie are better. Hybrids from 1/2 to three pounds are good, too.
2. Ice fish down over night. Fish left on ice overnight produce bloodless filets the next day and are much less "fishy" tasting, I think. Fish fileted and fried on the lake bank right after catching them are best, but if I am going to wait till I get home to clean them I always ice them down.
3. Get a good filet knife, sharpen it and find a flat table to use. The picture below shows my set-up with a board across a trash can. I like a big filet knife and I sharpen it just before starting. Many people use electric knives and they work well, but I often cut thru the backbone when I use one and hate cleaning them!
Next Step >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Slit the Belly To Guide Your Cut
4. Flatten the fish out on the board and make a slit through the belly of the fish, from just under the jaw down past the anal fin. I like to cut on either side of the anal fin - this helps guide the knife later. You need a sharp tip on your knife for this step.
Cut Along the Backbone from Head to Tail
5. Lay the fish flat and cut across the body just behind the head. Cut down to the backbone but be careful not to cut through it. When your blade hits the bone, turn it sideways and cut toward the tail, following the slit in the belly and cutting as close to the backbone as possible. Your knife needs to be extremely sharp to cut through the rib bones during this step.
6. Follow the backbone to the tail, stopping the cut without cutting through the skin at the tail. Let that skin hold the filet to the carcass and flip it flat. Cut between the skin and the meat.
7. You now have a filet with rib bones. Many people like to leave them in but I cut them out, ending up with a boneless, skinless filet. I usually put my filets in a ziploc bag with some salt and fill it with water, squeezing out all the water, and leave them in the refrigerator for a day or so. Take them out, rinse in cold water, pat dry, roll in cornmeal and fry. Or, you can freeze them in the ziploc bag.
White fish like bass will keep many months. Oily fish like hybrids start to get rancid in a few months so I try to cook them within two months. They usually don't last that long!
I ate fish often while growing up. Most were small bream and cats caught in local ponds. After I got married, Linda and I ate fish a lot - out of economic need. We would fish for bass during the day but release all them and run trot lines at night for cats. Then I learned to filet bass and now filet everything I catch. Filets are much better to me than fish cleaned any other way.
Fileting fish is fairly easy.
Following is a step by step process that works for me.
1. Catch a fish. I prefer bass of about 1 1/2 pounds and never keep bass over three pounds, letting the bigger ones go to catch again. You can filet any fish but bigger bream and crappie are better. Hybrids from 1/2 to three pounds are good, too.
2. Ice fish down over night. Fish left on ice overnight produce bloodless filets the next day and are much less "fishy" tasting, I think. Fish fileted and fried on the lake bank right after catching them are best, but if I am going to wait till I get home to clean them I always ice them down.
3. Get a good filet knife, sharpen it and find a flat table to use. The picture below shows my set-up with a board across a trash can. I like a big filet knife and I sharpen it just before starting. Many people use electric knives and they work well, but I often cut thru the backbone when I use one and hate cleaning them!
Next Step >>>>>>>>>>>>>
Slit the Belly To Guide Your Cut
4. Flatten the fish out on the board and make a slit through the belly of the fish, from just under the jaw down past the anal fin. I like to cut on either side of the anal fin - this helps guide the knife later. You need a sharp tip on your knife for this step.
Cut Along the Backbone from Head to Tail
5. Lay the fish flat and cut across the body just behind the head. Cut down to the backbone but be careful not to cut through it. When your blade hits the bone, turn it sideways and cut toward the tail, following the slit in the belly and cutting as close to the backbone as possible. Your knife needs to be extremely sharp to cut through the rib bones during this step.
6. Follow the backbone to the tail, stopping the cut without cutting through the skin at the tail. Let that skin hold the filet to the carcass and flip it flat. Cut between the skin and the meat.
7. You now have a filet with rib bones. Many people like to leave them in but I cut them out, ending up with a boneless, skinless filet. I usually put my filets in a ziploc bag with some salt and fill it with water, squeezing out all the water, and leave them in the refrigerator for a day or so. Take them out, rinse in cold water, pat dry, roll in cornmeal and fry. Or, you can freeze them in the ziploc bag.
White fish like bass will keep many months. Oily fish like hybrids start to get rancid in a few months so I try to cook them within two months. They usually don't last that long!
