Filleting

[Reddog]

I am trying hard to improve my filleting skills. Not doing it as well as I would like though. It would be appreciated if any one would share the following: tips, techniques, pictures, or resources. Is it possible to do all fish boneless?

[hunt_and_fish]

These are both fairly good instructions IMO:

This one is for pike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBzhM9aUqPI&feature=related

-I've seen it done a little smoother but this video does a good job explaining where the Y-bones are and how to remove them.



This one is for trout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0VaIhb6xoU&feature=related

-this guy doesn't remove the skin - but that is fairly straight forward.

Hope these help.

[-JR-]

This site is much easyer to fallow

why-fish.com

[Salvelinus]

What fish are you trying to fillet? Do you want the skin off? Perch, walleye and whitefish all fillet the same way, trout and salmon a little different. There are tons of ways to do pike, but all require a good amount of practice. Burbot are in a whole world of thier own.

[Reddog]

I was asking in general. But if I had to pick two they would be whitefish and trout. How would you do whitefish and trout differently??

[jrs]

You would do whitefish and trout the same. Get a 6'' fillet knife, fairly flexible, good quality steel with good edge helps. Use this method:


http://www.fishingcairns.com.au/page17-1.html

That will give you the two fillets, bones in, skin on. It works easiest on fish 12-16'', that fish they're doing will be harder than a whitefish. I always remove the y-bones in a strip then use the strips to make chowder. Here's a pike demo, whitefish and trout are much easier.

removing y-bones
http://www.onthelake.net/fishing/ybones.htm

I fillet a ton of fish using that method and it gets pretty quick. Salvage fishing this year (permits in irrigation systems, legal) me and my dad did our 40 in about 1.5 hrs/packed/frozen. End product was enough boneless whitefish fillets for the next year.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b158/edsicom/whitefish.jpg

Wish i had some pictures of our method, everyone changes it a bit, we gut them first (i think the link did too) but leave scales on, leaving heads on fish definetly speeds it up and gives your hand a place to grip. Rib and y-bone removal takes majority of time.

[Salvelinus]

My main difference between trout and whitefish is that I leave the skin on the trout.... Nothing beats crispy trout or salmon skin. To remove the skin, start from the head end, fillet to the tail but DON'T cut clean through. Flip the fillet out and run the knife between the flesh and skin. With a sharp knife, this is a quick motion that requires little effort.

Y-bones are specific to pike. They curve into the fillet and are y-shaped. The equivalent in other fish is the pin bones, much smaller, not y-shaped and easier to remove. If it's a big whitefish, trout or salmon I fillet it and pick the pin bones out with a pair of needle-nose pliers one at a time (you can feel them), there should be around 20 of them. Wastes no meat at all, gives you a nice big intact fillet for the grill... just like the commercially prepared fillets from the supermarket.

Like JRS said, get a good quality fillet knife and be obsessional about keeping a good edge on it.

[Piker]

I came across a tool at a trade show a few yrs. back that is like a 3 pronged fork with the prongs bent straight down in the middle. You lay the fish out stick the prongs into the fish right behind the gills and hold the handle. It sure helps keep the fish in one place. If I ever figure posting photos i will do so.

[muzzy]

Sal , the Y bones are in most fish including walleye( pickeral) and trout and salmon

Easy to cut out just feel for the bones once you have filleted and removed ribs and make a cut on each side down the fillet till they end ( about 2/3rds down fillet and take it out It leaves the whole fillet in a Y shape but totally boneless

Gord