Easier way to clean perch??

I am not a filleting master (man, I am not a master at much..lol).

I am wondering , as I am now "banana peeling" all of my perch (just like to get the most meat, and as I said my filleting skills suck)...Is there a faster way to get rid of the veins/blood left along the backbone/in the stomach area; when peeling perch?

Good luck all

Ryan

I'm not a perch master but had to clean a bunch last weekend. I simply used my fillet knife and went along the spine starting behind the head and moving towards the tail. Very little meat was left on the spine. I found you need a very very sharp knife and prefferably slightly stiffer than the average fillet knife. I then trimmed the belly meat and removed the Y-bones. Very nice looking fillets. remember they're little and the yield is definetly proportional. Harder than whites or trout but still worked well.

Peel Em...

No seriously. There is nothing worse than the cuts on your hands when you fillet 15 or more perch.
1.But to Gills and guts out.
2. Head off
3. 1 cut along the top from top of head to top of tail go either side of dorsal fin.
4. Peel the skin down starting from the top because its thicker and easier to grab.
5. Peel towards the tail and both pieces will pull off both sides at the tail
6. dorsal fins pull out with ease.
7. throw in frying pan from there
8. after cooking the meat comes away from the bones very easy.

It sounds hard but it is so fast and easy and there is no waste of meat.

I do peel them, I like this method, and It seems to get me the most meat. I just found the veins and blood along the backbone was a pain in the butt...but it's not too bad...I find a potato peelier works really good to run along the backbone, and then along each rib bone to get it out fast...

thanks

Ryan

I filet and skin them.

With the head in my lleft hand, I cut on an angle towards the head diecrly behind the gill.
Then cut towards the tail, cutting through the ribs as you go . Turn over and repeat on the other side.

Cut the rib bones out.

Now with the skin side of filet down, hold the knife edge perpendicular to and aginst the skin. With your thumb and index finger, pull the skin from the filet. while working your knife side to side.

Works great after a bit of practice, and saves more meat than cutting the meat from the body.