Fillet Tips

[Mr. Sandman]

I use to put all fish waste into lobster bags and convert them to lobster. But I have not put my pots in in a couple years now.

If you have to toss it out in the trash, put all the waste in a garbage bad and drop it in the bait chest freezer. (I have a chest freezer just for bait, I use that) Then the day the trash is collected take it out and put it next to the house hold trash. It will stay frozen long enough and not smell.

Or you can freeze them and then on your next shark trip just bring a big cooler of fish waste and add to the chum mix. (I am doing this on Thursday!)


I fillet a lot of fish as well and I am a fast and clean. A sharp knife is the key as well as a well chilled fish. I asked about the electric model for fish like sea bass and tog. seabass slime can be a pain. I am always looking for a better way to do stuff.

At home set up your cooler rack on your truck front bumper as a table to clean fish on. Stand up, don't kneel down. Have a hose and a trash bag for waist and a clean tub for the fillets. The cooler is the right height to clean fish on and all the mess is outside and gets hosed off.

I find it easier to clean fish at home than on a moving boat coming back in but I prefer to dump all that waste offshore when I can.

[leptar]

[Got Stripers]

My brother-in-law from Ellsworth ME loves white perch and watching him riffle through 50 perch after a morning on the lake was amazing. Back in the day he used a sharp filet knife like I do now for black sea bass and tog, but he has switched to an electric filet knife and swears by it for perch. If it works for perch I'm sure it will work well for sea bass, I plan to pick one up next time I'm near Bass Pro. This spring I upgraded my filet station, its always been in a nice cool spot under a truppet vine covered trelless, but the actual cutting station was an old crappy kitchen formica counter top. This year I put down a pressure treated frame, exterior plywood, tiled it with some left over 8x8 blue ceramic tile, with a large piece of starboard I picked up at West Marine for $40. Put me out $100 when all said and done, but it looks sweat, cleans up nice and it's nice for veggie work in the middle now on the cutting board. My friend has a sweat set up, old granite counter top with running water, that is the ultimate in form and function.

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

I use to put all fish waste into lobster bags and convert them to lobster. But I have not put my pots in in a couple years now.

If you have to toss it out in the trash, put all the waste in a garbage bad and drop it in the bait chest freezer. (I have a chest freezer just for bait, I use that) Then the day the trash is collected take it out and put it next to the house hold trash. It will stay frozen long enough and not smell.

Or you can freeze them and then on your next shark trip just bring a big cooler of fish waste and add to the chum mix. (I am doing this on Thursday!)


I fillet a lot of fish as well and I am a fast and clean. A sharp knife is the key as well as a well chilled fish. I asked about the electric model for fish like sea bass and tog. seabass slime can be a pain. I am always looking for a better way to do stuff.

At home set up your cooler rack on your truck front bumper as a table to clean fish on. Stand up, don't kneel down. Have a hose and a trash bag for waist and a clean tub for the fillets. The cooler is the right height to clean fish on and all the mess is outside and gets hosed off.

I find it easier to clean fish at home than on a moving boat coming back in but I prefer to dump all that waste offshore when I can.

[bart]

The last thing I want to do after fishing all night, walking a mile each way, sweating my ass off in my waders, then driving an hr to get home is clean a fish when I'm dead tired and the mosquitos are out...

[Rockfish9]

I do all me filletting with a 30 year old 10" Kershaw fillet knife, which is much stiffer than the average fillet knife,it is more like a boning knife.. a couple swipes on a ceramic or diamiond steel every 12-14 fish keeps it sharp enough to shave with...

I prefer to fillet around the rib bones.. It saves me the trouble of picking out and cuttiing out the bones latter and it's pretty darn fast...the belly meat is not worth saving IMHO, so a few quick cuts and I'm around it and the rib cage.

I like to keep a towel or piece of burlap under the fish to let it soak the slime.. rinse it off when it gets "clogged" with gurry and scales...

once you go to skinning remove the towel, as the sliding action aids in skinning the fish...

I also like to throw the fillets in a bucket of salt water mixed with ice...as I skin them.. it helps remove any worms and blood/slime for the fish..it also firms up the fillets..

I've got an electric knife.. there is a learning curve.. but i can still use my kershaw and out fillet the electric 3:1....