Thread: cleaning fish

I have that same one you are talking about Hillbilly910. I had it for a long time and it doe's work very well.I did find that the fish are easyer to scale with it before you put them on ice too.

Originally Posted by limbhook

Does anyone clean their panfish whole, and if so has anybody ever used a spoon to remove the scales.

I prefer them that way, for myself ... Crappie or gills/bream/sunfish/etc. (I clean them like Blackhawk's pic shows) That's the way I cleaned the last mess of Gills & Shellcrackers I caught ... last month.
Now, when I clean them, and there's a possibility that someone else may be eating them .... I use a elec knife and filet them.

The trick with using a spoon to remove scales, and not have the scales flying all over the place ... is to not let the scales dry out. Scaling them with a spoon, under running water, will also keep the scales from flying.

... cp

I fillet my fish now, but many years ago i didn't know how so i would dress them whole, and use a spoon to remove the scales. It is in deed a drawn out process, but now and then we like to eat our fish whole, i think they taste better whole, but they also taste good fillet i was just wondering how many used a spoon as opposed to a knife. I think the tail taste the best.

when i clean small fish like brim, crappie or white perch, i fillet one side off and leave the other side intact. around here fried fish tails are a delicacy and is my favorite bite on a small fish. filleting one side of give you two different cuts to offer, which also satisfies those that dont wanna deal with bones.

I like to filet mine, like some others, my father taught me to cut the heads off, gut em & lay 'em to the hot grease. He loved them that way. Now to me, that's alot like work, picking out bones, I do have a small metal scaler, but have used a spoon.

Most the time it depends on the size, if I have a good mess of good sized fish, I'll filet them, if I have a few & they are small, I'll just cut & gut and away we go.

Originally Posted by willk

That's how we did it when I was young....many years ago. I like to eat bream on the bone once in a while. Love the fried tails.

:D me too.

Ehhh, I dont' know, my Grandad and my Dad made the transition to fish I'd fileted and seemed to enjoy them.

When it comes to gills I think they have more taste if scaled & fried whole. I use a hack saw blade folded in two then wrapped with cord to hold together & is the handle also. Crappie are filleted. Gills tail is cats meow.............:D

Whole, skin on scales off, no rib bones, cut on each side of dorsal. Tail is good, so is eggs.

INGrandad, Are you talking about skinning with one of those things that remind you of a sardine can opener?? If so, do you have any pictures or a video to post?

If I scale, I hold the fish underwater in a five gallon bucket using an old butter knife. Scales can't fly out and easy to get rid of the mess.