Thread: How to fillet a crappie/bluegill

Hello everyone, first time poster here so bear with me, I use an electric fillet knife to clean almost all of the fish I catch. I do on occasion do a few crappie for frying whole just for old times sake but after I got used to the electric I'll never go back to the regular fillet knife. I still own several good fillet knives that get used to trim ribs and trim redmeat off of stripe and catfish but I promise the electric is well worth the time it takes to get good with it, the best advice I can give for learning with the electric is don't hurry, speed will come with practice .

i scale my fish with airhose . in the summer i have used a water hose . i like my fish whole . do fillet some bigger ones but do like the skin on them . don`t mind picking bones out . that gives me time to dijest and can eat more .:D

Welcome to Crappie.com
I too use a electric knife. As long as the blades are sharp I find this to be much faster than a regular knife.
Bill

I also use an electric knife and will never go back to the old way. Here is how I do it though. I cut straight down to the backbone behind the gill and then turn the knife blade along the backbone and run it to the tail cutting right through the ribs but stop just shy of disconnecting the fillet on that side from the tail. Slip the knife out and flip the fish over and do the same on the other side, leaving it connected at the tail also. Then just flip that side off to expose the meat side of the fillet while its still connected to the fish and just run the blade down the fillet to remove it from the skin. Then fold the skin back up on the fish flip it over and take the fillet off the other side. I leave the fillet on the other side because it helps to hold the fished shape while running the second cut down the backbone. What you end up with is the fillet with the ribs in them which you lay with the inside facing up and with a sharp knife a "V" cut will extract that ribcage lickity split. It is amazing how fast you can fillet a crappie this way when you get the hang of it. I forget where I read about this but it has saved me a bunch of time and I would highly recommend you give it a try.

Originally Posted by FishCrazy

I also use an electric knife and will never go back to the old way. Here is how I do it though. I cut straight down to the backbone behind the gill and then turn the knife blade along the backbone and run it to the tail cutting right through the ribs but stop just shy of disconnecting the fillet on that side from the tail. Slip the knife out and flip the fish over and do the same on the other side, leaving it connected at the tail also. Then just flip that side off to expose the meat side of the fillet while its still connected to the fish and just run the blade down the fillet to remove it from the skin. Then fold the skin back up on the fish flip it over and take the fillet off the other side. I leave the fillet on the other side because it helps to hold the fished shape while running the second cut down the backbone. What you end up with is the fillet with the ribs in them which you lay with the inside facing up and with a sharp knife a "V" cut will extract that ribcage lickity split. It is amazing how fast you can fillet a crappie this way when you get the hang of it. I forget where I read about this but it has saved me a bunch of time and I would highly recommend you give it a try.

Thats how I do it . I can fillet out a fish in 30 seconds doing it that way. Go through a mess of fish in no time at all. Best part is no bones. the kids can chow down with no worries and so can I. CF

Originally Posted by FishCrazy

I also use an electric knife and will never go back to the old way. Here is how I do it though. I cut straight down to the backbone behind the gill and then turn the knife blade along the backbone and run it to the tail cutting right through the ribs but stop just shy of disconnecting the fillet on that side from the tail. Slip the knife out and flip the fish over and do the same on the other side, leaving it connected at the tail also. Then just flip that side off to expose the meat side of the fillet while its still connected to the fish and just run the blade down the fillet to remove it from the skin. Then fold the skin back up on the fish flip it over and take the fillet off the other side. I leave the fillet on the other side because it helps to hold the fished shape while running the second cut down the backbone. What you end up with is the fillet with the ribs in them which you lay with the inside facing up and with a sharp knife a "V" cut will extract that ribcage lickity split. It is amazing how fast you can fillet a crappie this way when you get the hang of it. I forget where I read about this but it has saved me a bunch of time and I would highly recommend you give it a try.

yup, thats the way I do it too, but I dont leave the 1st fillet in, but after reading this I might give it a try though :D . I do one side, then the v-cut, then the other. I use an electric knife and this seems to be the fastest, easiest way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqCoph-C6Jo

Thanks Matt s for the link. Very nice video. I love youtube.