Filleting a fish

[Ketchn]

When I see folks butcher beautiful fish in videos with electric knives it makes me cringe.
The art of filleting a fish old school where you follow the skeleton of the fish wastes very little meat .
I know when you have a pile of fish to clean its tempting to hack and whack at them .
But to be sure if you would spend about twice the time and use a regular really sharp fillet knife ,you will get much more meat off the fish .
I can fillet about any size fish with a good sharp knife and it isn't terribly difficult to do .
I often hear a ten inch crappie does not have enough meat on it to keep it .
Some even say you cant fillet bluegill under 8 inches .
neither statement is true or factual ,the meat amount is proportionate to the fish size .
this knife in the photo cost a whopping 2.97 and is NOT made in the USA
But it is a great little knife to clean fish with .
This is just a post to hopefully encourage folks to get the most out of their kept ketches.
Practice a little old school filleting next chance you get
once you understand the skeletal features of the fish you can burn thru a pile pretty quickly .
And yes i know i could have done better on this little bluegill ,but the pile was large and after a few beers , I was a bit surgically challenged
KABOOM is for sure the word btw

[Bricks]

Each to there own if done correctly an electric will do as good of a job as a regular knife, some are just not that good at it. I have not cleaned a fish with a regular knife going on 30 years, except Northern Pike.

[ET Fish]

You did a very good job on that Gill! That being said, it’s electric for me.

[Paris]

I've used both, and can do pretty good with an electric knife after a few to get back in the swing of it, but even tho I can do pretty good with the electric. I still prefer the old school knife. I hate seeing any meat still left on the bones, and I can't seem to get that close with the electric knife. But have watched a lot of videos where some people can

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[RK1]

Say what you will, but an electric knife in the right hands is just as effective. Don’t judge electric knives based off the videos of an unskilled user......


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[keeferfish]

Say what you will, but an electric knife in the right hands is just as effective. Don’t judge electric knives based off the videos of an unskilled user......


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Only way to go especially if your standing there cleaning 30 fish!

[Paris]

I don't disagree with you, but for me, I can't feel the bones with the electric, so I do a better job with a regular filet knife. I've watched a lot of videos of guys that can use an electric knife just as good as a regular one. When they pick the fish up. All you can is bones

Say what you will, but an electric knife in the right hands is just as effective. Don’t judge electric knives based off the videos of an unskilled user......


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[patrapper]

I have both old school knife and electric knife. If I have only a few fish to clean,I old school it. If I have alot of fish to clean,I break out the electric rapala. Both are very efficient for the job.

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[smashdn]

Off with the head and scale. Closer the bone the sweeter the meat! Plus the tails are like little crispy fish chips.

[Ketchn]

The last video i saw of someone using an electric knife was a VERY experienced angler and it was pretty flat out horrible to see big beautiful crappie turned into crappie chunks , hence the reason I posted this thread