12-24-2007, 07:21 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Below is a copy and paste from a post I made a couple of years ago on filleting perch...with pictures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you have a good fillet knife...regular or electric...you can make worthwhile fillets from "healthy" fish over about 8 or 9 inches. Shorter or skinny fish may not be worth the effort to fillet. You can fry them whole and peel the skin off the meat and the meat off the bones fairly easily. They have a simple bony structure with no tiny hair bones like trout.[/#0000ff]
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[black][size 1][size 2][blue]The first pic shows the electric knife I use...made by American Angler. I have lost count of how many fish I have filleted with it in the 6 years I have owned it. I bought a replacement a couple of years ago, when I thought it might be going out, but it has lasted a few thousand more fish since. It came with 2 sets of blades. I use the long ones for bigger fish, and the shorter ones for smaller fish. Duh.
The second pic shows the first cut. Start right behind the head and cut down until you reach the spine. Then, make a hard right turn and start down the spine toward the tail.
The third pic shows the "slabbing" process. Keep the blade parallel to the surface of the board and continue to the tail.
The fourth pic shows flipping the fillet over onto the skin side, with the skin still attached at the tail. This provides a "handle" to hold onto while running the knife to skin the fillet.
The fifth picture shows running the knife blade between the skin and the flesh, to finish skinning the fillet. Be sure to keep the blade flat to get the most efficient skinned fillets.
The sixth picture shows cutting the rib cages away from the skinned fillet. Using a short, sharp blade makes this job easy and leaves a nice clean boneless piece of fish flesh.
The last pic shows how I normally do a large bunch of small fish. I batch them. I fillet and skin the fillets and stack them up on one end of the board. Then, I spread them all out on the board and go from fillet to fillet, cutting out the ribs. Faster and easier than stopping to debone each fillet as you cut it off the carcass.
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[/size][/black] [black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8235;"]![[Image: image.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/files/image.gif)
[#000000] ELECTRIC KNIFE.JPG [/#000000][/url](103 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8236;"][#000000] FIRST CUT.JPG [/#000000][/url](157 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8237;"][#000000] SECOND CUT.JPG [/#000000][/url](156 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8238;"][#000000] FLIP FILLET.JPG [/#000000][/url](143 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8239;"][#000000] SKIN FILLET.JPG [/#000000][/url](153 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8240;"][#000000] REMOVE RIBS.JPG [/#000000][/url](117 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8241;"][#000000] BATCH PROCESS.JPG [/#000000][/url](132 KB) [/size][/black]
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[#0000ff]If you have a good fillet knife...regular or electric...you can make worthwhile fillets from "healthy" fish over about 8 or 9 inches. Shorter or skinny fish may not be worth the effort to fillet. You can fry them whole and peel the skin off the meat and the meat off the bones fairly easily. They have a simple bony structure with no tiny hair bones like trout.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[black][size 1][size 2][blue]The first pic shows the electric knife I use...made by American Angler. I have lost count of how many fish I have filleted with it in the 6 years I have owned it. I bought a replacement a couple of years ago, when I thought it might be going out, but it has lasted a few thousand more fish since. It came with 2 sets of blades. I use the long ones for bigger fish, and the shorter ones for smaller fish. Duh.
The second pic shows the first cut. Start right behind the head and cut down until you reach the spine. Then, make a hard right turn and start down the spine toward the tail.
The third pic shows the "slabbing" process. Keep the blade parallel to the surface of the board and continue to the tail.
The fourth pic shows flipping the fillet over onto the skin side, with the skin still attached at the tail. This provides a "handle" to hold onto while running the knife to skin the fillet.
The fifth picture shows running the knife blade between the skin and the flesh, to finish skinning the fillet. Be sure to keep the blade flat to get the most efficient skinned fillets.
The sixth picture shows cutting the rib cages away from the skinned fillet. Using a short, sharp blade makes this job easy and leaves a nice clean boneless piece of fish flesh.
The last pic shows how I normally do a large bunch of small fish. I batch them. I fillet and skin the fillets and stack them up on one end of the board. Then, I spread them all out on the board and go from fillet to fillet, cutting out the ribs. Faster and easier than stopping to debone each fillet as you cut it off the carcass.
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[/size][/black] [black][size 1]Attachments:[/size][/black] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8235;"]
[#000000] ELECTRIC KNIFE.JPG [/#000000][/url](103 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8236;"][#000000] FIRST CUT.JPG [/#000000][/url](157 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8237;"][#000000] SECOND CUT.JPG [/#000000][/url](156 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8238;"][#000000] FLIP FILLET.JPG [/#000000][/url](143 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8239;"][#000000] SKIN FILLET.JPG [/#000000][/url](153 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8240;"][#000000] REMOVE RIBS.JPG [/#000000][/url](117 KB) [/size][/black] [size 1]Attachments:[/size] [black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=8241;"][#000000] BATCH PROCESS.JPG [/#000000][/url](132 KB) [/size][/black][signature]