04-28-2009, 04:29 PM
I have seen the light on electric fillet knives. So much so that I too have an un-opened spare in the basement for when/if the primary one goes out.
I went through a limit of crappie from UT Lake this winter with my electric knife in about 15 minutes. Makes decent work of a cooler full of white bass too.
I also figured out the "batch ribbing" after about 50 fish. Now, I keep a bowl of ice water there that I throw the fillets into ribs and all. Once I am done with the rest of the fish, I go back and pull them out of the ice water and take out the ribs.
I have found with the electric knife I can get an even better fillet than before by going down to the spine then turning the blade so it is just slightly tilted into the spine as I drag it down the fish. I found when I tried to run it parallel, all too often I would get little bumps in the fillet where I came off the spine and couldn't keep it straight. The slight angle toward the spine got rid of this. Now, when I fillet, the meat left on the spine is so thin, can see through it.
Ran into an old timer out on the lake that knew everything there is to know about fishing (According to him) we got talking about filleting fish.. He asked me:
HIM: "How long it takes me to fillet a crappie"
ME: "30 seconds" (I later timed it after our conversation and it's 18 seconds)
HIM: "Me too, but I don't use an electric knife like you, they're worthless"
ME: "That's nice"
some guys, if you let them ramble long enough.. they'll tell you everything they DON'T know.[blush]
[signature]
I went through a limit of crappie from UT Lake this winter with my electric knife in about 15 minutes. Makes decent work of a cooler full of white bass too.
I also figured out the "batch ribbing" after about 50 fish. Now, I keep a bowl of ice water there that I throw the fillets into ribs and all. Once I am done with the rest of the fish, I go back and pull them out of the ice water and take out the ribs.
I have found with the electric knife I can get an even better fillet than before by going down to the spine then turning the blade so it is just slightly tilted into the spine as I drag it down the fish. I found when I tried to run it parallel, all too often I would get little bumps in the fillet where I came off the spine and couldn't keep it straight. The slight angle toward the spine got rid of this. Now, when I fillet, the meat left on the spine is so thin, can see through it.
Ran into an old timer out on the lake that knew everything there is to know about fishing (According to him) we got talking about filleting fish.. He asked me:
HIM: "How long it takes me to fillet a crappie"
ME: "30 seconds" (I later timed it after our conversation and it's 18 seconds)
HIM: "Me too, but I don't use an electric knife like you, they're worthless"
ME: "That's nice"
some guys, if you let them ramble long enough.. they'll tell you everything they DON'T know.[blush]
[signature]