Fillet knife?

[Slackdaddy]

I am 99.99999 catch and release, because I am terrible at filleting fish, I take forever and make a mess out of the fillets.

I see videos of people whipping through a fish in 3 seconds and coming out with clean fillets.

I have 2 old fillet knives (eagle claw and Rapala), I sharpen them on my powered bass pro knife sharpener, but they do not seem to be razor sharp.

I would like to start bringing home some white perch, etc. But do not want to spend 1/2 hour on each fish.

Any words of wisdom??

[nhunter344]

x2

Unless its a 24" blue catfish with big slabs of meat that hide my ineptitutde, Im awful at fileting anything. My knives are plenty sharp (Buck, Bubba Blade) so I cant even fall back on that as an excuse.

[dsaavedra]

Dexter Russel knives, hands down. They are inexpensive, good quality, no BS knives. They are also NSF certified for sanitization. Look at any professional fish prep operation and you'll see one, they are nondescript knives with white plastic handles. I've had one for a year now and love it. It came very sharp and has stayed sharp, I haven't even sharpened it since I've had it. That's a sign of good steel, not the flimsy crap that rolls an edge with the slightest bit of use.

With a good sharp knife, getting good fillets comes down to a matter of practice. Watch some instructional youtube videos (not ones where people are just showing off how fast they can go). Catch some fish and practice. A general tip is you should keep your knife sharp and not be forcing any of the cuts. Fish flesh is very soft and a sharp knife should go through it with little resistance. So go slow, don't use a heavy hand, and let the knife do the work. Another tip is try not to cut through bones... on little fish it's ok but anything larger than a white perch I'll cut over the rib cage instead of going straight through it.

For white perch I lay the fish on its side, put the knife behind the pectoral fin and cut straight down to the backbone (careful not to go through the backbone! really sucks when that happens), rotate the knife so it's laying flat against the spine and cut lengthwise along the spine straight through the rib cage to separate the fillet from the body. Cut the skin off the fillet (this is sometimes easier if you leave the skin attached at the tail before cutting the fillet off). Lastly I cut the rib cage out of the skinless fillet... I don't get fancy with it, just a nice clean arc around the rib cage like a cookie cutter. Might lose a fraction of an ounce of meat but if I'm cleaning perch I'm usually cleaning a dozen or more so I have plenty of meat to eat and, like you said, can't spend 1/2 hour per fish.

[J.A. Veil]

I rarely clean fish (only 3 fish so far this year), but when I do, I notice a real difference between a freshly sharpened blade and one that has not been sharpened in a while. And knife sharpeners are not all equal. You mentioned that you have an electric powered sharpener from Bass Pro. That may give you a great edge, or it might not -- you have to be the judge. I found that if I use a sharpening steel from the kitchen or a whetstone to give a final touch to the edge just before cleaning my fish, it works better. Don't be afraid to resharpen or touch up the edge after cleaning a few fish.

I personally have not used an electric carving knife for cleaning fish, but know of some people who love them. If you already have an electric knife, give it a try.

[Big Mike]

I use a 40+ year old Rapala fillet knife that I occasionally use a sharpening steel on. I’ve got no issues cleaning anything from 9” perch (filleting anything smaller is a waste of time) up to large rockfish. My hands are kind of dead And I’m generally in a hurry so I don’t have the finesse to cut down to the rib cage and float the knife over the top of the ribs. I just cut behind the head down to the backbone, turn the knife and just follow the backbone to the tail, cutting through the rib bones. Flip the fillet, place knife flat against the skin and slide it between flesh and skin. Perch are very easy to get the skin off this way, they have a thicker skin that removes easily. Now cut ribs off and move on. With practice you should be down to 90 seconds a fish.

Whatever you decide on you want a thin, flexible blade. A stiff blade will tear up small fish.

[john from md]

Don't fillet white perch as it is too much work.

Just cut the head off, clean out the guts and rinse. Put them in your favorite marinating sauce for a couple hours. Put a 12 inch or bigger cast iron pan on the fire. When a drop of water sizzles, ad a tablespoon of peanut or olive oll. Place fish on pan for two to three minutes depending on thickness of fish. The skin will roll up and be no issue.

When ready to eat. Hold the tail down and slip a fork under the meat from the back. Lift up and the meat will come off the bone, even the fine bones. Enjoy.

[thedutchtouch]

I was in this same place a while back. The only thing that helped me was practice. (And I do prefer to scale perch and cook em whole)

[ivanjhon]

for fishing you need to be perfect in it and best japanese sushi knives. These both things will helped you a lot

[Jigsup]

Like some have mentioned a thin flexible blade that is SHARP makes it’s a whole lot easier. You want thin so it can flex while “riding” the knife across the back bone. That is key for smaller fish like white perch. Watch the angle of the blade while making cuts. Thin blades make it easier to filet the skin off also. The more you practice the better/easier it will get. Dexter Russell knives are great for the money. I’d stay away from bubba blades unless you are working with tuna or something equivalent. They are really comfortable and will help keep a firm grip on the handle. The down side to that is on smaller fish you will put to much force on the cut and end up mangling the filet. Also I found the flex blade doesn’t flex enough on small fish. Something else to keep in mind is making sure the fish is fresh.

[Redfish12]

Your current knives are probably fine. I use an AccuSharp knife sharpener and either a dexter or one of those old wooden handle rapala knives for perch (https://www.amazon.com/AccuSharp-ACC...652430&sr=8-20). The biggest thing that I find helps with any fish is to make sure the fish has been well iced and basically solid. It makes a big difference to be able to get a knife through quickly/cleanly. I am generally a catch and release guy for stripers and specs, but larger white perch generally come home with me provided I have ice to put them on.

[mepps3]

I've had a Rapala for 20 years. Sharpened at a hardware store once and it was scary sharp! I use a simple rapala sharpener thing right before each cleaning session. It has a course and fine sharpener. As others have said, it's definitely a feel and practice thing...but a sharp and flexible knife goes a long way. I also use a cleaning board that has a big metal clamp on the end to hold the fish. Clamp the head down with the fish's back towards you. Cut just behind the gills and you reach the back bone, then immediately turn towards the tail and ride along the back bone to the tail. I remove the whole fillets, then use the same clamp to grab the tail end of the fillet and remove the meat from the skin. Sometimes I find the guts get in the way or the knife doesn't quite follow the right path, so my first cut will be to down the middle of the belly from the vent to the gills. On smaller fish, I usually fry or grill with the rib bones still in and remove after cooking.

It takes practice to develop the feel for the proper knife angle. Too deep on the small fish and you'll go through the backbone...to shallow and you might miss a lot of meat. Slow and steady!

[goose]

Hand tool woodworking involves plenty of sharpening. The last step in the process makes a huge difference. A stick of "green polishing compound" and scrap of leather takes an edge to a whole new level. I occasionally need to use a stone on a knife, but most of the time, I reach for leather and honing compound.