filleting and cleaning fish

[hedgesd]

Filleting trout is easy and very close to bass in some ways. Start by cutting all the fins off including the small bones connected to the middle set. The others you can just cut parallel to the body. Once the fins are out of the way bend the head back until it breaks and pull it down the body. It's up to you if you want to keep the skin attached to the tail section. I do because it all goes into one place and less of a mess. Now for the filleting part. Run your knife along the back bone to remove the meat. Now flip that fillet over and slice along the rib bones. The hardest part is getting the smaller set of bones out but easy once you learn what direction they run. Find them by running your hands along the flesh and make a cut along both sides of the bones. I tend to make the first cut straight down and then the slanted cut but everybody is different. Those bones only go about 2/3 of the trout so the last bone you feel is how far you want to cut. If you did it right you'll end up with a nice looking fillet and your wife will love you for making dinner again.

Best to skin and fillet the fish shortly after they die. If the fish gets soft its hard to skin them and you'll lose more meat. During winter you shouldn't have any problems with soft fish, only frozen fish.
[signature]