whats the best way to do it?[COLOR="Silver"]

Firstly, try and fillet a cooked one, to see how the bones lie.

It helps to have a sharp and flexible knife, particularly if you haven't had much practice - strop you knife on a leather belt.

Make a cut round the head (but leave the head on). The cut at the top of the head should be roughly as far down as the rear gill. From this cut you should be able to see the backbone o the fish.

Hold the fish down with the palm of the left, head towards your chest backbone to the right, and make an incision all the way down the backbone with the point of the knife. This cut should be away from the fish (once you get a feel for what you are doing, this step can be omitted, but for now it's handy to get a view of what's going on).

Now with fish across the body, slide the knife into the incision, imagine where the bones are and at about 45 degree angle slice the fillet away, from head to tail. Keep the knife fairly flat ie don't cut down into the fish and keep you left hand lightly on top of the fish.

When your fillet is off, run your fingertips along to check for bones (I always find some!). If you're not using the bones for stock you don't have to gut the fish.

To skin, put the fish skin side down tail towards you and cut down to the skin, then holding the knife very flat, pull the skin towards you with smooth cutting from the knife.

Hope that all makes sense.

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Wanted: A polarised monocle.

It sounds so so easy but i have tried this so so many times and watched countless you tube clips, i still make an ar@e out of it 9 times out of 10.

Kev

A few points

Knife: try and find a soft carbon steel one and learn to use a sharpening steel . Stainless steel is often to hard to take a really sharp edge. I have a french opinel one not expensive but brilliant

I find that laying the fish on a newspaper helps to stop it sliding around. Also after each fish you simply roll the guts and head etc up in the newspaper and chuck it away..

In the summer I pop the debris in a carrier in the freezer till bin day that stops the lovely odour and the flies...

If the flesh feels soft when you come to fillet it gut it without filleting it and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours to firm up. Or even just pop the whole fish in the fridge for an hour or two...

Keep trying...

Tried to post link but it did not work

Sharper knife! A bendy one helps too, but sharpness is the key. It then just becomes a matter of how little you leave on the carcass..

People who are really good at it could probably get away with a teaspoon and excellent technique, but when starting you'll have neither.

I use a global filleting knife which you can just about shave with when it's decently sharp. As pointed out above, use a stone and a strop (with grinding paste) to polish.

As an alternative to a stone there are the ceramic wheel sharpeners which are good. Polish as before on a strop. However, you should rarely have to sharpen a filleting knife - a stop now and then should keep you going for about 12 months.

Using a steel is vaguely OK, but you won't get a very sharp edge, just a sharp one. The Japanese, who rather like their fish cut in a particular way, don't tend to use them..

What your blade is made of is not critical: the type of steel is more important to the length of time the blade will keep the edge and whether it discolours or not.

For a very very sharp laminated knife, try the IceBears from Axminster tools (if they still do them).

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Wanted: A polarised monocle.

I'm absolutely useless at filleting it' got to be said. With my first trout of the decade I didn't want to run the risk of ruining another fish even if it was a rainbow so I gutted and removed the head. Then opening the body and ran a sharp knife down the rib cage, this allowed me to run the knife between the cage and the meat removing it. I think slowly trimmed the spine out and snapped the tail end out. There's a how to on You Tube for this too... not the best way to sort a fish out but it kept it looking half tidy. I'm planning on learning the proper way but I think it a major case of practice makes perfect

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Emyr Griffiths

Cut the head and tail off, slide the knife down backbone from front to back do same other side and into pan with **** of butter melted into it when cooking....loverly.

good tips there thanks. I just use a knife sharpner (the round ones). Never heard of using leather but im curious....how does this work? Is it to polish the blade rather than leave a serated edge? Im just guessing here

My old mother does something similar with wee hill loch trout, Ive watched her but cant manage to do it. She takes the head and the tail offf turns the fish so the back is facing up pushes down with the heel of her hand till the fish is flat turns it over and removes the bones by sliding a butter knife under the bones! She does it that quick its awesome.


Now myself Ive tried using the filleting knife and even had ma mate whos got his own fishmongers to show me but cant master how do it.

So I only fillet large fish and heres how I do it. Have the fish lying with its back towards you. Lift up the gut cavity. I use a large knife like a carver and make sure its sharp, cut down at the back of the gills till I hit the back bone, then as Im cutting turn the knife towards the tail and follow the backbone down to the tail keeping an angle on the knife towards the backbone. Then repeat on the other side. Turn the fillet skin side down, if your right handed them have the back to your left and tail away to remove the rib cage. You clearly see where the ribs are, gently get your knife between them and the flesh and cut under between the flesh and bones. Now no matter what method you use you now need to deal with the pin bones. I use a tattie pealer to remove them. Locate the pins by using your fingers once located run the pealer only the line, each time a pin pops into the pealer, twist ihe pealer to remove the bone or you could pull it out with pliers. If you wish to remove the skin then follow Marmalades spot on post or cut into 6oz steaks and freeze. This was how I done my Salmon when I work as a chef hope it helps.

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Till The Next Cast

Cheers

JOHN



Some Fishing photos!!

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...t=71c37867.pbr