| After The Catchin'-Cleaning And Cooking So you've had a good day on the water and you're bringing some fish home. Now comes the toughest part for some fishermen -- you've got to clean them. Filleting If you can't fillet and eat or freeze your catch right away, it should be field dressed (gutted and gilled), washed with cold water and kept on ice. Then it can be filleted later, or is ready for baking or similar cooking. The sharpest possible filleting knife will help you do the job faster and with less waste. Start by making a cut immediately behind the gills, stopping at the backbone. This cut should be angled about 45 degrees toward the head. Turn the knife toward the tail and make a long continuous cut along the backbone, cutting through the rib bones. Do not cut through the skin at the tail; leaving it attached gives you something to hold as you cut the skin off the fillet. Flop the fillet over so the skin is down, against the cutting board. Cut the skin off the fillet by forcibly holding the knife flat to the cutting surface and then either pushing the blade along the length of the fillet, or pulling on the skin so the knife slides between the skin and meat. A little practice will teach you how to hold the knife so it cuts next to, but not through, the skin. Do the same thing to the other side of the fish. You now have two fillets with rib bones in them. Lay the fillets so the rib bones are up. Put the knife along the top of the rib bones, starting near the backbone, then slice the rib bones off. Keep your blade as close as possible to the bones to minimize the loss of meat. (Hint: try doing this with the fillet flopped over, rib side down; you may find this goes better.)
Filleting--Alternate Method Begin with the same initial cut, but instead of forcing the knife through the whole width of the fish (cutting through the rib bones), cut from the top of the fish just down to the ribs, and extend that cut toward the tail. When you get past the ribs, press your knife through the full width of the fish, cutting to the tail, as before. Pull the meat of the fillet away from the ribs, separating it completely by gently slicing with your knife.
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