I didn't want to hijack the eating trout thread

[fishin' fool]

Okay, so now that we've pretty much determined that it really is okay to eat some of the fish that we catch, will somebody please tell me how to fillet a trout and manage to get the bones out of it? I usually cook them whole, because I can't seem to fillet them well.

[tlerm]

Have you seen this?

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/aquaculture/troutproc.pdf

I tried filleting trout a couple times with limited success. Then I found the above link. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but it looks promising. Maybe someone else let us know how they do it.

[Panman]

If possible do not gut the fish and have the flesh cold (set up fish are easier).

1. Lay fish flat on a cleaning board. It helps if head is secured by a clamp.

2. Cut down across the body right behind the hard gill plate to the backbone, but do not severe the backbone.

3. Insert the point of your fillet knife right next to the dorsal fin, keeping the knife as close to the backbone as possible. Penetrate until the ribs are felt on the tip of the knife.

4. Cut(work) the knife along the ribs, keeping the ribs attached to the backbone until you have separated the flesh from the spiny bones that are the top of the backbone.

5. Now cut the flesh away from the ribs keeping the knife as flat to the ribs as possible to prevent wasting flesh. The ribs remain attached to the backbone.

6. Once you have the fillet cut from the ribs you can easily cut the meat from the ribs to the tail from the backbone.

7. If you plan on on skinning the fish do not sever the skin from the fish when you have completed step 6. Turn the fillet so it is skin side down and insert knife at the rear of the fish and work the skin from the meat. By leaving the skin attached to the tail it gives you something to hold onto during this step.

8. Repeat steps for the other side.

I know this sounds complicated but with a little practice you can do a fish in hardly any time at all with very little meat loss. I use this method not only on trout but on almost all of the warmwater fish as well. I can fillet a crappie in about a minute using the above.This is not my idea but something I read in a book years ago.

Hope this helps.

Tim

[Paddy80701]

The simplest and easiest way that I have found is the way they do it in restaurants. Gut the fish, cook by whatever method you like( I like to poach in foil with a little butter,white wine,garlic and lemon), lay the fish on its side, make a cut down to the backbone across the body just ahead of the tail and another along the dorsal line just to bone, carefully lift the meat and skin straight up and the fillet will come right off the bones, grasp the tail and with another shallow cut on the other side lift the skeleton whole out of the other fillet. 99 o/o of the bones will be removed and you can eat the fillet with gusto ENJOY

[Big Bad Wulff]

You mean? Don't tell me! It's OK to eat the fish you catch?

[jeffnles1]

You mean? Don't tell me! It's OK to eat the fish you catch?

And they are quite yummie too.

Jeff

[namekagon]

To eat a trout is fine...to fillet it first is sacrilegious!

[fishin' fool]

Thanks guys. Paddy, I'll have to give that a try. It sounds like it'd work well. Panman, that's what I do with all my panfish and bass. It works like a charm. For fish like pike, pickerel, and trout, not so much. It still leaves bones, at least in my experience.

Yes, it's okay to eat what you catch and they are in fact quite yummy. Despite what many preach and practice, a wild fish tastes much yummier than a pen raised, dog food fed, hatchery fish. The only hatchery fish that I have had that match a wild one are those stocked as fingerlings and allowed to grow in a natural environment for the majority of their lives. Just my opinion, but one I'll stick with.

[ducksterman]

This won't help since I can't describe how....but my brother can fillet Northern Pike so there is not one bone ..and there is almost no waste...ends up with two solid fillets......I've watched him do it and it is an art.

[Better Loops]

This won't help since I can't describe how....but my brother can fillet Northern Pike so there is not one bone ..and there is almost no waste...ends up with two solid fillets......I've watched him do it and it is an art.

Here is a video for filleting the pike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcWyGrV0qao