Townsend fish skinner

So me and my buddies are in the fish cleaning shack one night and this guy comes in and he’s got one of these Townsend fish shinners. It cuts the skin and ribs out with practically zero wasted meat. Anyone use one?
Pretty slick.. Gonna have to get me one.

That skinner is 50 years old,and slow. There are much better ways to skin a cat and a fish.JMHO

Go to youtube and check out townsend fish skinner and click on the video “preparing perch”…it’s an interesting way of doing things and you get more meat. The process seems a tad slow though! I’ve seen another video where a Native Amer Dude clean a Perch in 10 seconds, somewhat similar method. Also, if you skin too close on most of the Eye’s down here in SE WI, you pick a ton of red meat which is a huge no-no in my family! All in all it does look kinda cool!!!!

Nothing will take the ribs out with less material than the Townsend.. or, the skin.. There are tricks to using one, and it takes some practice, but when you get experienced, just like anything, they are far from slow..

I like to buy mine off Ebay, for like $3, from the guys that dont take the time to learn how to use them..

I wish I could see it in action, especially taking out ribs…seems very interesting!

Looks like there certainly is an opportunity for someone to put a you tube video up of how a Townsend really is supposed to be used..

Like This Video?

Looks pretty cool. One thing I can’t stand is wasting even an ounce of a fillet. The way they cut that perch up seems like minimal loss and most of the bones get removed.

Love the canadien accent. Cool but very slow. No waste!

Nope, I seen that one.. That is a super modified Townsend! Bolted together at the handle, oversized crank,on a pedestal… The way they clean fish, I can certainly understand their logic, but like posted before.. quite slow. (but, you gotta factor in that this is an instructional video with extra time taken) I bet those 2 guys, could really make hay if they put it in full production mode.

The Townsends work great for Perch of any size, and walleyes up to 18-20″. After that, you gotta take a couple bites to get the skin off. Larger than 24, is hopeless. Just not wide enough.

You can do northerns, but its not much fun.

Gills work pretty good also, but these things are really the cats meow for perch and eating sized walleye..

For me, its all about yield, and this will yield the most meat, if youre any good with the fillet knife to begin with..

Do you HAVE to keep mentioning cats??

There’s more than one way to skin a cat

Ever since I got the electric fillet knife there is no turning back. I still butcher a little around the belly and ribs, but not nearly as bad as I used to be manually and I am fast now.

My brothers used to have a field day watching me fillet with a normal knife. There is a point where you try too to get all the meat and you slow way down and end up butchering it worse than had you just got it done.

I gotta get one just for skinnin flathead CATS

We just started using one of these this year, my buddy got it from his pops, no body used it thought it was too slow. We’ve been having great success with it just taking out rib bones. You have to take a few swipes on fish over 24″ but as previously stated for “eaters” you really can’t beat it.

For those saying it’s slow, it really isn’t if you’re just using it for ribs. My new method is the fastest I’ve ever been with the most meat consistently I’ve ever got.

I use the skinner, an electric knife with straight blades and a regular filet knife. I take the fillets off the fish first down to 1/2″ on the tail both sides with the electric, then use the skinner to take the ribs out, then slice or “zip” the lateral bones out with two swipes while the fillet is still on the skin. Then I use the tail as a handle to remove the skin with the electric knife. I use the electric for skin because I don’t like the silver skin the skinner leaves on the fillets. I used to just flip the fillet skin side up and run a knife between the ribs on the table but the Townsend is just much better and faster. These things are great.

I’m going to assume you guys have already seen this one.

Here’s my favorite fish cleaning how-to. Complete with the Canadian accent too.

Canadian accent? Sounds MinnesOHtan to me.

mplspug wrote:

Canadian accent? Sounds MinnesOHtan to me.

Not “filet”…”phil it”

Was at West Bend in SD last spring and saw a guy using one. Figured I couldn’t live without one. Bought it and have yet to use it. I keep forgetting I have it jerr