Can anyone tell me of a good book and/or video that shows how to filet the different fish, and where to buy it. I have to learn to do it myself this year and need some help. Yes, Yes, I know, I mostly practice C&R, but for that once and a great while when there is call for a panfish fry, well ya know.
Thanks for any help. 
Carpgirl – you can learn free and easy. Just go watch the guys/gals in a fish house. Watch and ask a few questions. Piece of cake.
Sgt. Rock, Thanks for the post. Un-zipping fish looks like a great way to clean fish. Never heard of it before! 
I know…I’m noted for changing topics….but most people fillet their fish. Walleye’s are one the top of the list, but when I was younger (quiet Jake ) my dad didn’t know about filleting fish. Larger eye’s were cut into “steaks” after they were scaled. 13 – 14 inchers were called “whole fish” ’cause they would be cleaned like a trout, scaled and cooked skin on.
Same with bluegills and crappie.
I think you get a better (tasting) fried fish cooking them with bones in… although my wife and brother in law won’t eat them if there’s bones in them. (just another reason to leave the bones in lol)
It does take a little more time and if you have to scale a fish in your house…well….rest in peace. 
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I know…I’m noted for changing topics….but most people fillet their fish. Walleye’s are one the top of the list, but when I was younger (quiet Jake ) my dad didn’t know about filleting fish. Larger eye’s were cut into “steaks” after they were scaled. 13 – 14 inchers were called “whole fish” ’cause they would be cleaned like a trout, scaled and cooked skin on.
Brian, do you remember when everyone had to ride around on a horse and buggy? 
Seriously though, I agree with Brian on the flavor. Scaled blue gill cooked with skin on, the best! But I still choose to filet jsut about everything, especially with the kids around. Don’t want anyone getting a bone in the throat.
Did most of you guys learn to clean fish just by watching others?
The only thing bad about scaling your fish is you tend to find scales stuck to various parts of your body for days afterward.
Gator Hunter
We had a spot in the basement (utility room) where we had a couple of big sink…I think they were some sort of concrete…they were side by side with a divider in the middle about 3’x3’x2′ deep each…then we had a table opposite of that with a porcelain type of top where all the learning about the art of scaling fish and them filleting them…skin on was the only way back then…fish with beer batter and home made fries…Dad got to drink beer but mom made us kids malts!!! I remember putting some of the fish in the sinks and trying to keep them alive…they would try to swim around …but that didn’t last long…then dad would scoop them out and start scaling them…
Damn those were the good days!!
Saw this at Cabela’s.
Rock-It Automatic Fish Scaler
It looks like a good product but I have no first hand knowledge.
When I was a kid my Mom taught me to scale fish with a spoon. Never heard of fileting fish until high school.
A buddy and I learned to filet with dull knives and no clue what we were doing. Now I use the Mister Twister Electric Knife, sure does save a bunch of time.
Seems like it was only yesterday, doesn’t it ya little stinker? 
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We had a spot in the basement (utility room) where we had a couple of big sink…I think they were some sort of concrete…they were side by side with a divider in the middle about 3’x3’x2′ deep each…then we had a table opposite of that with a porcelain type of top where all the learning about the art of scaling fish and them filleting them…skin on was the only way back then…fish with beer batter and home made fries…Dad got to drink beer but mom made us kids malts!!! I remember putting some of the fish in the sinks and trying to keep them alive…they would try to swim around …but that didn’t last long…then dad would scoop them out and start scaling them…
Damn those were the good days!!
Ahhh, the good ‘ol days! Used to clean Bull Heads (that’s right, bull heads) with a pair of pliers and then the old man would make me and my cuz go burry the cuts in a hole. Ahhh, the good ‘ol days…
Yep, I can remember some of those GOOd ‘OLE DAYS I’ve cleaned a lot of fish in my day. Everyway and any way you want them cleaned. Been there and did them all. Actually I don’t mind cleaning fish once I get started. I find it rather relaxing. Have also done the spoon bit too.
I never tried the spoon thing. Did you use it to keep the scales all going in the same direction. I have scaled my fair share and yes peeled a few bull heads in my day too . Pliers work great. Jim
Fishing Machine…althought the good old days were good, todays’ days are Great! Lot’s of modern inconvieniances. I know a lot of people that don’t like cleaning fish, but I too don’t mind it. I never thought of it before, but relaxing describes it.
I never became as fast as my dad cleaning a bluegill…I made him retire from cleaning fish a few years ago. After all the fish he’s cleaned for me…figure it’s payback time.
My uncle had a fish scaler…a bucket that you attached a drill to. It seemed to beat/bruise up the fish too much.
Wade.. Didn’t know anyone with a horse and buggy. ’56 chev and ford pickup trucks though. For haul’en milk to the creamery. But there’s a lot to be said about a good horse and buggy. Don’t care about gas prices, insurance or speeding tickets.
Back to spoons…they worked for crappies, but man, you get a 3/4 pound sunnie and a spoon was tuff. Three Beer bottle caps nailed to a piece of wood for a handle worked much better!
Anyone buy one of those Cutco fishing knives?
My mom always went against the grain with a spoon. Seemed to work out each and everytime. Those fish were bigger and tasted better than anything I have ever caught. Then again I was just a small boy.
Hopefully my son will think the walleye we eat today is better than what he cooks in 15 years.
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My mom always went against the grain with a spoon. Seemed to work out each and everytime. Those fish were bigger and tasted better than anything I have ever caught. Then again I was just a small boy.
Hopefully my son will think the walleye we eat today is better than what he cooks in 15 years.
Remember that you are your son’s hero. Food cooked by Superman always taste a bit better! 
The spoon was the tool of choice in our family and we’d form an “assembly line”. Dad had the knife for the heads and innards, 2 kids had spoons, and 2 rinsed and packaged.
To this day, if smaller fish are all I’m catching, I’ll break down, keep a few, and take a spoon to them. Forget the batters……..just coat with flour and fry in oil!
We never did this with walleye or jacks but for pannies, the tradition does live on……………sometimes!
Anyone else eat the tails? And whatever happened to the wishbone in chicken? 
Years ago I use to scale Crappies and Bluegill, and skin Catfish and Bullheads. Then I used a fillet knife cutting around the ribs. Now I use an electric knife and cut the fillet off along the backbone. Cut the ribs out. Then lay the fillet flat (Skin side down) on the cutting board. Start at the tail of the fillet and just cut the skin off. This is the way to do Catfish and Bullheads too. This site will show you how to do this. http://www.hiway16.com/fp/debi/filet/filet1.htm
Using the electric knife you may have to have it sharpened every other year. The only thing I use my fillet knife for is taking Y-bones out of Northern.
Never use hard plastic cutting boards. They will dull your knife. I just cut a piece of board or plywood the size I want. When the board gets kind of cut up I just make a new one. Mix up a little bleach and water in a squirt bottle. Get a cheap plastic handle toilet bowl brush at the Dollar store. Spray the bleach mixture on the board and your buckets etc. Brush with the brush and rinse off and they will not stink. I carry the toilet bowl brush and the squirt bottle in my boat to clean my live well when it starts smelling………..JIM
I think the cats in the barn liked filleting fish the best.
Briank- I have one of the CUTCO knifes . Had it for about 3 years . Still go back to old knife. Just have too many fillet knifes that is why it is on ebay now. They sell for about $65.00 back then . Don’t know what they sell for now but my is up for grabs on ebay. Jim
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