You've caught your fish
Time to make a decision
If I intend to keep my fish I have just caught, I first need to know if it is legal size and that I have the correct stamp or tag for it. I consult my regulations again if I've forgotten. If my fish is legal size, then there are a couple of things to do to prepare my fish.
If it is a smaller fish, say 7 or 8 inches in length, (these are the perfect size to pan fry whole) I simply clean these fish, rinse them thoroughly inside and out and either place it in my creel or attach it to my fish stringer.
If it is a smaller fish, say 7 or 8 inches in length, (these are the perfect size to pan fry whole) I simply clean these fish, rinse them thoroughly inside and out and either place it in my creel or attach it to my fish stringer.
If you are not familiar with how to clean a fish, it is pretty simple.
I hold the fish upside down (belly facing up) and look for the small hole on it's belly near the tail. Using a small thin bladed knife, I insert my knife here and cut very shallowly from that point forward, up the belly to the gills.
Once I have the fish open, I simply remove the insides and rinse thoroughly, making sure to look for any blood pockets along the spine or anywhere on the meat. Once I'm satisfied the fish is clean, l place it in my creel or on my stringer. If the fish is longer than say 11 or 12 inches, I'm going to fillet these.
To fillet my fish, I clean it out exactly the same as any other fish and again place in my creel or on my stringer. I do the filleting once I am done fishing.
To fillet, I lay the fish on it's side on a hard surface like a cutting board. Holding the head with one hand, I lay my knife blade nearly flat against the side of the fish, right behind the gills.
Slowly I slice into the fish until I feel the blade touch bone. Pulling the blade back ever so slightly, I now semi flatten the blade (almost sideways with the fish) with the blade facing the tail. With one sweeping motion I slice the side of the fish from the gills to the tail, removing my fillet.
If I've done it correctly, I should have a nice piece of fish in one hand and now see a very clean row of bones from the gills to the tail. I turn the fish over and repeat for the other side.
The first couple of times you try this, will not look so good, and you will leave some meat on the fish or include some of the bones with your fresh fillet but I promise, you will get better. Look at it this way....if your first cut takes some bones along.....the fillet from the other side of the fish is going to have far fewer bones.
A point to note: If I do shave off some of the bones, I am careful to remove them before packaging my fillets.
Now, get these fillets on ice if you are not going to cook them right then. That's all there is to it.
To fillet, I lay the fish on it's side on a hard surface like a cutting board. Holding the head with one hand, I lay my knife blade nearly flat against the side of the fish, right behind the gills.
Slowly I slice into the fish until I feel the blade touch bone. Pulling the blade back ever so slightly, I now semi flatten the blade (almost sideways with the fish) with the blade facing the tail. With one sweeping motion I slice the side of the fish from the gills to the tail, removing my fillet.
If I've done it correctly, I should have a nice piece of fish in one hand and now see a very clean row of bones from the gills to the tail. I turn the fish over and repeat for the other side.
The first couple of times you try this, will not look so good, and you will leave some meat on the fish or include some of the bones with your fresh fillet but I promise, you will get better. Look at it this way....if your first cut takes some bones along.....the fillet from the other side of the fish is going to have far fewer bones.
A point to note: If I do shave off some of the bones, I am careful to remove them before packaging my fillets.
Now, get these fillets on ice if you are not going to cook them right then. That's all there is to it.
Next up: Catch and release
No comments:
Post a Comment