How to Fillet a Striper
Stripers are a delicious fish and there are many tasty recipes for their fillets. They are also a moderately easy fish to fillet. To fillet a striper you need to watch out for the spines on the dorsal fin, and pay close attention to the rib bones, which can be very large in bigger fish. These are typically a little higher up on the fish than most other species. The meat is best grilled, with lemon juice or other spices, and its texture and taste make it a very sought after dish.
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Instructions
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How to Fillet a Striped Bass
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1
Lay the fish on the table so the dorsal fin is facing you.
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2
Slide your knife under the fin and cut along the gills of the fish and towards the stomach.
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3
Turn the fish around and cut back towards the tail, placing your knife flat against the spine bones until you get past the second dorsal fin.
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4
Slide the knife all the way through the fish and out the other end, holding it flat, work it back towards the tail, getting as much meat as you can from the bone.
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5
Cut back towards the head, slicing the fillet from the bone, and working towards the stomach. Cut up over the rib bones and back down again until you have cut most of the meat away from the body cavity.
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6
Turn the fish over and slice down the gills again, then cut up from the tail along the top of the dorsal fin to the head. Then insert the knife flat against the spine, about halfway through the fish and cut through the fish in one long motion back to the tail as you did in step 4.
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7
Slice down through the fish and up over the rib bones as you did in step 5, this time on the other side, working towards the head and back to the tail.
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8
Cut the rest of the fillet free and then skin and wash in water.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Do not cut to deeply into the fish's stomach because acid and bile will get on your fillet.
Stripers have very sharp spines on their dorsal fins, so cut them off before you fillet, or keep the back of the fish away from you when you cut and slide the fish around the cutting board.
