How to Fillet Fish With an Electric Fillet Knife

An electric fillet knife lets you clean and prepare a full day's catch in a fraction of the time as using a regular fillet knife. The motorized blade on an electric fillet knife also gives you much greater control, so you can quickly cut fillets from smaller panfish such as perch, crappie and bluegill with minimal meat loss. The main reason to fillet is to carve boneless fish portions while avoiding the hassle of scraping scales off the fish.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fresh fish
• Electric fillet knife
• Cleaning board
• Sink
• Metal bowl for holding fillets

1. Rinse the fish in cold water.

2. Hold the fish by the head with one hand and use the electric fillet knife to cut behind the gills to the backbone.

3. Turn the blade parallel to the body of the fish and make a cut all the way to the tail, but do not cut through the tail. Since your initial cut stopped at the backbone, then turned to move down the length of the fish, you will be cutting a boneless fillet of fish above the ribcage.

4. Turn the fish over and cut the skin from the fillet. Discard the skin and scales

5. Make a quick cut through the tail end of the fillet to separate it from the fish.

6. Turn the fish over to the other side with skin and repeat steps two through five for the remaining fillet.

Tips & Warnings

• For large fish, cut several fillets from a single side of the fish to the desired thickness.

References

• Selecting and using a fillet knife
• Guide to using an electric fillet knife

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