i use an electric filet knife and cut each side of the the bluegill off, leaving the tail attached, flip it over, filet the skin from the meat, then cut off the bones still on the filet, goes 20 times faster can filet my 20 gills in no time and dont lose much meat at all. This way you dont have to finesse with a knife and just cut right through them bones with ease and just trim them off from the meat once u fillet the skin off each side of the fish