Filleting Panfish

[Slammin_Brookies!!]

Hey guys, gonna start doing some warm water fishing with some amature jigging action. Want to get daughter Kaileigh out more but trout fishing can be slow. After I ate my first bass that Dube cooked up fishing....I'm hooked it was delicious. Never filleted a fish. What would be a good brand of fillet knife to use and what's ur opinions on electric vs manual. Which is more user friendly. Thanks in advance. Tight lines.

[TheOutdoorsman]

Once you go electric, you will never go back.  Although I still get out the old standard Rapala fillet knife to cut around the ribs and take off the skin.

I don't think that either one is more "user friendly", but the electric just makes getting good fillets off of fish more quickly.  Regardless, filleting well takes practice.

[fishless12]

Maybe someday I'll learn.

[ME icehole]

Maybe someday I'll learn.

                                                   search you tube. you can pic up enough to get you started in the right direction. i've learned a few tricks since watching clips on you tube.

[billditrite]

Maybe someday I'll learn.

You are a ninja master with a fillet knife!! for panfish you just cant beat an electric knife!

[Anomaly]

I know a lot of guys like the electric rig. I much prefer a good very shard standard fillet knife. It does take a little more practice.  Better yield. Nicer looking fillets. Faster for me too. I used to cut fish for a living. so I’ve had a few thousand pounds of experience. You don’t see electric knives in a cutting house. It’s all about yield, appearance and speed. Take a look at youtube for sure.

[xphelanx]

I'd love to get you out for some panfish action and give a clinic on filleting. I have an electric knife I use for large amounts of fish, but like others have said a manual knife is a must-have. I find I get more complete fillets with it and less damage to the meat.

[Zern]

I have both styles of knivies. I use electric for when i have a large number of fish ta clean. Perch and sunnies are easy to clean. Pike are a pain for me. Just need more pratice.

 One thing I beleave is a must have is the steel mesh glove for one hand.

[snag]

russel international or dexter russel for the old fashioned rigs i like a little stiffer knife.  Just make shure it has good steal the russel international knives are stain free carbon not stainless they take a much better edge.

[Loves To Fish]

I've used both electric and standard fillet knives. I agree with most of the comments made so far.
If I'm doing 50 to 100 or even more white perch, I use my electric knife, only for the time savings of using it.
When filleting lesser amounts of perch, I prefer a good sharp hand filleting knife. You can feel the blade sliding along the bones and you can also feel if you start to go astray and start cutting through the bones. I end up with thicker, boneless fillets when I fillet by hand. Does a much better job.

[MG39]

Everything said is straight scoop! Only thing I would add, is to use a serrated steak knife, to make the first verticle cut on scaled fish, it saves a lot on the edge of your filet knife.

[fishingsurveyor]

Maybe someday I'll learn.

 
If I had a penny for every fish u have filleted I could retire

[cap]

I bought my kid an electric knife just last Christmas after seeing people clean yellow perch with one on Utube.

The very first time he tried it on a Crappie a few weeks back he said it was junk and went right back to my old knives that I have been using since before he was born.

The electric knives look better than they actually are in practice.

IMHO you are better off buying good quality knives and keeping them sharp.... If you do they will last forever.

Both Rooster Brothers and Hamilton Marine have good "commercial quality" fish cleaning tools.

It is also good to have a steel nearby to freshen the blade while you work.

I cleaned a lot of fish to pay for college back in the 70's.

[PerchPro113]

Get a filet board, kinda of like a clip board. Made all the difference for me.

[keepah seekah]

its pretty easy once you do a few fish mike. i agree if you have a huge batch of fish, electric is the way to go. but i gotta say i prefer my trusty rapala knife. able to get boneless fillets with more meat on em. if you liked bass fillets mike, you need to try pike!

[HardwaterFish]

its pretty easy once you do a few fish mike. i agree if you have a huge batch of fish, electric is the way to go. but i gotta say i prefer my trusty rapala knife. able to get boneless fillets with more meat on em. if you liked bass fillets mike, you need to try pike!

X2 on EVERYTHING he said ! Never thought I would enjoy anything more than killing pike, but eating them feels pretty good too!

[Fishn'Rod]

The more you do it the easier it gets. I'm a fan of the electric knife but I keep a small sharp fillet knife handy to cut away the rib bones. Keep at it and don't be afraid to throw a few fish away if you mess up.

[buddah]

I bet there's some money to be had if someone (maybe MG or BEE) started a filleting service in their spare time,charge by the finished pound or something like that.I know i'd use it,probably do a lot more pan fishing too.I can fillet pretty good,but I still hate it.

[Loves To Fish]

I bet there's some money to be had if someone (maybe MG or BEE) started a filleting service in their spare time,charge by the finished pound or something like that.I know i'd use it,probably do a lot more pan fishing too.I can fillet pretty good,but I still hate it.

That's a good point buddah. I know a lot of people who pass on catching more pan fish because they simply don't want to deal with the cleaning / filleting.

[Bowdoin Boy]

I bet there's some money to be had if someone (maybe MG or BEE) started a filleting service in their spare time,charge by the finished pound or something like that.I know i'd use it,probably do a lot more pan fishing too.I can fillet pretty good,but I still hate it.

Sign me up I'll pay .10cents a pound for finished product

[Wolley]

A good knife to start out with is a 4" Rapala. The one with the wooden handle and leather sheath. Some come with small ceramic sharpener too which does a nice job on touch ups. This will take care of your panfish. I also have the rapala 7.5 inch superflex with ptfe coating for bigger fish. Wally world usually has them, definately the big C, or would imagine Dags.

[fishless12]

If I had a penny for every fish u have filleted I could retire

You are a ninja master with a fillet knife!! for panfish you just cant beat an electric knife!

Glad you guys got a kick out of that.

Filleting crappies is no big deal, just like a redfish with fewer spines! It's always nice if it's warm enough to do a bunch of them while you're still on the ice. I've found that I never want to do it any more when I get home. That's another reason with crappies I'll try to cut myself off at about ten or so. That's as many as I want to cut up, and is enough for a fish fry. 2-3 crappies per person seems to be a good ratio.

Oh and Scotty, I'll never forget the time you hand fed me a lobster roll while I was cutting fish, that was classic and holy crap was it good!

[bee]

A lot of people want fish. BUT they want it cleaned. Heck the birds i feed even want it filleted. I use the ol electric knife. A pearch or crappie is only about 20 seconds to do. You can,t be concerned about getting every last morsol of meat. I live in a large open area next to the river so I have lots of critters that clean up. I often pick up on the ice and give to the wildlife when i get home.

[woodchip]

I use a hand fillet knife ,and I find that the edge will last a long time if you don't cut against the Scales .Your first cut should not be straight down .Cut under or parallel with the scales. This is easy once you are aware of the direction of the scales. and as mention a steel is a nice way to touch up a knife.