I take every bit of meat I can get. cut as close to the head, gills and pectoral fins as I can, fillet the meat off the ribs and take the belly meat too. been doing it that way since I could use a knife. my grampa would have blown a gasket if I had wasted any meat and I still fillet every fish like that. you spend all day catching those fish so why not spend a few extra minutes filleting them...