Thread: Bout to filet my first fish...

In the hands of a beginner, asking them cut a fish with an electric knife is like asking a 12 year old to cut up a deer with a chainsaw.

Yea, im not going for speed. I just want better quality with the cuts that i make. The best filet i got was starting at the dorsal fin and cutting down towards the rib cage, instead of cutting behind the gill and back towards the tail.

Just keep at it.....is probably the best advice. I think some others have eluded to it as well, but make sure to let that knife flex.....that's the point of them being so thin. It took me a while to latch on to that idea, my grandpa had always pan dressed bluegill with an old case pocket knife and taught me to clean fish the same way as a kid. So for a good spell I was treating a fillet knife the same as a pocket knife and wondering why I was having trouble. I also agree with the guys who said to keep on with a conventional fillet knife. It's alot more forgiving to learn that way, but once you perfect that you may want to go electric. I've been filleting panfish with a regular knife since I was a teenager and was convinced that I wouldn't be any faster with an electric knife. Finally bought one this year and man was I wrong, you can absolutely rip through a mess of fish with those things.

Originally Posted by mjm76

you can absolutely rip through a mess of fish with those things.

And, IMO, get more meat and consistent fillets. Once you're a few 1000 fish down range with electric you go on autopilot.

You have to relearn a bit with an electric knife and that is best based on being experienced already; so it is best to start with a regular fillet knife, a good sharp one and keep it sharp. I always take the steel with me into the fish house, unless I only have a couple of fish to do. And I use it, too. But the steel is an additional skill, other types of sharpeners work almost as well. The ideal is a sharp enough edge on your knife to shave with.

As far as I am concerned you can keep your scaled meat, I will take mine skinless and boneless. If it aint big enough to fillet, IMO it aint big enough to keep, either, and I am not one for "fry-hards". Filleting once learned is both faster and far less mess than scaling fish, but there is a learning curve, although not much of one for anybody with any knife experience.

Originally Posted by ChrisCarter

In the hands of a beginner, asking them cut a fish with an electric knife is like asking a 12 year old to cut up a deer with a chainsaw

I thought the same thing prior to buying my first electric fillet knife. I found it to be better and safer (for me) because I didn't try to force the knife through the fish.