I admit it I went Electric

[Liveliner]

A while back we had an on-forum discussion about the type of knives we preferred to clean fish. I insisted that I used my trusted fillet knives. I had stated that I cleaned more saltwater species like Flounder and sheepshead and larger fish and that I did not find it practical to use an electric knife. On Crappie I always had trouble getting the electric knife started behind the gills and turned without cutting through the spine.

With the fish I had from two days fishing, I decided to whip out my electrics. Had the same problem at first untill I tried something a little different. I started the knife at the tail and cut toward the front and into the head. It was amazing how much easier it is to cut from the tail. The knife just zipped right on through and got all the meat off the bones. I then took my fillet knife and did the rest. Using the electric knife that way did in fact speed up the process for me. I guess I will be using the electric knife in part of my fish cleaning operation.

Cheez, I guess the fillet demo is off now.

 

[Lone Oak]

I use to cut through a few spines as well, but finally learned, if I run the blade in a stop and go method instead of full power, I rarely do that now.
Now if I could just catch enough to fillet

I just keep them alive in a bucket of water on the stringer, going from place to place and if I don't have at least 4, I turn them back into the lake.
I think these are the fish you guys are catching emoBang

 

[drumking]

Liveliner, doing it the way that you described would slow it down for me as you would have to handle the skin twice as much. Whenever I get through with filleting a Crappie, it is all one piece minus the meat. I do take my pocket knife sometimes to trim the rib cage out, but not always. I'll even use my electric for this sometimes. The best of all worlds is when my wife is not busy, she always comes out and trims the rib cage out as I fillet the sides. We cleaned 39 bluegills last year in 20 minutes. That's almost 2 per minute, if my math is correct, but at my age, I may be off a little. emoBigsmile emoGeezer

 

[Guest]

Good deal LL the more you use the electric the more you will use it. I have filleted literally thousands of fish with an electric and still on occaision pop through the backbone. When this happens I do it just like you said,from the tail. I cleaned 43 crappie yesterday in about an hour. That is filleting the fish,washing the fillets and putting them up and cleaning up the mess.

Cheez

 

[Fat Albert]

cheez - 3/13/2007 8:28 PM Good deal LL the more you use the electric the more you will use it. I have filleted literally thousands of fish with an electric and still on occaision pop through the backbone. When this happens I do it just like you said,from the tail. I cleaned 43 crappie yesterday in about an hour. That is filleting the fish,washing the fillets and putting them up and cleaning up the mess. Cheez

</p>



<font color="#ff0066">Did you hear or read that TT....one must learn to do it quickly with the electric knife.....  I know, I know, you're BLONDE AND SLOW. You know I love ya girl.....FA</font></p>

 

[drumking]

Fat Albert - 3/13/2007 9:05 PM

cheez - 3/13/2007 8:28 PM Good deal LL the more you use the electric the more you will use it. I have filleted literally thousands of fish with an electric and still on occaision pop through the backbone. When this happens I do it just like you said,from the tail. I cleaned 43 crappie yesterday in about an hour. That is filleting the fish,washing the fillets and putting them up and cleaning up the mess. Cheez

</p>



<font color="#ff0066">Did you hear or read that TT....one must learn to do it quickly with the electric knife.....  I know, I know, you're BLONDE AND SLOW. You know I love ya girl.....FA</font></p>

I'm gonna show her how to do this process next time I take her fishing, FA. Anyone that nice (blond) should at least expect someone to show her which end of the fish to start on. I'm not looking at any anal things, if you know what I mean. No biology lessons for TT from me. Cut'em open and see if they have eggs. That's as close as I'm coming to that rascal.emoBigsmile emoGeezer

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Dang .. looks like I'm going to be a dock shootin', electric knife welding fishing pro before long!!!

So much to learn .. so little time! emoLaugh

Thanks guys .. you all know I'm a fast learner and your lessons are not lost once they are digested!!! Yeah .. I was pretty much a straight A student in school too in case you were wondering!

TT

 

[drumking]

TennesseeTalker - 3/14/2007 10:32 AM

Dang .. looks like I'm going to be a dock shootin', electric knife welding fishing pro before long!!!

So much to learn .. so little time! emoLaugh

Thanks guys .. you all know I'm a fast learner and your lessons are not lost once they are digested!!! Yeah .. I was pretty much a straight A student in school too in case you were wondering!

TT

Do you still remember how to tie that uni-knot that I showed you?

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Absolutely ... pull the string far enough through the eye to have room to make a loop. Grab the loop on opposite ends with middle finger (putting that finger to use for a good thing on this one!). With free fingers wrap loose end of line around loop 6 times. Pull tight after licking the string with your tongue.



See!

TT

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Oh .. guess that means I'm going to be a knot tieing, dock shootin', electric knife welding pro then!!!

emoDance

TT

 

[polo-dog]

Thanks for bringing up the electric fillet knife thread LL. I decided while out at Wally world in Marietta today that I would purchase one of them and I was pleasantly surprised. When I got home I found out that I could fillet those crappies in nothing flat. I got to where I could do it and never let go of either the fish, by the mouth, or the fillet knife until it was time to take the ribs out. It was great! I may just fillet a lot more now. There are lots of folks at work that love to eat fish but don't like to clean them and now I can just fillet them up real quick and not get a backache doing it. Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

polo-dog - 3/14/2007 9:05 PM

Thanks for bringing up the electric fillet knife thread LL. I decided while out at Wally world in Marietta today that I would purchase one of them and I was pleasantly surprised. When I got home I found out that I could fillet those crappies in nothing flat. I got to where I could do it and never let go of either the fish, by the mouth, or the fillet knife until it was time to take the ribs out. It was great! I may just fillet a lot more now. There are lots of folks at work that love to eat fish but don't like to clean them and now I can just fillet them up real quick and not get a backache doing it. Thanks again.

That is why I keep most of the fish I do is to bless others with the fillets. With an electric cleaning is no big deal and I live in the woods so disposing of the bones and guts is never a problem. The raccoons around here love meemoSmile

Cheez