My Dad taught me as a wee lad and this is the way I'm in the process of teaching my son. He's only 8 so I can't just let him wield my filet knife.
If I catch a big bait of fish that's going to the freezer I do this. I keep a VERY sharp filet knife and I take the point straight thru the brain or as close as I can get. I have a slab of 2X10 and I take a 16p nail and secure thru the head to the board. Take my filet knife as close to the gills as possible and go straight down to the spine and turn my knife toward the tail. I leave a piece of skin and don't cut it free from the tail just yet. Flop that slab back into place and turn the fish over. This time I separate the slab from the carcass. Then flip over and separate the slab on the other side.
This should give you two slabs. Take your filet knife and carefully slice the meat away from the outer skin. I then take my knife and curve it just under the rib cage that's in your slab. Should leave you with two good slabs.
I usually clean quite a few at a time and I keep a bowl of water to put each fresh slab in. I clean and rinse my slabs and put them in freezer bags and fill them with fresh clean water and then freeze. Keeps air and freezer burn a non issue.
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