by Sarah Johnson

Created on: March 10, 2009

Fishing is such a fun and relaxing activity and one of my favorite past times. The BEST part, however, is not the fishing itself, but the tasty meal at the end of the day. To get the most delicious meal you will need to prepare your fish properly.

After you catch your fish you will need to clean, fillet and debone it. This part is a bit of a challenge, but is very necessary to end up with a high-quality fillet.

Here are some step-by-step instructions on how to get your fish ready before cooking it.

STEP #1: Cleaning the fish after you catch it.

After catching the fish, you will need to kill it. This is important because fish that die of suffocation will be left with a bad taste from the lactic acid that builds up. You will need to kill the fish using a knife angled near the brain. After this, keep the fish one ice until you are ready to fillet it. Before filleting you will also want to wash the outside of the fish with water to clean it up a bit.

STEP #2: Fillet the fish.

You will need to have a sharp filleting knife to maintain the texture of the fish. After you lay the fish down on a cutting board on its side, the first step in filleting the fish is to start the cut behind the head and make a cut until you hit the bone. Then make a fillet along the bone so that you remove the entire slice, by holding and slicing with the knife parallel to the cutting board.

Next, you will want to turn the fish over to its other side and cut the same type of fillet as you did on the first side. When you make your cuts be sure to cut right above the belly bones. You will also want to cut around the bones at the gut cavity. This will reduce the amount of deboning that you will have to do in the next step.

STEP #3: Skin and bone the fish.

To skin the fish you will need a skinning knife, which are long and pointed in shape. Using this knife, you will slowly remove the skin on each of the fillets. Next, you will want to debone the fish. For this you will use a filleting knife again and will need to take care of some of the remaining bones at the gut and the small lateral bones. To do this, you will place your knife at the beginning of the fillet and gently cut out the bones.

STEP #4: Finishing up and cooking the fish.

Rinse the fillets one more time to get rid of any blood that may be present, then you can pat the fillets dry, and you are now ready to cook and enjoy!

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