by Rex Trulove

Created on: February 18, 2008

Properly prepared, bullhead catfish are one of the best tasting species of fish, and the filets are simple to prepare. Getting the fillet off the fish, on the other hand, takes a little bit of skill which is thankfully easily learned.

The biggest difficulty when it comes to filleting bullheads is that the dorsal fin (back fin) and both pectoral fins (fins on the sides toward the front of the fish) are equipped with sharp spines. The spines are hollow and attached at the base to a poison gland. While the poison is not normally dangerous, being stuck by a spine can be quite painful and can lead to swelling and potentially infection.

Making the fish harder to handle, bullheads have large and very strong mouths. They don't have teeth, but do have rough surfaces similar to sand paper, just inside the mouth on both upper and lower jaws. This adds up to the fact that even a small catfish is capable of giving a painful pinching bite.

Many people may suggest wearing gloves when cleaning bullhead catfish. This is not my favorite option since you lose a great deal of feeling in your hands when handling the fish, if you have something on your hands when doing the filleting.

Instead, carefully hold the fish on a flat surface, on its belly facing away from you, with your left hand arched well over the back spine. Your thumb should be just behind the left pectoral spine holding it straight out, and your index and second fingers should be in front of and behind the right pectoral spine respectively so you are holding it in place.

Using a sharp fillet knife, make an incision on either side of the backbone, beginning immediately behind the knot at the base of the head where the head attaches to the backbone, and following all the way to the tail. The tip of the knife should move down just until it is making contact with the ribs so you can use the ribs as a guide with the flat of the blade against the backbone. The ribs end about two thirds of the way down the fish, so the blade should lay flat against the backbone for the final one third of the length of the body.

Now carefully lay the fish on its side, holding down the pectoral spine. Find the point where the rib cage is closest to the skin and the side, and at an angle, slide the blade down the fish, using the ribs as the guide, and with the blade deep enough that it is cutting all the way to the first cut. Repeat this step with the other side of the fish.

At this point, you should have two nice fillets, both of them still attached to the tough skin. Holding the skin down with your left thumbnail, slide the knife all the way down the fillet, holding the blade at about a 20 degree angle, then repeat with the other side. You should be left with two clean fillets, ready for rinsing, dipping in egg and flour, seasoning and frying.

It honestly isn't hard to fillet a bullhead catfish, and it actually doesn't take much time to do it once you get the hang of it. If you proceed carefully, you shouldn't have any difficulties. Using this method, the person who taught me was able to clean 40 bullheads, each about 10 inches long, in about 20 minutes, even though he was taking his time.

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