Fillet Northern Pike & Remove the Y-Bones
Perhaps you may have heard someone say: “I really do like northern pike, but it’s so full of bones!” I can relate… and I am not alone. I know many a fisherman who loves to fish for pike but throws them back, because he never learned how to remove those nasty y-bones. Warning: This article […]
Filleting Smallmouth Bass
Whether you call them “smallies”, “bronze backs” or some other name, fresh-water small mouth bass are incredibly fun to catch; they are amazing fighters! (The smallmouth bass featured in the photo was caught on Lake Kabetogama with a crawdad colored Rapala Shad Rap fishing lure.) Warning: This article contains graphic images of fish filleting that […]
How to Fillet Bluegills & Other Panfish
I’m not really sure where the name pan-fish came from. My sense is that they were just small fish that were scaled, gutted and gilled and tossed into the fry pan. They go by myriad names – like bream, sunfish, blue bream, sun perch, blue sunfish, sunfish, sunperch, coppernose, copperbelly or bluegills – and are […]
Filleting Walleye and Sauger – Step by Step
When I was about 10 years old, my father took the family to Ontario, Canada to a place called Lac de Milles Lacs. I had no clue where I was, but it was gorgeous and way back in the woods. My mom didn’t complain, but my sister was not very happy with the accommodations… This […]
Removing the Skin from Walleye & Other Fish
Many people have written me asking if there is a trick to removing the skin from a fillet of fish. The answer is: not really. No matter the species of fish, the process is the same. Removing the skin from a walleye (shown here), bass, northern pike, bluegill or any fish for that matter – is […]
Knives for Boning and Filleting Fish
My father told me that there was always “the right tool for the right job.” A wrong or inappropriate tool always leads to a poor result at best. And an unfortunate accident at worst. I learned that lesson the hard way… WARNING: This article contains graphic images of fish filleting that some readers may find […]