Fillet or Scale PART 2

[Deitz Dittrich]

Wow, thanks so much for the responses.. Even more lopsided than I thought it would be. Question part #2.. would more of you scale and gut if it were easier? Or do you just prefer a boneless fillet?

Thanks again for your time...

For me, I fillet. But I am good at it.. Years ago as a poor college kid, I would go to a few resorts and clean fish for money. So I got quite good at it.. I have since lost a bit of my touch, but can usually do about a fish a min.. so if I have 15 panfish, I have them cleaned and packaged in about 20. Not so bad.. But I saw a product(whom is not a sponsor so I can t list a link, but is called ez-scaler) that sure made scaling easy. Which got me thinking.. If it wasnt such a pain to scale, would more people do it?

[RiverFish]

Fillet only for me. I would think filleting would be easier than gutting and scaling.

[lovebigbluegills]

Walleyes, saugers, northerns---the bigger longer fish I will always fillet.

But if it were easier to scale panfish, I'd sure do it that way. The meat comes off the rib cage easy enough when they're cooked, and the skin is top quality.

[reinhard1]

gut and scale waste's less meat. like a previous poster said, how many guys just throw the heads out. take the cheeks out of walleys also. when i was a kid we used to scale walleys and perch, well everything. had no concept of filleting. little salt and pepper and drenched in flour in hot butter was the way to go. still do it at times but yes it is more work, and maby that product you point out may do the trick to do it more often. bottom line is i fillet more, however as much care as i take with filleting, the gut and scale method leaves more meat on the plate. good luck.

[Juneau4]

What are most of you using to scale with that makes it so difficult?

[Jim Almquist]

This is what I use and they are great and cheap. The design keeps the scales from flying all over the place.

[goblueM]

just a pain in the butt to scale for me... scales get everywhere

if there was a device that could make scaling quick AND clean, i'd do it more often

[Zoob]

What are most of you using to scale with that makes it so difficult?

Is there anything out there except what I remember?

Half hour with that and a 5 gal of pan fish, and everything is covered in scales and all sparkly.

I grew up scaling and gutting panfish, filleting the bigger game fish - and have switched to all fillet since becoming an adult.

[Juneau4]

Thanks- I use the old style thats U shaped with the teeth and scales do have a tendancy to fly around. Then I fillet the bones out and leave the skin, mainly on pan fish. Perch I skin which is easy and very quick or fillet the large ones. Northern , bass, walleyes, and cats fillet. No electric knife.

[Zoob]

just a pain in the butt to scale for me... scales get everywhere

if there was a device that could make scaling quick AND clean, i'd do it more often

I just googled a few and saw there's a variety of gizmos now. Things from scalers that attach to electric knives (like ez-scaler), to some tumble-drum that you drop your fish in and let it scale them just like a rock tumbler of sorts.

[olbaidhh]

ya and the 5 gallon bucket method... all kinds of gizmos.

[blackdog1101]

Fillet only. Except for trout.

[IlliniWalli]

like i said in the other thread i usually fillet, especially if i have a bunch of crappies and gills, just because its so much quicker.

but a couple times a year - or if i am giving some to "old-timers" who always want them whole - i will scale/gut cause i think they taste better.

when i scale, i run 3-4 inches of water in the side of the sink with the garbage disposal, put a few fish at a time in the sink and just use a teaspoon to scale em. the water helps soften the scales to make em come off easier and being under the water keeps them from flyin all over the place.

when done just flush down the disposal ... and the SO doesnt have a clue that i cleaned fish in the house.

but i always fillet wally/saugs.

[Acemac]

can someone explain what scaling a fish is (like the whole process start to finish not sure i get it) do you you keep the head and fins on and fry te fish whole?

I have never seen a fish scaled even my great grandpa filleted everything.

[lutzy]

I will always fillet. The bones are a pain when you want to dig in. It is also less to freez, they fit in a container much better as a fillet.

[live4chrome]

sometimes i scale, then fillet the meat off the bones. Best of booth worlds, crispy fish skin, with no bones.

[Jim Almquist]

can someone explain what scaling a fish is (like the whole process start to finish not sure i get it) do you you keep the head and fins on and fry te fish whole?

I have never seen a fish scaled even my great grandpa filleted everything.

This was how my father would do it: Scale the sunfish or crappie, cut off the head, cut the bottom 1/4" of the fish off and remove guts, then he would take a shear and cut the fins off.

The bad part was you had a few bones to pick but there was very little meat wasted.

[cps420us]

I use an old tablespoon when I do scale, cheap and easy

[Gordie]

Grandpa used to scale everything except northerns yes he even scaled walleyes he said that there was a film of oil between the skin and the fillet that gave the fish the best taste.

I fillet pike and eyes along with perch but I scale and fillet panfish I mean I scale then fllet and leave the skin on cause the taste is so much better than just the meat odf the fish and I also like to leave the tails on too they crunch really good

grandpa and grandma didnt waste anything when it came to fish we alway took out the cheeks and the pike heads were baked in the oven until the skin peeled off the head then it exposed the most tender meat on a fish. I dont do this that often but every once in a while will bake a pike head,

I also save the walleye cheeks and then when I get enough I make walleye cheek chowder

I spent most of my life as child cleaning fish and guting and scaleing were the way I was taught mostly on panfish then when I was older 13-14 I statred to scakle and fillet panfish cause dad said it couldnt be done and you cant tell me something cant be done was much like filleting bullies or catfish the only ay was to skin them but I proved that wrong long time ago.

A fresh fish is the easiest to scale IMO when they sit in a cooler of ice all day or have been frozen then thawed they tend to scale tougher its like the scales almost lock into place and are harder to do

I still scale and gut panfish for a few friends that I give fish too as they like them that way.

[Ryan_S]

I fillet everything; the wife and kids won't sit at the table if there is still skin on the fish. Hmmmmmmm? I don't know why but this topic keeps reminding me of the old SNL Bass O Matic commercial.

[bobbymalone]

i would be more inclined to do it if:

1. it was easier

2. it wasn't such a freakin mess

3. if i could sneak skin on fish onto the table without the wife having a hissy.

OK, yeah it's really just #3 that keeps me from doing it.

[Brad B]

for bluegills and crappies I scale them with a spoon and then fillet them leaving the skin on them. as for perch, walleye, & northern I will fillet them and then remove the skin. catfish are filleted and I leave the skin on them since I like to smoke them, leaving the skin on them helps from sticking to the wire rack that I smoke them on.

[Juneau4]

Scale first and then take bones out but leave skin on. Works great on panfish

[Glockwinger]

Still would fillet everything.

[Koepper08]

Never had anything but filleted fish. Going to try scaling fish in the near future but mainly its so easy to fillet...