Panfish Filleting ..

[marshmallow]

Most Of The Time I Fillet Panfish By Cutting Right Down The Ribs.. Leaving Them On The Fillet .. A Buddy Fillets Around Them.. But When He's Done.. They Look Like Shredded Cabbage .. Maybe I Should Try It More Often And Patience .. Do You Feel You Get More From This Process ..

[dairyman]

I've tried filleting sunnies and I'm not really happy with the results either. I have a neighbor who uses a 5 gallon "scaleing method" for sunnies

[cavalierowner]

I learned to fillet panfish years ago. I was scaling them in the laundry room and scales were going all over. The wife threatened to sell my fish house, so I learned to fillet them. It's certainly not perfect, but I've actually got to the point where there isn't much waste, even on the Minnetonka size sunnies. Nothing better than a sunfish sandwich and not having to worry about bones!!

[itchmesir]

I much prefer filleting over the mess of scales.. a very sharp fillet knife is a must for proper filleting

[marshmallow]

I Just Fillet The Whole Works Off The Skin..

[DTro]

I use an electric and cut through the ribs, them remove them later.

Not much waste either.

[lutzy]

I go up and over the ribs like your buddy. If you don’t you don’t get any belly meat. And if you don’t get any belly meat there isn’t much to the filet. People will tell you you can’t eat the belly meat because that’s where the PCB’s and things are but unless you eat fish every day for 10 years it is not going to hurt you. I have nothing left on the bones and they are in tack and aren’t all cut up like you said. Just take more time and practice you will get the hang of it. When you first start you have to go slow to get the hang of it but before long it goes faster.

[Sonicrunch]

Usually I think of what a PITB filleting is and throw the fish back. ;-)

However, if I keep a fishy, as do cut through the ribs and cut the ribs out later.

Does anybody fry em up with the rigs intact?

[sunniewally]

if you want to scale sunfish without all the scales flying around, get a little bigger and deeper pie or cake pan and put water in it to cover the fish while you scale it, when done or it gets too many flush them down the toilet and rinse, been doing it that way for years and works great!

[TruthWalleyes]

I use an electric and cut through the ribs, them remove them later.

Not much waste either.

+1

Electric allows you to stay right on top of the backbone and cut the rib bones like butter. No wasted meat.

[Slabasaurus]

I learned to fillet panfish years ago. I was scaling them in the laundry room and scales were going all over. The wife threatened to sell my fish house, so I learned to fillet them. It's certainly not perfect, but I've actually got to the point where there isn't much waste, even on the Minnetonka size sunnies. Nothing better than a sunfish sandwich and not having to worry about bones!!

x2 on the sunfish sammy... makes me glad I have a couple of sandwich bags with 2-3 fillets in them for a quick defrost/sammy

After about 3 times filleting a 'mess' of fish, and some tips from my lake neighbor, I understood the proper technique to cut around the ribs and get the "flap."

Nowadays I can fillet about a fish a minute with very little wasted meat.

I am sure some day I will try them scale on, brings back memories of great grandma