cleaning fish

[Dano2]

was wondering if ahyone else that ice fishes in the even ing, leaves their catch out side in the cold til the next day before they clean em?
certainly dont do this with my deer, heh,
but is it bad to leave fishes un cleaned for this long even when they are very cold?

Anyone use an eletric fillet knife?
my wife got me one for christmas, just wondering how they work.
I would imagine well on wallys , but what about panfish?

tha nks

[Guest]

If they freeze then I thaw them in COLD water and clean them...But you probably want to eat them right away as freezing them a second time isn't a very good idea.

PCG

[Guest]

If i fish all day and catch some in the morning ill just put them on the ice all day then bring them back in and let them thaw then clean.

For the electric knife they are great! I use mine on everything, except on small sunnies and perch. The key on the panfish is not to force the blade down otherwise you will go threw the back bone.
It might take a while to get use to it, but you'll never go with out it b/c its slick! And also make sure your tip is sharp that helps too.

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FISHSTUNNER

[Cyberfish]

I put my fish in a small cooler with some ice. then if I get home and dont feel like filleting, I just leave the cooler in the back of my pickup. then the next evening when I am ready to clean em, they are still cold and fresh, sometimes even still flopping.

Bobbers up!

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[Poutmaster]

The Electric fillet knife is the way to go! They work excellent on walleyes and crappies.

A tip on keeping your fish - As you catch them, cover them in your bucket with snow. It keeps them from freezing and they'll keep overnight just fine, with some still floppin' when you do get to clean them. This works amazingly well.

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Flag Up!

[Guest]

Poutmaster
Where ya gonna find enough snow for that method ? ?

. . .

Just yankin' yer chain
The slush from drilling the hole works well too, especially when there's no snow to be found.

[Guest]

I just drill a hole outside the shack but just as the auger is about to break through I stop. This allows a little water to seep into the hole. Instant live well.

[Fish On! Guide Service]

The key to cleaning eyes with an electric fillet knife is to first make your intial cut behind the head and allow the knife to works its way to the spine, be sure not to cut through it. Your next cut should be made by following the spine from the head, all the way to the tail, cutting the entire side of the fish off with the rib cage still attached. Next, fillet the rib cage out, this may appear to be harder then it actually is, but its quite easy. Now you can fillet the meat off of the skin and whammo, next fish. I like walleye to be about half frozen when doing this because they aren't as slimy and the meat stays firm when processing. Like the post said earlier, you'll never go back to a regular fillet knife once you've mastered the electric. You should end up finding out that you're able to fillet fish 4X faster then normal.

Stephen

[BLACKJACK]

Anybody ever have a problem with the knife getting too hot? I had an American Angler and was doing a bunch of crappies and the handle got so hot that I had to set it down. Took the knife back...

As the other guys said, put your fish on ice or snow right away, I never throw them on the ice to freeze. And I don't like to throw them in water, you just end up with a bucket of slime.

[Guest]

Use my electric all of the time, on my third one. They will get hot and even burn up if you force them a lot. I found it works best when you let the blade do the work with very little force. Sure makes cleaning fish a snap.

I always put some water in a bucket and pur my fish in there until I'm ready to leave. I then put some ice or snow on them to keep them from freezing. I don't like to freeze em twice so this works great!

[Jarrod32]

I've never had to clean enough fish at one time for my electric knife to get hot...

But the electric is really sweet...particularly on northerns, and if you have a bunch of perch/panfish to clean. 'Fish On!' described the method I use...though I will say that I cut out/around the rib cage last, and use a regular (manual?) knife as the electric isn't always real precise.

[Guest]

I take the rib cage off last also, but I flip the fillet so the rib cage is against the board then run the electric knife over the ribs using the bones as the guide. It helps to slit along the edge of the ribs before flipping over on the board, this gives a starting line to run your blade over all ribs at the same time. I can do a whole walleye in less than a minute this way.