How to fillet a salmon - gutless method

[winchester284]

I put a video together on how I fillet my salmon. Thought I'd share....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ8oO3OktKQ

[coach]

Nice job, winchester284! I assume you put your fish on ice right away when you catch them. In my experience, leaving the guts in without doing so results in pretty soft meat around the ribs. As you mentioned, the belly meat you cut off is some of the best meat on a salmon. personally, I like to cut through the middle of it and leave some on each filet - but your method looks great too. I also like the meat that's aroun the front fins - right behind the head - and always set those aside too. Thanks for posting. Looks tasty!

[Caveman]

Nice Job! Never tried this, but I'll have to now

[winchester284]

Nice job, winchester284! I assume you put your fish on ice right away when you catch them. In my experience, leaving the guts in without doing so results in pretty soft meat around the ribs. As you mentioned, the belly meat you cut off is some of the best meat on a salmon. personally, I like to cut through the middle of it and leave some on each filet - but your method looks great too. I also like the meat that's aroun the front fins - right behind the head - and always set those aside too. Thanks for posting. Looks tasty!

Thanks. I bleed them as soon as they're caught and always bring a cooler full of ice. They're easier to fillet when well chilled.

[coach]

I'm like you in that respect. Fish go right out of the river and into a cooler full of ice. Only way to go as long as you have a boat. I was passing through Hope yesterday without my boat and decided to walk into the scale bar gong show. Tons of guys left their fish to soak in the water, guts in, for several hours. Couldn't have been a very nice product when they got them home.

[Steeleco]

That was neat and tidy. All I need do now is catch some practice specimens!!

[coach]

Big run of Pinks are on the way, Steelco. Several caught at the scale bar gong show yesterday.

[Steeleco]

13 of 16 fish caught in a boat at Wellington launch Friday were pinks. Got them off the Sand heads. They're coming!!!!

[srupp]

is there any salmon fishing happening by Spenses bridge??

cheers
Steven

[Weatherby Fan]

Thanks. I bleed them as soon as they're caught and always bring a cooler full of ice. They're easier to fillet when well chilled.
Exactly-always bleed your fish as soon as there aboard,do not bonk them on the head,just bleed them asap and the product is much better to eat !
WF

[winchester284]

Exactly-always bleed your fish as soon as there aboard,do not bonk them on the head,just bleed them asap and the product is much better to eat !
WF

Makes for a messy cooler..... but better bled fish. :-D

[Steeleco]

I'll give, how do you bleed the fish? Just cut the throat and remove the gills??

[winchester284]

Just cut the gills on either side. The fish apparently don't have any sense of pain and they bleed better if the heart is still pumping.

[RayHill]

Just cut the gills on either side. The fish apparently don't have any sense of pain and they bleed better if the heart is still pumping.

I think they do feel pain, when pulling their gills out they feel it I can tell.

Have u ever held a salmon heart while it was beating? There is energy that you can feel coming off of it, crazy.

I can't wait till I hit the ocean next month !!!

[Steeleco]

Thanks Win284, learned a lot today!

[guest]

Ya love that no sense of pain, thats why they jump and run like crazy, I wonder who was reincarnated as a Human after 1st being a fish that was hooked by us fishermen.

Just bonk em and immediately either tear a few gills or cut the juggler where the under belly comes to a point under the gill's, cut deep enough to go through the juggler. You'll know it when you cut it.

CT

Makes the product freeze better too, not as bitter if frozen over a long period of time.

[x-hare]

When you see blood veins through your fillet you know it wasn't bleed properly.
And a sharp knife should get those sides off in one motion.
Personally I like to bleed them first tear a gill out and then get the gear back down.
Then clean them and pack them in the sea ice I'm kinda picky about blood.
A washdown pump really helps keep things clean
Nothing raises bacteria levels faster than a bloody fish bath especially in these temperature's.

[Deer Sausage]

used to guide salmon and ive filleted a fair few....some of the guys used to do this technique but i never mastered it and stuck with the usual. i did however work the ribs out after the fillet with the same kind of gliding cut. Nice video and a nice job, i know its not as easy as you made it look!

[pnbrock]

i was aT SANDHEADS YESTERDAY AND I WOULD LIKE A DEMO ON FILLETING DOGFISH

[x-hare]

i was aT SANDHEADS YESTERDAY AND I WOULD LIKE A DEMO ON FILLETING DOGFISH
http://youtu.be/dye0aK4FG6A

[Gateholio]

You guys ever see a European Chef filet a salmon using a pinbone out technique?

They go in from the spine and do it pretty much like in win284's video, except they stop at each pin bone and pop them out on the way down the filet. It's time consuming, but it leaves almost no wasted meat anywhere.

The French Chef that I studied under was very persnickety about lots of stuff but he actually preferred our west coast style of fileting salmon since it was fast. Once we showed it to him, he was sold. In BC, salmon is very cheap compared to France, so if we left a bit of meat on the bone we would just scrape it and make it into terrines or staff dinners. Whenever a french guy came over to work and started doing the long way (and we always had lots of salmon to filet) he woudl grab one of us and say "tell that effing frog to stop being such a poofter and show him to do salmon your way, so we aren't here all night"

:)