Survey-Skin or Scale

[fishandhunt]

For years I would scale my catch and then filet them. Scales everywhere, bloody fingers and all the mess. For the last 15 years I have skinned everything. Do not notice any difference in taste, less toxins and less curling of the filet.

What is your preferred method.

Mike

[jnpcook]

Hey Mike:

I just started to skin all my fillets now. I used to scale all my fish and like you said scales flying all over the kitchen. I also used to cut the fish from anus to gils and slide my finger through to get the guts out. I just learned a new way from a friend where I start cutting behind the gils down to I hit the backbone. Then turn the knife and slide it along the backbone until you get to the tail but don't cut off the piece. Then flip it over with the skin side down and press against the table sliding your knife back toward the front of the fish and cut off the fillet like cutting through butter.
Then cut off the remaining rib bones. Do the same for the other side of the fish. When you are done you will have 2 nice boneless fillets with the fish and guts in one piece you can just throw away. Not very messy and very time saving from what I used to do.

John

[Phil Lay]

I've been a filleter (i.e. one who fillets, and note my user name) for about 40 years, ever since a resort owner near Cadillac showed me how. But every once in awhile we like bluegills whole, the regular way. The other day I rented a panfishing video that had a nifty tip for scaling bluegills: use a spoon. The fellow cut the head off a bluegill then scrapped the scales off with a spoon, going from tail to front. He left the fins on, but I prefer to trim them off.
My only problem right now is not having any bluegills to practice on.

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Phil Lay

[rick adams]

As a kid, we always scaled them.Nobody had a knife sharp enough to skin em.When I got married, we lived in a mobile home. The only place to clean fish was in the kitchen.My wife made me switch to skinning.Haven't dared scale a fish indoors since!