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How to Fillet a Fish

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In this Article:Bleeding, Descaling, and Gutting the Fish Making Precise Fillet Cuts Removing Bones, Skin, and Fat Community Q&A 11 References

While catching a fish can be as simple as casting out a line with bait and being patient, filleting a fish takes a little more finesse.

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Knowing the correct process to fillet a fish can make the difference between getting barely enough meat for a side dish and harvesting enough for a fish feast. Plus, freshly cut fish fillets taste much better than pre-cut.

1 Bleed out the fish, if it is a fresh catch, to preserve the meat. Make a shallow incision with your knife or scissors under the fish’s gills, and snap its head backwards to break the spinal cord. Thread a rope through the fish’s mouth and out of its gills and let it bleed out into the water for a few minutes.^[1]
- Bleeding a freshly caught fish is vital to preserving its taste and texture. A fish that is caught but not bled out will be much messier on the cutting board and, in its final moments, the stress and struggle of death can make the meat taste acidic.^[2]
- Put the fresh catch on ice after you have thoroughly bled it out, to further preserve its freshness. You should keep it on ice until you are ready to scale and clean the fish. ^[3]
2 Descale the fish with the back of a knife. You can scrape the scales off of a whole fish by using long strokes from the tail to the head of the fish with the back of a knife. Alternatively, skinning the fish also removes its scales, and can be done after you have successfully filleted it.
- You can also ask your fishmonger to descale the fish for you upon purchase.
- Descaling the fish is recommended but not essential — if you like scales with your fish fillet, leave them on!
3 Cut the fish’s stomach open to remove its guts. Starting from the tail, run your knife all the way along the fish’s body towards the head and open the fish up. Remove the guts with your hands, wearing gloves, and use cold water to rinse out any left over insides. You should…