How fast can you clean fish?

[limeyangler]

Hi all,

I posted a picture on Farcebook (aka Facebook) of a whole bunch of crappie we caught the other evening. A friend replied it would take him all day to clean that many. I wondered how long it would take me to clean a bunch so I timed myself, 46 minutes from start to finish, not bad I guess.....dunno if I would get a job at a fish house in a camp though.

 

[Canuck]

OMG I need gravol to watch that!  

[Stoty]

That's not bad at all! 30 fish is a lot of cleaning.

I've been debating getting an electric knife... worth the money?

[Sterling]

Depends on the species and the type of cleaning I want to do! Perch I can clean in less than a minute using this approach: 

Otherwise it's just over a minute per fish if I'm cleaning the conventional way.

Walleye takes me a few minutes but that's because I've perfected the art of recovering 95% of the meat. It can be done pretty fast if you're this guy;

 

[Fisherman]

2 hours ago, Canuck said:

OMG I need gravol to watch that!  

I think he had the camera plugged into 550AC.

[Sinker]

Not bad at all. I'm between 1 and 2 mins a fish, but thats for perch. Crappies I do a bit quicker. That's all fish cleaned, packaged, and station totally cleaned up, with fish in the freezer.  

If I were to go head to head on one fish, It would be pretty quick. 

 

P.S...don't forget to leave a tag of skin on them. 

 

S. 

[DanD]

I used to be pretty quick at cleaning; but have slowed way down now. Especially after I taught my son and a couple of nephews how to. The slower I go, the more fish they clean. They all tease me about being so slow; they haven't clued in why yet. LOL

Dan.  

Edited March 29, 2018 by DanD

[crappieperchhunter]

Good job Simon. I was quicker...less then 2 minutes a fish when I used my manual knife...now a little slower since I started using an electric.  I found if I was trying to go too fast with the electric I was making mistakes...going through  backbones and generally messing up a few fillets on every batch. I was way faster with the electric but mangling fillets was something I hated so I slowed down.  BTW I see your using the cat litter bucket lined with a garbage bag like I do.  It really is great for that isn't it.

[limeyangler]

6 hours ago, Canuck said:

OMG I need gravol to watch that!  

 

 

 

 

[limeyangler]

3 hours ago, Fisherman said:

I think he had the camera plugged into 550AC.

 

Redbull gives you wings. Vodka gives you 4x4.

 

2 hours ago, Sinker said:

Not bad at all. I'm between 1 and 2 mins a fish, but thats for perch. Crappies I do a bit quicker. That's all fish cleaned, packaged, and station totally cleaned up, with fish in the freezer.  

If I were to go head to head on one fish, It would be pretty quick. 

 

P.S...don't forget to leave a tag of skin on them. 

 

S. 

LOL....they did not last long enough for a skin tag....they were delicious at group supper 2 hours later. Big fish fry always a great way to make friends and influence people.

 

2 hours ago, DanD said:

I used to be pretty quick at cleaning; but have slowed way down now. Especially after I taught my son and a couple of nephews how to. The slower I go, the more fish they clean. They all tease me about being so slow; they haven't clued in why yet. LOL

Dan.  

LOL...sneaky, but I like your style!

 

2 hours ago, crappieperchhunter said:

Good job Simon. I was quicker...less then 2 minutes a fish when I used my manual knife...now a little slower since I started using an electric.  I found if I was trying to go too fast with the electric I was making mistakes...going through  backbones and generally messing up a few fillets on every batch. I was way faster with the electric but mangling fillets was something I hated so I slowed down.  BTW I see your using the cat litter bucket lined with a garbage bag like I do.  It really is great for that isn't it.

I am about the same with my manual knife, it just blunts the blades with the bigger scales on the crappie. I too mangled a couple of fillets, but 2 out of 30 is acceptable to me, and I still managed to get the meat off....just slows you down a bit.

[Mister G]

Back in the day when I had better eye sight and no arthritis in my hands I could fillet 70 crappie per hour with the wife skinning them. Now I would cut my  hand off at that pace......LOL

Crappies are by far the easiest to clean IMHO because there is no belly meat to worry about and the skin is easy to cut through so the knife stays sharp and requires less sharping compared to filleting leather back  Lake Erie perch that dull the knife and has belly meat to contend with.

IMHO Crappies are the VERY BEST freshwater fish to eat.........pure white flesh with never a  hint of strong fishy taste.

 

[Moosebunk]

Kinda slow on craps here. Do think an electric would be worth it for pannies especially, just don't keep enough of them in a year to warrant bothering with one. Actually used to have one too I think...?  Them walleyes I can slice and dice quick... but trout and other bigger fish I kinda like to take my time. 

You get plenty practice on everything Simon.

[limeyangler]

1 hour ago, Moosebunk said:

Kinda slow on craps here. Do think an electric would be worth it for pannies especially, just don't keep enough of them in a year to warrant bothering with one. Actually used to have one too I think...?  Them walleyes I can slice and dice quick... but trout and other bigger fish I kinda like to take my time. 

You get plenty practice on everything Simon.

I won the knife in a local Bass tournament, lol don’t think I would have bought one either, but definitely handy for slabs.

[smitty55]

I first saw an electric knife being used way back when I was introduced to Crappie fishing. Pretty well all I use anymore.

The one exception would be brown bullhead. A small blade with a good point is all I need. Very seldom need pliers unless the fish has been dead for too long and the skin is dried out, then sometimes it will rip. One cut from behind the dorsal spine at an angle towards the head and then a short shallow slice of the skin along the back. Snap head down and pull directly towards the tail along the body. Done. That's my claim to fame, under 5 seconds for most of the fish. The odd time the anal fin will stay attached but it peels off very easily just using the thumb nail. Most folks cut straight down in front of the dorsal spine but that leaves the big T shaped bone attached like you see them in the store.

 

Cheers