Filet Your Trout – No Bones No Skin

Fishing
Filet Your Trout

So, you’ve successfully caught your limit of trout, but now what? If you’re looking for a delicious and bone-free way to prepare them for cooking, consider filleting your trout. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to transform your trout into boneless fillets, ready to be cooked any way you desire.

Step 1: Gather Your Tools Before you begin, make sure you have all the necessary tools at your disposal. Set up a waist-high table to use as your work surface. Here’s what you’ll need:

  1. A very sharp knife or an electric knife.
  2. Ideally, a fillet knife designed for this purpose.
  3. A filet board, preferably one with a strong clamp to secure the trout’s head. If not, textured gloves for a firm grip.
  4. A bucket or pan of salted water to soak fresh trout fillets overnight, removing some of the fishy taste.
  5. Another bucket for disposing of the carcasses after cutting off the fillets.

Step 2: Filleting Trout To start the filleting process, ensure the trout is securely held in place to prevent it from slipping.

  1. If using a board with a clamp, firmly clamp the trout’s head to the board. If using gloves, grip the trout’s head securely.
  2. Take your knife and cut beneath the gills to the backbone.
  3. Turn the knife and cut down along the backbone, stopping just before you reach the tail’s skin. This cutting should be done between the ribcage and the flesh, essentially removing one entire side of the trout.
  4. Flip the fillet over with the skin side down and cut between the meat and the skin to separate the fillet. Repeat the same process for the other side of the trout.
  5. After removing both fillets, cut off any remaining ribcage fragments that may have been left behind during the process.
  6. It’s acceptable to cut into the ribcage, but be cautious not to cut too deep and reach the guts, as these fish have not been gutted.

Conclusion: Now that you’ve mastered the art of filleting trout, you have a valuable skill that can be applied to filleting various types of fish. With your trout now transformed into boneless fillets, you can prepare them in numerous ways—whether you prefer batter-frying, baking, broiling, or grilling. Personally, grilled trout is my favorite. If you opt for grilling, don’t forget to invite friends over. I’ll bring the corn on the cob! Enjoy your delicious trout fillets.