Around here there is a local fishing show on Sunday mornings. They had a guy on recently who can fillet Northerns in I'm guessing about 45 seconds. I couldn't begin to describe the process but it was pretty awesome. He ends up with ONE big, boneless slab of meat. I think he has a video. Maybe you guys will see him at the sports show...

What I do with Northerns is pretty easy. I start by setting the fish on it's belly and cutting the slab off the back. Starting at the head, go down to and follow the spine and back up and out when you hit the base of the top fin. The knife is horizontal so you get the top half of both sides at the same time. That is most of the meat in a big chunk. Then I do the bluegill shaped tail section on both sides like usual. Now you have three boneless pieces and most of the meat.

At that point I decide how hungry I think we are and if I want to struggle with the other two y-bone filled belly pieces or share those two mouthfuls with the gulls that probably lead me to the fish in the first place. Besides, the belly fat will contain higher amounts of any harmful contaminants. I totally forgot to mention that possible down side in my reply to your "challenges" post.

Posted by db on January 05, 2001 at 03:01