red fish
 

I've seen all the you-tube videos of how to filet a red fish.I loose way more meat than I should. Do SALTY CAJUN members have any suggestions?:confused:

Bring them to my house. You will only lose half that way.

It depends on the size of the redfish. For the bigger ones, I like to take my time. I use a 6" buck knife to separate the fillet from the back. I make the first cut just behind the gill, cutting from the spine upward, using the point of the knife as a fulcrum and working the knife like a lever. Whenever possible I cut from inside to the outside to ease cutting through the scales.

After making the cut behind the gill, I make the cut from the gill to the vent along the ribs, working front to back and inside to out. You need to learn by experience exactly where the ribs are, or you'll tend to leave more meat than you need to on the ribs. Then I work the knife front to back along the spine, separating the fillet from the back. Once again, I do not cut with a saw like motion, but I work the knife like a lever, moving the front first, and then rotating the knife with the point serving as a fulcrum. This provides the force needed to cut through the scales with out any sawing that tends to waste a lot of meat. With practice, this can be very efficient (leave little meat behind).

Then I use a regular 7-9" fillet knife to remove the fillet from the skin.

Where do you believe that you are loosing meat from on your fillets? From my experience reds do not yield much fillet meat after trimmed properly compared to their size. I have seen my grandpa scale one with a hatchet head and all only taking the gills,eyes, and guts out. Then cook the whole fish. Then again he could write a book on how to be a coona** lol

Butcher knife and a hammer. Redfish steaks all day

/
Haha the legend of Ratdog lives. Can someone link the video?

Try starting your knife at the tail and work your way to the head. That way you encounter the biggest rib bones last. Works better than trying to go in behind the gill plate and make a turn into the biggest ribs. That's where a lot of people lose some meat. If you go tail to head, and you are doing the half shell thing, you're done! If you want to take the skin off, just use your thumb or a fork to hold the slab while you take off the skin. You can do that easily with a red because their skin is so tough.

Its not a special knife. Its an old wore out dexter. I cleaned fish with him a month ago. Its not that hard. I do it that way now, just not as fast.

I cut behind the gills and along the back. Then ise a fillet knife to peel ot off the bone. Then back to a serated to cut the bones. Dont miss that much meat