Thanks Doc. Great video! I’ve been using this technique for the past several years. The video confirmed what I’ve found.

It is a great way to fillet fish, especially larger fish (15+lbs). The wastage is zero. However, it is slow. Really slow. I can fillet a salmon using the traditional method in about a minute. This technique takes much more time. Your video confirms that my laborious 5+ minutes per fish just about matches yours.

Also, your collar cuts are much deeper than mine. I usually go around the gill plate rather than starting a few inches back. So my collars are much narrower. I may try to start the collar cut a few inches back to provide a little more meat on those bones, as you suggest. Also, I always smoke the collars. Does anyone do anything else with them? I’ve never tried grilling the collars, but with more meat on them, it might be worth a try.

Lately, on larger salmon I’ve been trying to fillet out the cheek meat (ala, halibut). It takes some good knife skills to get all the cheek meat; and it’s never a lot of meat. The cheeks end up in the smoker, along with the collars.

Thanks again.