The fillet knife post got me to wondering. I'm certainly not a novice at filleting, and have used a number of different good knives, some better than others.
My question is..do you prefer to fillet around the ribs, or cut them them off?
I have done both, and even though the "cut the ribs off" method is quicker, I prefer the "around the ribs" method rather than hassel with removing the ribs after the fillet is off.
Depending on "Who is coming for dinner" sometimes dictates whether or not I'll remove the radial bones as well (which I never do for smoking).
What's your preferred method of filleting?

I definitely like them without the rib bones, but I haven't figured out how to get them out consistently while filleting the fish. Particularly on smaller fish it seems the knife goes right through the ribs and leaves them on the fillets.

When I do remove the radial bones I use pliers, what method do you use?

Thanks,

I filet the ribs out with the backbone, all in one piece, working with the fish on its back, head and tail off. Seems ass backwards to the way most people do it, but it works for me. I leave the radial bones in, but if I'm smoking the fish, I'll pull them out with needlenose pliers after I smoke the fish. I like to get them out before vacuum packing smoked fish so they don't puncture the seal.

around the ribs for me and never have taken the pin bones out....

I fillet both ways. I use the around the ribs method when I am at home or have an ample amount or room to work with but in the field I use the other method because you don't need as much space. You can whack both sides off then discard the carcass and take the ribs off where the carcass was laying. Good for a tailgait with a piece of plywood or something like that.

Around the rib bones and pull the radials with needlenose. I hate picking bones out of my fish when I'm eating.

Above is a cross section showing the approximate location and orientation of the radial bones on a salmon/steelhead. I have shown the two cuts I make (cut 1 and cut 2, in that order). The radial bones end in the area just above the ventral fins, and can be easily located with your finger. The reason for the first cut on the top is so the knife can easily follow the curvature of the bones, then the second cut is simply a matter of following parallel to the first cut, but on the other side of the bones. This will leave about 1/16 to 1/8 sliver of meat with bones removed. I do not cut the skin if I want to cook whole fillets.

Part of the dilemma of offering advice on an open forum, is that everyone has his or her own ideas of what is best. So let me say that I offer this as a way I use occasionally. Like when I’m broiling or bbq’ing fillets for company or kids who are not very familiar with eating fish.
It works well when making deep fried fish and chips using salmon or steelhead as well (skin removed for this one). I guess it’s important to add that when I cook fish, except as fish and chips, it is with the skin on. Removing the radial bones makes for a nice eating event for guests. A little classier than grabbing the needle nose pliers out of the toolbox and working over the fish before it’s served.

One last personal preference: When I broil fillets with the skin on, I put the meat side down against the foil first and broil the skin until it is dry, then I turn it over on a fresh piece of foil and add my special spices and finish broiling. I have found that this method insures that the fish is not slimy on the skin side, and makes it very easy to serve and eat.

Again....just my preferences....hope it helps

I cut along the back bone cutting every rib bone. Then I go back and trim the bones and membrane off. This way your get the most mead off the fish. Then I pull the pin bones out with tweezers.

I do it the same way as Fun5Acres

A salmon takes me 30-60 seconds usually, and the fillets come off without the rib bones. So little flesh is left around the stomach cavity that it's translucent, I mean TRANSPARENT.
I use that big narrow butcher knife that, after touching it on a steel, will shave my arm. A stiff fillet knife works similarly for this. When using a stiff knife, start with the salmon with the head off. I don't like flexability in the knife for salmon since the flex itself may cause me to miss and then they aren't picture perfect.
I hate to see butchered, wasted fish.
Cut in the direction of the rib bones (back twards the tail) and for me, those rib bones literally slide right out of you fillet and stay with the carcass. The less strokes you make, the better the fillet.
I've used this stiff knife trick for years, after learning it from a charter skipper. Recently, I met a guy who handles fish for a living, working in a big seafood distribution plant. He can out fillet me in a heart beat in terms of speed and in quallity. But he uses the same exact knife as I do, and the same technique.
It works for him. It definately works for me.
Try it. Practice makes perfect.

Nice drawing F5A......
After 50 years of doing this I settled on a method that works for my wife and I. I lay the fish down and take head off behid gill plates. A serrated knife works well or clever and hammer. Then I cut the fish up in 3" sections all the way to the tail section. Again, the clever is good for getting thru the backbone.

Now I have meal size pieces to fillet and it is very easy to follow the backbone and ribs to take off the fillets. Very little waste, and quite easy because of the size. Vacu pac like 2 filllets in each pkg. because it's just right for the 2 of us.. Give it a try. Now I've never done this on any fish over 19#,, so I don't know how it would work on the big ones..

Why not just cut the fillet in to three pieces and save you the work of cutting though the back bone?

leave head on, run knife bown back bone until past rib cage then knife through fish middle of knife should balance/run down back bone heres the easy and quick part grab fillet from top and pull flesh off rib cage enough to get knife back on top of ribs one quick sweep and filleting is done. The trick to a good fillet/and filleter is not to stop your knife.

As a surgeon, I too cringe at the butcher jobs I see all too often at the fish cleaning station. Meat is not the main reason many of us fish, but when you consider the time, tackle, and treasure invested in our favorite pursuit, there's no sense in wasting valuable meat on a poor fillet job when you finally decide to harvest a fish for the table.

I tend to see the most waste when folks are filleting the bigger fish... 30 pounds plus. That's because what most folks consider a negligible amount of meat left on the bones of a small fish is suddenly magnified perhaps 5 to 10-fold on a magnum sized fish. Most guys are taught to fillet a fish by riding the length of the backbone with their fillet knife. That may be fine for a 3 pound trout, but try that on a 40-50 pound king, and you get a slab 3/4 to 7/8 inch thick left on the carcass. There is nothing heroic about getting a fillet off a fish in one piece when there is that much waste!

Here's my method for filleting a big salmon.... it's really quite similar to how most folks fillet a halibut, except that I do it in sections.

1) Make a long sweeping cut along the lateral line all the way to the backbone.

2) Make several diagonal "cross cuts" depending on how big a chunks you want for the finished pieces. The first one is made just behind the bony "collar" and the last right at the wrist of the tail. I usually divide the entire side into thirds or quarters. This would yield either six or eight pieces per side.

3) Remove each piece by sweeping your fillet knife from the backbone toward the dorsal ridge for the top pieces, or from the backbone toward the belly for the bottom pieces. It is easier to start at the tail end and work your way toward the collar. Sweep the knife slightly toward the tail in the same direction as the spine bones or rib bones, keeping direct contact with those bones for the cleanest fillet.



With a little practice, the resulting carcass is so clean that it is almost transparent.

I get out my Chicago Cutlery knife thats shaped like a fillet knife but way to stiff and make one cut all the way down the length of the spine. Flip the fillet over and a couple quick swipes and the ribs come off without losing meat.
About the only meat I lose doing this is the meat directly above the spine.

There is an excellent step by step with pictures for filleting a salmon on the Salmon University web site.

Deepwater

Fishingdoc, you're filet method seems overly techncal, but if I ever need my appendix out, I'm coming to you!

I do quite a few things with salmon since I always seem to have so much of it :p I filet the fish pretty much whole with the guts removed, I start by cutting away the collar, slip the point of the filet knife into the spine at the neck and work my way to the tail along one side of the dorsal bones, working around the dorsal fin. I then filet out the tail section and work the ribs out from the tail end, a few clean sweeps and it's done on one side, then I don't turn the fish over until I've fileted the dorsal bones and fin away from the other side of the fish - this way absolutely no waste on top. Then I flip it over and complete the job. This works on any size salmon, at least up to 44 lbs., and is pretty quick.

For smoking I leave the skin on and cut the filets up small, I leave them larger if I'm vacpacking for freezing. I pull the pin bones out of smoked filets to prevent puncture of the vacpac bag and because I eat smoked fish on the run and bones are a pain. Most fish that I'm going to freeze I don't bother with bones until maybe later in the preparation process.

Other times I'll skin the fish after filleting, and when I do that I cut out the pin bones by removing a sliver of meat similar to FFA's drawing except that I cut all the way through as there is no skin. I'll then chunk the fish up bite size for stir fry, pickling, canning with mustard sauce like sardines, for bouliabaise, salmon chowder, salmon tempura, and just about anything else that will add variety to the menu, which for our family consists of a hundred or more salmon a year

FishNphysician - I was stunned by the pictures and descriptions of the Chinook that you provided. I've never seen it done that way. I was suprised by the size of your knife (it seemed quite small) and the fact you where filleting the Chinook without gutting it first. I wish I could catch 30lb+ Chinooks regularly so I could practice your technique. It looks great.

So here's a suggestion: Perhaps next time you catch/keep a big Chinook you could provide those step by step instructions, complete with additional pictures, that would provide a better description of your method. If I'm lucky enough to land a big one, I would hate to ruin the fillet job by "practicing" your technique.

Or maybe I'll try it on the 12-15lb spring Chinook that should be showing up soon. Provided I can catch one.....

FishNPhysician;
Nice work, Sir! You can hardly see the scar.

I am gonna have to try that on the next big fish I get, unless its up in BC.

You speak of meat left on the bones when fileting. I will go back and "scrape" the bones for the cat or better yet, save that stuff and make "Tuna" Casserole!

I like to filet from inside the fish. After gutting, I stick the knife through at about the third rib behind the head, parallel with the back bone. Then one swoop to the tail. Turn the fish over and the same for the other side.

To get the ribs out, I set fish on cutting board, skin up, with ribs toward me. I pull up on the meaty part of the filet exposing a few rib bones. Rest the knife on those ribs and cut them out. Trim the belly and fins off and good to go.

"Two legs sits on three legs eating no legs, four legs gets the bones"