How to Fillet a Walleye
OK, one way to do it.

More and more this year I've heard the question, "Can you show me how to fillet a walleye?"

While I don't pretend to be and expert fish filleter, I thought this might be something that might be useful to those who have never done it, and would like to know where to start. This is one way that works for me. As you do it more and more, and get other tips from those who have more experience, you too can learn how to fillet a fish and reap the benefits of having a great fish feast.

STEP #1 - Catch a fish!

If you don't know how to catch a fish, check out the many resources available to you on Fish-Hawk.Net. Tips, Fish-Hawk Show, Maps, or if you don't believe us, ask the rest of the world from within Hawk Talk.

STEP #2 - Clean the fish!

You should really make sure you have a good sharp knife. No you're grandmothers old butter knife from 1912 that is as sharp as a rusty old spoon will just not do the trick, unless of course you want to hack your fish up into small pieces. I like to clean the fish while leaving the head and tail attached. This allows you to get a good grip on the fish while making your fillets. You'll find that you really need a good grip and these fish, as well as most others, are quite slippery.

STEP #3 - Remove the backbone from the meat.

Once upon a time I was doing this starting from the tail and working towards the head. I eventually discovered that on a walleye, they have scales that point towards the tail end of the fish. If you start your cut from the tail end, you are pushing with the direction of the scales and it is very difficult to hold onto the fish. If you start from the head, you can get a good grip on the fish and you will actually be pushing against the grain of the scales, which results in less sliding and a firmer grip.

Starting from the head, carefully make a cut along the backbone of the fish. Be sure to keep your knife as close to the backbone as you can so that you maximize the amount of meat on your fillet. Don't worry about cutting through the little bones, we'll remove them later.

STEP #4 - Flip over fish and do the other side.

Repeat step #3 for the other side of the fish. Once you have cut away both fillets from either side of the fish, you should have nothing but a head, tail, and backbone....and of course 2 beautiful fillets. Discard the head, tail, and backbone.

STEP #5 - Remove fins and tough areas from the fillet.

You can do this one at a time or with a sigle angled cut from the bottom of the fillet to the top of the side fin. Some people prefer to just cut the fins off, however I like to also remove the section of meat on the fillet that is very, very tough. This makes for a much cleaner fillet.

STEP #6 - Remove the bones

Those little bones left in the fillet, that I said to not worry about in step #3, are the fish's ribs. We're going to remove these now. The ribs span an area from where you cut away the backbone to about half way down the fillet. Find the edge of the bones with your fingers, and make a small incision from one end of the fillet to the other, along the contour of the bones, not all the way through, but more of a surgical cut that just pierces the surface of the fillet.

From the meaty side of the fillet, where you cut the backbone away, slide your knife just below the surface and carefully slice away the bones down to the small incision you made as discussed above.

At this point, we can pretend we are doctors! What you're going to do is continue to make your slice just below the bones until you eventually get to a point where you can peel the bones away from the fillet.

I like to peel the bones away because it basically pulls the remaining bones out of the fillet and minimizes the number of little bones you'll need to pick out of you teeth later. After you have peeled away the bones, run your fingers up and down the fillet to see if there are any other bones you want to extract at this time. It should be pretty clean though.

STEP #7 - Remove the outer skin from the fillet.

Depending on how big your fish is, you may want to tackle this by doing half of the fillet first, and then the other half, or you could do the entire fillet all at once if you'd like to. For wide fish, I like to tackle it one half at a time. To do this, I make a cut through the meat, all the way to the skin, the length of the fillet.

This is where a fillet board is useful! If you do any amount of filleting, I would strongly recommend that you get a fillet board. It's tough to hold the fish's skin with your fingers and apply the required amount of pressure to remove the meat from the skin. I prefer to start from the tail end of the fillet as it is easier to start the incision. Get a good grip on a small portion of the fish's skin, NOT THE MEAT, and slide your knife between the skin and fillet. You grab hold of the fish's skin because it will not stretch as much as the meat which will give you a more controlled cut of the fillet.

While holding the skin in one hand and your knife in the other, apply a good amount of downward pressure on the knife, cutting away the meat from the skin. Don't worry about cutting through the skin, it's pretty tough. The trick is to apply the right amount of pressure, while keeping the knife's blade flat enough as to not cut through the skin.

When you have completed both halfs of the fillet, you should end up with two half fillets and the fish's skin. Discard the skin.

Do the other fillet!

STEP #8 - Finish Up

Once you've removed all the bones and skin, you should be left with two beautiful walleye fillets. Repeat for all fish you intend on filleting, wash thorougly and find a good recipe.

STEP #9 - Prepare your Feast

One recipe I like is as follows...BBQ Walleye

• Get some corn on the cob and remove the husks.
• Place a layer of corn husks on a piece of tinfoil.
• Lay your fillets on top of the corn husks.
• Sprinkle fillets with lemon juice, green onion, pepper and butter.
• Place another layer of corn husks on top of the fillets.
• Enclose the entire package within tinfoil and seal.
• Heat BBQ on one side only, high heat.
• Place tinfoil package on opposite side of BBQ flame.
• Cook for about 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fillets, or until meat is white and flakes away.
• Chow down and enjoy!

ALWAYS REMEMBER

Let's help keep these wonderful resources alive and prosperous. Practise responsible fishing. Only keep fish you plan on eating!