How To Clean And Prepare Red Drum Fish

Plough the fish on its back and with the cutting edge facing up, insert the blade through both gill vents, and cut to separate the belly from the head.

Make a vertical cut backside the head of the fish all the mode to the courage. The cut will be easier to kickoff if the blade is angled under the scales of the fish, rather than trying to saw through them.

With the bract facing the tail, insert the knife all the way through the fish at the anal vent and hugging the backbone, cut down to the tail to loosen the rear office of the fillet from the carcass.

Turn the fish around and insert the knife blade facing forward in the groove closely paralleling the dorsal fin. Cut the skin the length of the fish to the vertical cut backside the head.

With curt strokes cut the mankind loose from the courage down to the rib cage. The mankind of the fillet should now be completely free of the carcass except for the attachment at the rib cage.

Property the tail of the carcass with one hand, apply the other to grasp the fillet firmly near the tail and rip it slowly from the carcass, neatly breaking the rib bones at their joints with the body.

This cut retains the succulent throat meat, here pointed out by the knife tip.

The finished skin-on fillet is ready for washing and storage.

Redfish and black drum are substantially more difficult to make clean than are speckled trout. The heavy bone construction and larger scales brand knife control more difficult, often resulting in leaving large amounts of flesh on the carcass.

Fish-cleaning expert Ricky Richoux takes advantage of whatsoever opening, or chink, in the armor of the fish, when cleaning them. One opening is the anal vent. A soft spot on the fish is the small-scale groove that closely parallels the dorsal (dorsum) fin.

"All fish take that," he says, "and I utilize it a lot."

He also avoids cut bone, such as rib cage, wherever possible. In one case the flesh of the fillet has been removed from the carcass, he rips the fillet loose, breaking the bones surprisingly neatly. Once in a while, the rib basic will not intermission when the fillet is pulled. Whatever that must be cut are sliced with a Dexter Russell Tiger Edge bract.

The process produces a skin-and-scales-on fillet for cooking "on the half-trounce." It leaves in identify the "pharynx" of the fish, on the lower front of the fillet, which Richoux peculiarly prizes.

If a skinless fillet is desired, hold the tail tip of the fillet, skin side down to the cut surface, and with the other mitt cutting-scrape the flesh loose from the pare. After the fillet is removed, it should be trimmed of any red flesh plant on its pare side. The larger the fish is, the more important trimming becomes.

Also the occasional utilize of the serrated bract on the rib muzzle, all cuts are made with the F. Dick Stiff blade, unless the fillet is skinned. Skinning and trimming of the red-fleshed blood line is done with the Flex bract.