Northwest Fishing Reports

I am having a hard time keeping my salmon pinned down when fileting them. I am using a piece of plywood which works well for one fish but by the second it is to slimly have any control of the fish while I filet it. I find myself cutting towards my hand which I don’t like. What kind of surface do you all use to filet Salmon on?

For lack of a better alternative right now I do it right on my granite counter top when a big fish like salmon/steelhead. Smaller trout/kokanee sized fish I use a glass cutting board. Have the same problem, I use one of those fillets gloves to hold the fish, I seem to get a better grip and still cut away from my hand just to be extra safe.
I use kokaneekid's fillet method that's on utube (well I don't know if he invented it but he has a darn good vid demonstrating the method) for all fish except perch now and glad I switched.

I have a large 24x30 cutting board that works great.

I have a large HDPE Cutting board, that I lay a large towel over. Stops the fish from slipping around. If the fish are extra slippery, I usually wipe it down with one of those yellow shop towels. Gets rid of the slime real fast. Bleach and wash everything down afterwards.

I just lay a bunch of newspapers out on the kitchen counter and have at it.

obryan214 wrote:I just lay a bunch of newspapers out on the kitchen counter and have at it.

does that keep the fish from sliding around?

obryan214 wrote:I just lay a bunch of newspapers out on the kitchen counter and have at it.

This.

Lay a new, dry single sheet down (or remove the top sheet in a stack) for each subsequent fish...sticks right to it. I also have a dry paper towel in the non-cutting hand to pin the fish down.

I have a chunk of ply wood with outdoor carpet on it (the green stuff) and it works pretty awesome

Steelheadin360 wrote:I have a chunk of ply wood with outdoor carpet on it (the green stuff) and it works pretty awesome

I'm going to have to make one of these, sounds like the ticket.

For home, I just go to Costco and get those blue shop rag paper towels, a regular paper towel will work also but those shop ones are like 3 times as thick so they last longer.
On the boat I collect old towels and sweatshirts (buy em from Goodwill, pick them up from family & friends) and cut em into hand towel size. Then lay the fish on that either on the gunnel or a cooler or whatever flat surface you have. Works fine and you can just rinse the blood and slime off in the river when done. They get too gross, throw em away.

fishcaker wrote:

obryan214 wrote:I just lay a bunch of newspapers out on the kitchen counter and have at it.

This.

Lay a new, dry single sheet down (or remove the top sheet in a stack) for each subsequent fish...sticks right to it. I also have a dry paper towel in the non-cutting hand to pin the fish down.

i use a stack and just remove for each side of fish. haven't tried the paper towel hand trick but will try it now.

I just put a couple of garbage bags on the counter and use a sharp filet knife easy clean up.

fishcaker wrote:

obryan214 wrote:I just lay a bunch of newspapers out on the kitchen counter and have at it.

This.

Lay a new, dry single sheet down (or remove the top sheet in a stack) for each subsequent fish...sticks right to it. I also have a dry paper towel in the non-cutting hand to pin the fish down.

Me, too. Then wrap the remains up in the paper for the garbage.

I use a small section of plywood too. Will give it a wipe with a rag in between if it starts to get slimed up, but I think laying down a couple sheets of newspaper would probably do the trick too. A very sharp slim blade fillet knife helps. Helpful to hear how other do it. Good info.

something I have used in the past is a piece of plywood with some sticky back sandpaper on it. I didn't have any problem getting slimed up and the sandpaper stayed on pretty well. I just put it in a few places to keep it from slipping. No problem with the cleanup either.

use a towel on top of the counter or your plywood. It works just fine for me.

I have the plywood and green carpet but am to lazy/busy to put it all together. I just use my tailgate at the river saves having a mess at home.

Racer wrote:something I have used in the past is a piece of plywood with some sticky back sandpaper on it. I didn't have any problem getting slimed up and the sandpaper stayed on pretty well. I just put it in a few places to keep it from slipping. No problem with the cleanup either.

I like this idea and I have sticky back sand paper. I will give this a try

I use the tailgate of my truck. It's got that car carpet on it, they stick straight on it. Then I hose it off with a little soap. Works like a charm. Just don't let your wife see you do it.

I have a camping filet table I got off amazon with 2 sinks and a trash bag holder and garden hose holder. I rinse off after each fish and also use a cheap cotton winter glove on my non cutting hand to hold the fish with. The glove really grips the fish then I use dish soap to wash off the glove and through it in with the laundry.