Northwest Fishing Reports

From the makers of "Bag of Glass", meet the "Spife".

What, no love for the spife???
This is actually a fillet knife with a "gut spoon".
Pure genius as far as I'm concerned. Now I don't have to use my thumbnail...

I guess I did not notice that filet knives were no longer sold with a spoon on the handle end. I can recall seeing a wood handled filet knife with a spoon on it some 30 years ago. I thought the spoon was remove because the thumb was so effective! When fileting fish, I don't bother cleaning them! Bleed and ice after the catch. Filet with guts inside.

Yup, the guts stay with the bones.

To each his own. When I'm fishing for meat, it's usually slab perch.
Bonk, slit, scoop, next...

HillbillyGeek wrote:To each his own. When I'm fishing for meat, it's usually slab perch.
Bonk, slit, scoop, next...

Is there an improvement to the meat if gutted before icing and ultimate fileting? If I were to go to the trouble of gutting the fish immediately after the catch. I would consider fileting instead.

That is just me though, efficiency.

Not so much for little fish (or big ones) that you just fillet with the guts intact. It's for Salmon and Steelhead, specifically scraping the bloodline.

I think it's important to bonk and bleed fish immediately to keep them from tasting fishy. There can be circumstances that make it impractical, but that's the goal.

Those knives are still made by multiple manufacturers. $8 Kershaw at Outdoor Emporium is in the current flyer. It's for what Bodo said, salmon and steel blood line along the spine.

I'm not so much into bonkin a fish but bleeding is a must!

Salmon, I almost always bleed AND gut before they hit the ice. But then, I don't filet many.

MarkFromSea wrote:Those knives are still made by multiple manufacturers. $8 Kershaw at Outdoor Emporium is in the current flyer. It's for what Bodo said, salmon and steel blood line along the spine.

I'm not so much into bonkin a fish but bleeding is a must!

Salmon, I almost always bleed AND gut before they hit the ice. But then, I don't filet many.

If not fileting, then steak and roast size processing? Or leave whole? Do tell Mark............. .

My dad will still cut steaks out of a Salmon. I strictly filet for the smoker or BBQ.

Usually roasts, steak em or fillet after they thaw..... most of the salmon I catch are 10+ pounds gutted and headed since I target chinook out of West port.... Certainly not very many.... in comparison to river guys or Puget Sound fishers here. The last few years, the chinook quota has been generous for kings in June through Aug..... I've been just releasing coho mostly, depending on the reg at the time.

about 5 years ago i heated an old spoon with a blow torch and then shoved it into the rubber handle of my filet knife. i thought i was a genius and had found my million dollar idea until i realized they were mass produced commercially.

bugmasta wrote:about 5 years ago i heated an old spoon with a blow torch and then shoved it into the rubber handle of my filet knife. i thought i was a genius and had found my million dollar idea until i realized they were mass produced commercially.

"You missed it by this much" Maxwell Smart