Bloody(?) stripe inside next to fish backbone.

[lucabrasi]

i just plain can't fillet. Waste to much meat. I try with larger trout and other fish but still don't have it down. No, I wouldn't gut a cat like a trout. Watching me fillet is a sorry thing. My father in law has a trick with perch or bluegill he runs a knife around through the skin down the back bone and exposing the bone, around the fins and stuff, makes a few cuts here and there, and when all finished pulling the skin, bones and guts out you have a perfect fish to fry. Headless, finless, boneless. Definately takes longer than the guys filetting them but not a speck of wasted meat.
We were at a fishing resort in Minnesota in the fish cleaning cabin and the owner, a lifelong Minnesota native had never seen that trick. Those family resorts in Minnesota are something else. All over on the lakes out there. Quite the place to spend a vacation for sure.
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