I got a new fillet knife for Christmas, and while I didn’t ask for it this is one of my favorite gifts. Not just because my wife probably found the current edition of such knives and saw that it looked more like an ice pick than a functioning knife, but because whenever I see a fillet knife I think of steaming platters of winter caught pan fish.

When I was a kid looking over my dad’s shoulder at the fish cleaning process, I noted how much work went into it and how the little buggers were still bony and usually tasted “fishy”. Even then I thought there must be a better way, but filleting looked very difficult so I didn’t try it for many years.

In the meantime I had discovered one of the greatest taste treats available to an outdoor person is a dinner of pan fish fillets. You won’t find them on the menus of your favorite restaurant though. You either have to know someone willing to share those delights or prepare them from your own catch.

I’m assuming that preparing them from what you’ve caught yourself is the best bet so let me help you with the filleting.

Bluegills, sunfish, crappies and perch can all be done in about the same way so let’s look at bluegills. They are perhaps the most common of a winter catch in southern Michigan. Still, if you happen to find a nice average walleye in your bucket it will be easier to practice on. I find a knife with a four-inch blade to be the best.

I handle these fish in two different ways, sometimes scaling them and sometimes skinning them. In the winter and when dealing with small species, scaling is my favorite way. Winter fish lack the algae clinging to their bodies (the cause of most of the fishy taste) and by leaving the skins on the fillets, are more easily removed from the skeletons.

So back to the process either scaled or not.

Grasp the fish in your left hand (the opposite if you’re left handed) and cut down to the backbone just behind the head. Continue the cut along each side, beginning behind the gills and the two small fins below. Next, grasp the fish, facing you and in a swimming position. Insert the sharp tip of your knife in the back cut and work the blade lengthwise of the fish, along the top of the rib cage until you’ve cut to the back of the large back or dorsal fin. Do this on both sides of the fish.

Now lay the fish on its side facing you and continue the cut behind the dorsal fin, all the way to the tail and down around the belly up against the large belly or anal fin. This should give you a fillet flap of one half of the fish. Don’t cut it away from the skeleton but turn the fish over and repeat the cuts on the other side of the fish. This should leave all but a half-inch bit of meat connecting both sides, at the throat of the fish looking like a butterfly.

Whether eaten right away or frozen, I like to rinse and soak the fillets in cold water for at least a day. This causes them to sweeten and to swell and cook more easily.

When dealing with mid-summer fish, skinning will eliminate most of the algae. And if the fish are particularly dark (a condition caused by living in weeds and/or concentrations of algae), try soaking the fillets in a mixture of water and cold milk, about half and half. That will take care of the fishy taste.

Where cooking recipes are concerned there are many. Finely ground cracker crumbs which will stick nicely to a fillet dipped in beaten egg, is my favorite. Cornmeal is good too, as is a half, half Bisquick mix.

Just try some of these great little wintertime butterfly fillets fixed to your personal, preferred taste and tell me you don’t like them.

Bet you can’t eat just one!