Cleaning Perch with an Electric Knife is the way to go. Over the years, I’ve eaten lots and lots of perch! And for a good reason. Yellow perch are one of the best-tasting fish on earth. Seriously. I’m into eating fish, and I’ve eaten a lot of both freshwater and saltwater fish.
Perch are the deal, hands down. If I had to choose, it would be the only fish I would ever eat!
And when you get over a school of perch, that can mean a big pile of work to do at the end of the day on the back end of fishing, having fun, and harvesting perch.
I’m going to show you (watch the above video!) how we process through a massive pile of perch using an electric fillet knife to get delicious fillets off the fish. We will get the rib cage out and then using a smaller knife from Bubba Blades to get every bone for a tasty fillet.
I started with an incision right behind the gill plate, turn the blade, and go all the way down until I hit the spine with the teeth of the knife.
Next, turn the blade and follow along the top of the backbone until you reach the tail of the fish. Try not to cut through the backbone. (Meaning: after you turn the blade, try to glide it right alongside the spine, keep your blade level along the back. It will take some practice, and if you cut through the backbone—don’t worry! It happens to even the most experience fillet master!)
Next, flip the fish over and repeat the same process on the other side of the perch.
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