How to fillet a snapper
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Newbies Corner
Forum Description: If you're new to fishing this is the place to ask any questions about getting started ...
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=76371
Printed Date: 02 Feb 2026 at 2:11am
Topic: How to fillet a snapper
Posted By: smudge
Subject: How to fillet a snapper
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 9:43pm
|
Since I posted the hugely popular 'How to fillet a gurnard' series the offers have flooded in and I have made another foray into the world of mega stardom and fish butchery. This is how I fillet a snapper.... |
Replies:
Posted By: Naki man
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 10:29pm
|
Well done Smudge - I always wash my fish and the taste is fine. I think the secrete is to make sure you don't leave it sitting in juice. I either dry my fish with a handie towel, or put it in a colander to let the juices run off. It easily keeps 3 days in the fridge without tainting.
------------- The solution to any problem - work, money, love, whatever - is to go fishing - the worse the problem the longer the fishing trip should be. "I have a lot of very large problems" |
Posted By: Bushpig
Date Posted: 02 Mar 2012 at 10:45pm
|
Nice Smudge. I do it the same way, except I skin before cutting out the bones in he middle of the fillet ------------- I would rather laugh with the Sinners, than cry with the Saints |
Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 12:17am
|
great Smudge... Bushie how about one of you ripping the guts out with your teeth mate.... ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: Ahab
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 10:34am
|
Good work Smudge, very useful. Very little waste on your fillets. I also like to cut the cheeks out and scrape the frame with a teaspoon for mince to make fish cakes. Get a lot of extra bits and pieces:    |
Posted By: Kezza
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 10:52am
|
Awesome Smudge....next fillet-o-rat please!! ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow"> 
|
Posted By: Bushpig
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 11:14am
I'm soft now, just use my hands. But that's a great way to gut and gill a fish ------------- I would rather laugh with the Sinners, than cry with the Saints |
Lethal wrote:Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 11:19am
|
Good work on the videos Smudge ! Just had a natter with the team at Victory knives they'd like to replace that machete with a real knife........... you have a brand new Victory filleter coming your way soooon! ------------- Online... |
Posted By: JW
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 12:02pm
Nice work. I missed the hugely popluar how to fillet a gurnard series . Is there a link?Those fishcakes look good. Do you have a recipe for them?
|
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 3:02pm
|
The link on how to fillet a gurnard is here http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/how-to-fillet-a-gurnard_topic76365.html It is a pinned topic in the newbies forum so if you look at the threads in Newbies it will be one of the first ones right next to this one. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 03 Mar 2012 at 3:10pm
| Yeah Ahab the cheek meat is good stuff too but on small fish like those little snapper it's a fair effort for very little meat, we get as much as we can off the larger fish and if we dont give the frames away we sometimes use them where we can too. The chooks get a frame everytime as well. |
Posted By: tas-tackle
Date Posted: 09 Apr 2012 at 4:07pm
------------- http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow">  http://www.tas-tackle.co.nz |
Posted By: JW
Date Posted: 09 Apr 2012 at 5:20pm
Sounds like a good staightforward recipe, cheers 
|
Posted By: zzzke
Date Posted: 12 Apr 2012 at 8:54pm
I reckon the cheeks are definitely the best part of the fish  When I wasnt so lazy, did eat fish on the bone, good steamed with some cooking wine, some ginger, a leaf of spring onion, maybe a dash of coriander and salt |
Posted By: Huggybear
Date Posted: 20 Jul 2012 at 2:14pm
| Great vid smudge. I've always followed the 'experts' advice in not washing the fillets in fresh water, but as you say it washes away the scales and other stuff. I always find scales are a pain, especially when you are eating a cooked fillet and bite into a scale or three, but when I have scaled the fish before filleting to avoid this nasty occurrence the fish does not fillet as easily as when the scales are left on. Thanks again. |
Posted By: Greenhornet
Date Posted: 23 Sep 2012 at 12:36am
| Good vid and great recipe , well done boys. |
Posted By: SeaI
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2012 at 2:00pm
|
if you can remember, take a bucket of seawater home for washing fillets or in lieu of that just make up a bowl with a couple of table spoons of table salt and tap water, works a treat ------------- Kei uta ngā ika |
Posted By: got no boat
Date Posted: 05 Oct 2012 at 2:22pm
|
Seal I find the best way to keep fillets fresh is to not touch the fish with water of any kind after you have left the sea side. If they need a clean I just use a paper towel or a quick rinse before cooking works well. ------------- If a 6 was a nine... I don't mind |
Posted By: BananaBoat
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2014 at 9:11am
|
Usually I gut my fish, then fillet them later on, or a few days later The last few days, they were not gutted. I filleted them about 2-3hrs after catching them.... blood everywhere along the full length of the fillets. It happened with 4 fish like this (all iki spiked first) Good video as well, especially like the non flex heavy bladed knife |
Posted By: Tagit
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2014 at 9:28am
|
BB - how did you manage to pull up a 2 year old thread? I guess that was probably the last time Smudge caught a snapper though
 |
Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2014 at 9:41am
|
Good thread BB. If you keep the fish in salt-ice overnight and do them the next day, the flesh has set, they are much easier to fillet, and there's little or generally no blood. Personally I don't gut the fish as all that does is release a heap of bacteria in the gut which can ultimately spoil the fillets. If you take the fillets off without cutting into the gut cavity and keep them dry they'll keep for days. The frames can be then tidied up and used for stock,, heads/wings smoked, whatever. ------------- Online... |
Posted By: pjc
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2014 at 6:15pm
|
http://www.freefishheads.co.nz/
If you do not want heads/frames go here and find people in your area who will take them. ------------- Sex at 58.Lucky I live at 56 |
Posted By: Godders
Date Posted: 21 Oct 2015 at 6:51pm
|
So you dont scale a snapper and fillet it the next day.That blade seemed very sharp by my standards.do you sharpen them yourself or jusz buy a new one.I tried scaling and then had a bit of trouble getting the skin off. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 21 Oct 2015 at 8:44pm
|
Good qustions Godders. I prefer to leave the whole fish on ice overnight then fillet them whole, exactly the way Grunta suggests in an earlier post. Scaling a fish will make it harder to skin and if you are going to skin then I would leave the scales on and the gut in when I fillet them. Not bragging but I couldn't tell you how many fish I have filleted over the years, it is a whole lot quicker than trying to make a video and do it. About one to two minutes is all it takes for most fish. I didn't invent this method or anything like that, I have just seen a lot of people fillet fish and that is how I started doing them years ago after watching others do it and I still go the same way. That knife wasn't particularly sharp, as promised Grunta arranged for the good people at Victory knives to send me one and it is a different style of knife, easy to sharpen and holds its edge. Thanks Grunta, I really value that one. Yes I do sharpen my own knives, I've been doing so since I was a kid and I'm only average at it even now. To most people they think my knives are sharp but once you've used a truly sharp knife you'll understand. At the moment I'm making a knife, it will probably look like a kid made it but ahhh well we have to try these things  ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: FizFisho
Date Posted: 22 Oct 2015 at 1:38pm
|
been a long time since I watched that vid, is that a victory blade smudge? i got the same shape blade (rounded end) from victory. as for sharpening, i personally like leaving a burr on my blade as it creates a little more saw action which gets through scales piss easy. i also have a 600 grit diamond wand for a few swipes to refine it a bit. i dont feel the need for a steel or strop anymore for fish. just my personal take on it. i personally do gut them after if after roe as i love smoked fish eggs on toast. but i fillet them first. i never let my fillets touch any kind of water. i wipe them with a paper towel if there is the odd scale, but i clean my board often to avoid scale build up. also as i just fry fillets usually with no flour or batter the scales come off anyway. i also use the backbone and head for soup, but i do cut away spines and gut cavity and gills with snips if im using the back bone for other stuff. gonna have to brush up on my gurnard skills now im seeing the size of gurnard caught out in the cook straight :-) |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 21 Sep 2017 at 11:11pm
|
Good video/thread. I'm a competent, but slower filleter. Having said that, Northland fish are bigger My technique is similar, but I start in the gap underneath the skin at the dorsal fin and work my way up/down. Cut over the ribs from the inside. All my fish get the iki (done properly!) and straight on to ice. I'm often filleting within an hour or two of catching (yes, jetskis are fast!) which makes the job a bit harder. "Set" fish are definitely easier to fillet. I never wash fillets in anything and stay well clear of the gut cavity. I like to keep the blade sharp and clean as I go, especially if doing a few fish. Fillets are vac packed and put straight in to freezer or fridge depending on our needs. Have a growing list of people at work who are super keen on heads/frames, so they always go to a good home.
|
Posted By: alaxpol
Date Posted: 22 Jun 2018 at 10:09pm
| Wow Nice Video |
Posted By: BananaBoat
Date Posted: 17 Nov 2019 at 9:06pm
|
read somewhere about bleeding snapper after capture you might want to give it a go, also makes for better eating as well iki first, turn snapper up side down, knife under the gills, artery is right in by the back bone, cut, bleed it, wash off in sea water, about a 30 second job after iki the fillets appear more whiter & stays fresh longer in the fridge plus no blood in the fillets that you might get when filleting 
|
Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 11:05am
| Totally agree BBoat - have been bleeding mine lately and your comment ..."Fillets are whiter & stays fresh longer in the fridge plus no blood in the fillets" are spot on. Well worth doing in my view. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2019 at 4:32pm
|
We have also noticed over the last couple yrs, the same as we gut as we catch |
Posted By: Derek F
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2019 at 7:56am
|
We bleed and gut on the boat because we eat the "wings" ------------- And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more...Erica Jong |
Posted By: Derek F
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2019 at 7:58am
|
We also scale them under water in a fish bin on the boat.
------------- And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more...Erica Jong |
Posted By: waynorth
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2019 at 9:08am
I only scale fish I'm going to bake whole, but that's the best tip I'll read today ------------- treat fish like fish |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2019 at 9:38am
|
I scale and gut my bait fish on the fillet bench... mullet KY occasional carp before cutting cure/ freezing. put the head of the fish into a plastic bag.. the old supermarket banned ones. Been thinking about when I run out thu. The larger brown paper would stay open better. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2019 at 10:14pm
|
Scaling fish underwater is the best way. no mess at all. I learnt that one off lethal :)
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: BananaBoat
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2019 at 4:54pm
best fish scaler ever invented, can do it in the sink in the house, no flying scales
|
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2019 at 8:31am
|
I have something like that..white with red nobble thingys, was a xmas present several yrs ago from one of the grandchildren.. and sat up on the shelf never used... Always used a serrated butter knife... Now more than a though "I wonder" and a must do. Thanks |
Posted By: Mudfish marquand
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2019 at 5:55pm
|
nice information helps all
------------- On the fly or not interested. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 20 Dec 2019 at 6:37pm
Those Turbo scalers are the best thing. I had one 30 years ago. dunno where it went ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 21 Dec 2019 at 7:29am
|
Finally tried the scaler after a trip up the harbour the other day (in manukau reports). Scaling some KY to salt up for bait. Yep was very surprisingly impressed Dont know if "turbo" brand.. This is something very similar, maybe re branded https://www.burnsco.co.nz/shop/fishing/fishing/fishing-accessories/burnsco-fish-scaler" rel="nofollow - https://www.burnsco.co.nz/shop/fishing/fishing/fishing-accessories/burnsco-fish-scaler |
Posted By: boatman1
Date Posted: 10 May 2021 at 5:08am
| Thank you all for the advice |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 10 May 2021 at 5:22pm
No one mentioned the first very important step ie " First catch your snapper " There is also a method that makes it real easy & much neater plus no mess ie. Oceans & probably other fish retailers will fillet skin & bone for $3 per fish. Must confess to using their services on a couple of occasions when it was not practical to do at home. I understand if you are really lazy they will cook it as well ... ideal for a party or gathering. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 10 May 2021 at 6:14pm
|
------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 10 May 2021 at 6:48pm
Man, I've heard some fishing stories in my life but that one ... ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 11 May 2021 at 10:17am
Hey mate I am a fisherman, consequently goes without saying would NEVER stoop towards any form of exaggeration & to prove the point may even donate one or two for prizes in the junior section of the upcoming Grunta Hunter comp ! ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 24 May 2021 at 5:05pm
Bazza, why would any one want a snapper or two as a prize in a Gurnard Comp?  ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |