I’ve been fishing since I was a little girl so I learned how to gut and clean a fish at a very young age. I learned how to bait a hook and catch a fish before I learned how to ride a bike. Fishing for food to feed our family was a way of life for us growing up. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was learning some great self-sufficiency skills that would stay with me throughout my life. Now that I’m a mama, I feel honored to pass these skills on to Little A.
One of our favorite places to go fishing with Little A is a mountain lake about half an hour from home. We take our canoe and fish the lake for a while and then have dinner cooked over the campfire as the sun sets. This week’s trip up to this lake was our way to celebrate our anniversary. I had to laugh thinking about how most people would go out to eat at a fancy restaurant to celebrate an anniversary. Instead we prefer a simple meal cooked over the campfire in the mountains! (Here’s our post on how to cook on an open fire if you missed it!) We always catch fish when we visit this beautiful place. This week we harvested four nice sized cutbows (a cross between a rainbow trout and a cutthroat trout).
When catching trout, we don’t fillet them. Instead we gut and clean them to prepare them for cooking. Usually I prefer to gut a fish out in the wilds where it is caught. That way the innards can be left behind for another animal to feast on. Sometimes, like this week, the sun set so early that it got dark before we had time to clean the fish. Instead we put the fish on ice in our cooler and brought them home to gut and clean them. The good thing about gutting the fish at home is we can bury the fish innards in the dirt in our garden since it is an amazing natural fertilizer!
4 Steps to Gut and Clean a Fish
Before getting started with gutting your fish, find a flat surface. If you’re in the house this is easy since you can just use the counter top and cover it with newspaper or use a cutting board. When outside, look for a large flat rock or bank of the waterway that is relatively flat.
Step 1. We don’t keep the head on our fish when cooking them, that is just how I grew up eating wild fish. If you want to keep the head on, skip this step. Find the pectoral fin which is just on the back side of the head behind the gill. Place a sharp knife just behind the fin and cut straight down to cut the head clean off the fish.
Step 2. Find the little hole on the back underside of the fish where the poop comes out. Insert the tip of a sharp knife in this hole and slowly slice forward on the underbelly of the fish clean through the end where you cut the head off. (You can’t miss the fact that my husband is using a bright pink knife to gut and clean these fish- what a guy! This knife works amazing. If you want one for yourself, you can find them here)
Step 3. Remove the innards. Use the sharp tip of your knife to scrape the innards out of the crevice in the spine of the fish. Sometimes this will wash out under running water or if near a natural water source swish the fish in the water a few times.
Step 4. When cleaning a trout, there typically aren’t a lot of big scales that need to be scraped off. There is a natural protective film on the outer part of trout that I always refer to as fish slime. This is what makes fish so slippery and hard to pick up! Rub the outside of the fish while rinsing in water to remove the slime. Cut off any remaining fins.
Now your fish is ready to be grilled, baked, or fried in your favorite recipe! You can also freeze your fish to preserve it for a future meal. Growing up we always just put our fish in a plastic zip bag and put it in the freezer. My husband said he remembers cutting open a milk carton, putting the fish inside and filling with water to freeze. We actually didn’t do either of these! Now that we have this amazing new gamesaver vacuum sealer (you can find them here) we vacuum sealed two of our trout and put them in the freezer for a future meal. The other two we’re cooking up for dinner (recipe coming soon!)
Do you have any tips to share on gutting and cleaning a fish?
Russ Anthony
October 11, 2014 at 11:41 amWow. Those are beautiful trout. Nice eating, too, I’m sure.
Montana Homesteader
November 1, 2014 at 8:40 pmYes, beautiful AND tasty! I’m always amazed at just how beautiful the colors of the wild trout are.
Michele Petit
October 11, 2014 at 6:16 pmGreat KISS method 🙂 This old Montanan now in CA just cleaned two big whole salmon the other day ! Could have used this video first but I pretty much used the same method. Boy, a sharp knife is everything in that job; it was really hard holding onto the fish, then I remembered we had this fish tail holder thingy which I will try next time !! Good fishing!
Michele
BTW I am saving the fish parts for the garden too …
Montana Homesteader
November 1, 2014 at 8:39 pmMy dad always had one of those fish tail holders growing up. They came in handy for bigger fish, I find that with trout I can get my hand around them to hold them when filleting but a big fish is much trickier. Nice work on the two salmon, we really wish we could fish for wild salmon somewhere close to here and not have to travel!
Douglas
October 11, 2014 at 6:52 pmIf you leave the heads on while gutting the fish, it makes it a lot easier to hold on to…..
To each his own.
Montana Homesteader
November 1, 2014 at 8:41 pmI’ve never done it that way, for some reason we always cut the head off first. I might try that next time just to see if I notice any difference when gutting a fish!
Marilu
November 5, 2016 at 4:25 amBe careful with those nursing duties cos it#7128&;s possible for US to catch the flu from humans. Glad your Mom is starting to feel better and can help you blog again.
Connie
March 8, 2017 at 8:26 pmThere’s a secret about your post. ICKIYTBHTTY
Emma Kloepfer
June 17, 2015 at 12:54 pmYOU ARE LIFESAVER AND I LOVE YOU. A family friend just dropped off 12 trout fish! And I’m home alone! Wish me luck?
Gail
February 28, 2016 at 1:32 pmWe boil the fish heads and bone carcasses for our chickens and bury the guts under the fruit trees. The chickens really love the fish and peck every thing to bare bone.
Blessings Gail.
Lanette
November 5, 2016 at 4:42 amTusen takk, da vet jeg hva jeg skal gjøre i morgen. Du har en vakker blogg… Jeg har akkurat begynt Ã¥ oppdage decopage, sÃ¥ jeg gleder meg. Titt gjerne innom hos meg om du vil, der er strikking, søm og smykker – Ã¥ fopie¥rÃntligvhs snart litt decopage 🙂
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January 8, 2017 at 1:29 amRalph, in the 90′s you could buy an SKS or a MN at gunshows and shops for that or less if you really hunted. And even here in California they were classed as Curios and Relics and under the law then there was no waiting period on a C&R gun. You paid your money and walked out with just one paper filled out.I bought both of mine at a gunshow at the Alameda county fairgrounds. Since then they’ve banned gun shows at the fairgrounds and the rifles have a 10 day wait like every thing else.
kann man kfz versicherung steuerlich geltend machen
February 2, 2017 at 8:47 amCallaway,allt annat är trams och järnskrot…. man börjar ana att det är dags att kliva in pÃ¥ pr-byrÃ¥n och lyfta fram ett antal liknande ideér. T.ex. nn med Wislander pÃ¥ plan och lÃ¥t han kasta bollar pÃ¥ Filip och Fredrik tills dom segar ihop, samtidigt pÃ¥gÃ¥r världens jävla burnout med en Nissan Leaf i hörnet inkopplad pÃ¥ 380 volt och lyckan är gjord! För Brühl i tiden!
Easton Memmott
July 31, 2018 at 9:12 amI think it is crazy that a fish can have so much preparation time that goes into them. I am going on a fishing trip this fall so I wanted to know how to gut my catch. This was so helpful; I will easily be able to clean and cook my catch.
Montana Homesteader
August 1, 2018 at 8:37 pmGlad to hear this was helpful for you! Once you start cleaning a bunch of fish it gets easier and faster. Good luck on your fishing trip!