How do you skin a cat??

[daveedka]

I guess this is as good of a place as any to post this question. We all know there is more than one way to skin a cat, and some recent trials with different things have created some curiosity in me.

Growing up we always pulled the skin off with pliers and then Filletted the fish, This leaves some things to be desired in the realm of not only the quality of the meat, but also the amount of actual effort exerted to get the job done.

In the last several years I've begun just filletting the fish and the turning over the fillet and slicing the skin off with my knife. The knofe must be razor sharp to do this, but it tends to take the skin plus the layer of grey fat right below the skin which really isn't very tasty. The down side to this is first that the knife must be razor sharp as mentioned and secondly, smaller fish don't have a good layer of fat and it makes it very hard to skin the smaller Cats. anything 3 pounds and up is fine though.

Recently I talked to a fishing guide who told me to quit skinning them at all, the skin fries up crispy and tastes really good. so we tried this, and it was O.K. on the little fish but not very good on the bigger fish because of the afore mentioned grey fat layer.

So tell me what works for you and everyone can learn from everyone else.

Another tip that seems to be lost on some folks is to never let your cats stay warm. My fish come straight off the stringer and go into a cooler of ice while they are still alive. The meat is never permitted to re-heat, and dead fish never sit at room temp. I also cut the tails off of anything aver 2 pounds when I put them in the cooler so they will bleed out on the way home which makes the meat much whiter and milder.

Dave

[bobberguy]

We used to put the fish in hot water for 30 sec to a minute! and the skin came off easier

[dsmith]

We keep the fish alive until we clean them. We put them in a big ice chest. Then we put one of those "bubble machine" aerators in it on the way home. It is a booger cleaning them. They are still very much alive when I kill them, so they are jumping all over the place while I clean them. Dennis does the fileting, not sure his tricks.
I have a question. Sometimes when the fish has swallowed the hook, it has died by the time we get home. We don't eat those. Especially if they are already stiffening up. Those would be unsafe to eat, right?

[daveedka]

As far as those who have swallowed hooks, I usually just cut the line to keep from hurting the fish and then they don't die before I'm ready for them to. I always keep an ice chest on the boat or at least in the truck just in case one of the fish does die, I can put it on ice ASAP and prevent it from spoiling.

dave

[bobberguy]

If they die and are on ice no problem you can keep them 6 hours on ie after they are dead or longer! Stiff does not hurt them if they are on ice!

[olhillbilly]

I always bleed em out first too. Either hang em if they're small enuff or just lay in the grass an lett em bleed out after cuttin off their tails. Then I skin em an slice the layer of fat on their backs off and the lil fin on their backs near the tail. Then fillet the sides off. Then I remove the red meat and the silver stuff. Nuttin left but white meat. Lotta times the final cuttin comes ater the meat has cooled some. Sharp knives are a must.

I remember as a kid catchin small fry, we'd just skin em, gut em, behead em, and fry em, an thought they were good eatin.

[dsmith]

This is how we clean cats, kinda. I split them up the belly and gut them. I spray the insides down with the water hose to clean insides out good. Then Dennis does the filleting. We always figured since I clean out the insides good first, it makes it easier to filet.