"How-To" Salmon Fillet AND Removing Pin-Bones

There are several ways to fillet Salmon. It comes down to practice and building confidence in your ability to turn out a nice fillet when you are done.
The main goal in “Filleting-Fish” is to remove the bones. With Salmon and Steelhead when you are done with the fillet, you still have the Pin-Bones in the fillet. You have a couple choices...... leave them in or pull them out with pliers.
OR- you can fillet them out.
Watch as Duane Inglin, Host of Fish Hunt Northwest, jumps back into the "Bait Lab" for this week’s show and demonstrates his technique to fillet out the Pin-Bones, on this beautiful Coho Salmon.
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[@TheMichiganFisherman]

"And when they break off as most of them do and you get kind of pissed off, and you know, half of them are buried in there..." YES! This is EXACTLY why I'm here. The pin bones kept breaking off while I was plucking them before I cooked my fish tonight. I was so proud of my catch...and so EMBARRASSED when my wife and kids had to pick through bones at dinner time. Thank you for this video.

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Glad you enjoyed it, sharp knife, take your time, any waste is minimal when done right. 😉

[@arjuns7876]

Watching you carve that fish was a thing of beauty😢 almost shed a tear Awesome!

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Thank you, glad you enjoy the content...

[@adatshhc]

I was lamenting pulling the pin bones out for dinner. Found this video and you saved me time and energy. Thanks

[@charlieauer1672]

outstanding video!

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Thank You, glad you liked it...

[@12345674309]

I live on Kodiak Island , Alaska. we have a LOT of salmon. To each his own, but I don't agree with the way he removes the pin bones. You can pull them individually with some sort of needle nose pliers if you wish, but the Japanese make a tweezerlike pin bone picker that does the job beautifully with zero loss of meat. In addition, his way results in several odd shapes and sizes of cuts. I prefer the cuts to be relatively the same size and shape, both for cooking and for serving.

[@meluvcheese22]

Watching some similar videos, I've seen the fish looking decimated after plucking the pin bones. Is there a way to pluck them gently without leaving gaping, ugly holes? Please let me know if you know any tips. Thanks!

[@12345674309]

@@meluvcheese22 Refer to my earlier comment above. The rest is just technique.

[@BawkBawkBawk666]

​@@meluvcheese22it's technique and patience. Don't rush it but don't wait for the fish to turn either. Remember, perfect practice makes perfect

[@BawkBawkBawk666]

I like how you talked about turning people onto fish. That's important.

[@littlegoobie]

bah. not much you can do about opinions. I'm in alaska so i'm processing 100's of pounds of fish meat every summer for personal use. I've probably sent more 50lbs fish boxes to friends than most will catch in a lifetime. I've dealt with a lot of fish. I'm In my experience, it's tough to pull out the pin bones in freshly caught fish, just like you said. All the fibers have a very firm grip on the pin bones and many of them snap or youll shred up the meat trying to dig them all out. I have a tiny gerber clutch multitool with a spring opener just for pulling pin bones so i'm definitely getting a better hold on them than any pair of tweezers could get. What i do when possible is just leave the pin bones and vacuum pack them for freezing. When they come out to be eaten, those pin bones come out with much less effort. There are electric/mechanical commercial roller style pin bone pullers used in the big fish processing plants near me, but they cost a small fortune. The big tables are likely more than a nice used car, the tiny handhelds were $8000 when i first looked, then about 1/2 that when i looked next. There was a guy in Fairbanks working on a cheaper version for consumer and sport use but i never saw anything more about it. It sure would be nice if someone ever gets one to market. If it was even around $500, i might give it a go, but i'm not holding my breath..

[@danabarley5898]

Beauty. As for the pin bones, using a set of tweezers and a good grip pulls them right out. Lose zero meat on pin bones

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

That is an option. Have done that as well Always more than one way to do things 😉

[@7megan7]

I really appreciate videos like this! Very well made. Thank you for the close up detail shots, for not moving too fast so I can rewind and replay certain parts if I need to. I never had anyone teach this to me, and I clean everything my husband (or I, sometimes) catches. There are lots of tutorials out there made with good intentions but not all of them are very helpful due to how they're shot. I just wanted to give you some thanks.

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Megan, glad you enjoyed it. Follow our page and also catch our LIVE show on Thursday evenings at 6:00pm on Facebook or here on our KZbin channel. You can also watch us on ROOT Sports on Saturday or Sunday morning...

[@mythraider1]

Sir, I did doubt you at the beginning, you proved me wrong. I will try this method.🤙

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Always more than one way to do pretty much anything, this is one method that I do like especially when I break my fish down for smoking or grilling. Give it a try I think you will enjoy the results. Thanks for watching.

[@chrisv3863]

After all these years eating salmon, I found i like cutting steaks and filets both out of my fish. The first half of the fish I cut into steaks and leave to bone in. The remainder past the gutsack to the tail I cut into filets. the back half filets wont have have all those pinbones and I cook the steaks then pull the bones out. When that meat flakes apart all those bones come out super easy all connected to the main piece of backbone and the skin easily peels away too. Seems to get the most meat out of the fish and all the flavor while cooking

[@garydelcourt2791]

I was watching a video where a chef used big tweezers to pull the pin bones out one by one. It went really fast and looked easy…

[@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine]

Thank you the best video I have seen on how to properly filet a salmon. Well done. I'll be saving this one

[@glenmartin9974]

You can use the pin bone strips to make fish stock, along with the backbone meat.

[@dawnehrenstrasser5423]

Brilliant.. will watch over and over..

[@bongeggs]

Thanks Duane!

[@meluvcheese22]

Ngl I think the fish looks just as well as some of the other how-to videos I've seen on the same subject. Just a different method!

[@rickfascinato9684]

Tthats a fantastic method thanks for sharing

[@wilsonflanders878]

Gonna start filleting my fish this way.Thank you for showing us big D

[@ctclassic1]

Probably the best video i've come across...well done

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Thank you Craig, glad you enjoyed it...

[@charlesgreatwood9987]

Beautiful

[@CompoundNihilist]

Superb video and narration.

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Thank You...

[@AlaskaOutdoorsTV]

Great technique.

[@joeoglez]

usually pull out the pin bones with tweezers, if you do it right, they wont get stuck or break.. and youll have a full fillet

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

yep, more than one way to do just about anything, this is one option.. 😉

[@garydelcourt2791]

Awesome video! What kind of knife are you using?

[@akhmadafandi4113]

nice

[@dukeumnukem9747]

Just as I was saying......"Cool the collar is left on".🤙👍🎣🎣

[@brennanyu]

Thanks! how do you get the fish to stay on your cutting station so well? Every time I fillet fish, I deslime it but the slime always seems to come back and just lubes everything up to high hell, I was wondering how you take care of this issue?

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

I usually just wipe the fish down with paper towels. I also try to keep my cutting surface as dry as possible as the fish seems to grip a little better. That's pretty much it. -D

[@brennanyu]

@@FishHuntNorthwest Thanks! Ill give it a try next fish I bring home!

[@kennguyen9125]

Hi Duane, I was wondering what the name is of the two fillet knives you used in this video. It would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[@markiseri6565]

What knives do you use?

[@ML-ks2lj]

I cut my fish this way to and itsnthe best way i usually skin it thiugj and cut the slabs into strips and bread them and fry them

[@squelch6573]

U can watch 5 different videos how to filet salmon and everyone will be different way of doing it !

[@pahanin2480]

I use a big Asian cleaver like the ones chef Martin yan uses on tv and it glides across better than any filet knife

[@andreyronik]

Hallo, look my video, how to fillet salmon without bones and blood in 2-3 minutes. Wish you luck

[@lbmdf8532]

Nice one 👌 😊

[@fenkellmoney8034]

I just leave the pin bones I don’t care& eat around them lol

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

That's an option, obviously there are always different ways to do pretty much anything.. 😉

[@MrSonic935]

Where i live you have to cut out the belly fat bc of the heavy contaminants in the water

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Wow, where is that at?

[@MrSonic935]

@@FishHuntNorthwest lake Michigan same for the walleyes.

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

@@MrSonic935 dang, that's too bad... here in Washington they do have recommendations on some of our resident fish on Puget Sound, to only eat so much per week due to the heavy metal contamination.

[@littlegoobie]

@@MrSonic935 ever head over to Erie with the big commercial walleye fishery? They've been killing it the last few years. YOu can limit out in no time, but it's also jam packed with fishermen when they're in. The great lakes salmon and fish are the same. They're kinda gross looking, gross smelling, most will only eat the smaller fish for the same reason, once they're bigger, they start getting into the ministry of health guidelines. The salmon meat looks awful in my opinion because their diet is unnatural over there. The meat has no color to it because the fish are gorging on gobies instead of high herring, shrimp and krill diets. I had a hard time convincing friends that all the great lakes salmon and steelhead/rainbow were originally stocked/transplants from the west coast. hmmmm....anadramous pacific ocean fish landlocked in the great lakes on the eastern side?

[@littlegoobie]

@@FishHuntNorthwest I was talking to a guy a few years ago and he thinks all the west coast fish are also contaminated from the nuclear reactor situation a few years back...hmm, maybe a decade now. hahaha. fukushima? I remember looking it up but info/data was all over the place. Of course everyone has their own agenda so the actual truth is likely somewhere in the middle.

[@squelch6573]

If ur Ambidextrous would help significantly!

[@doctoredable]

SO GLAD TO SEE SOMEONE NOT WAS THE FILLETS!!

[@12345674309]

"someone not was the fillets" 🤣 Please translate.

[@jms4evr]

I was with you until you got to the pin bones.The pin bones don’t break off… They pull out fairly easy with pin, bone tweezers. I’ve never seen anyone Slice the pin bones out and ruin the fillet..

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

Not everyone cooks a whole fillet. We often cut them into smaller pieces for grilling or smoking. Pin bones often break in fresh fish. They pull easy after a fish has neen frozen and thawed. There is always more than one way to do things. This is an option that works well for us. I can appreciate your input, if what you are doing works for you, than stick with it. 👍

[@MarkoAbo]

Yikes! Get yourself a set of sharp salmon tweezers and pluck those pinholes right out.

[@CR604]

Lol he wasted so much meat

[@meluvcheese22]

You can always use that leftover stuff in other delicious ways :)

[@CR604]

Never seen so much waste fileting a salmon. Cutting those pin bones out like that is just lazy and ruins the aesthetics of a beautiful red slab.

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

There is always more than one way to do anything. Those thin pin bone strips are little to no waste at all. You can cook up one whole slab, sure that's great, but we prefer to cook and serve smaller boneless servings. Also for smoking fish, it's ideal as we cut the fish into several small pieces. Again, this is a way to portion out our fish, make it boneless and it works for us. I get it, might not be for everyone, but I stand by the very minimal waste...

[@francoalvau8721]

I will start off by saying I really liked your fillet method! However Do not follow this technique for removing pin bones repeat Do not remove this way!!! Pulling pin bones is fast and easy!!!

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

This was never intended to be an absolute. It's not a Do or Never Do. It's simply an option, along with several others out there. I can tell you, that when cutting your fish into smaller pieces for smoking and or grilling, individual servings, this method works really well. It actually waste very little and you serve 100% boneless pieces to folks, weather smoked or grilled. It's alwsys well received. Again, more than one way to do pretty much anything..😉

[@phillwoodall7099]

Am guessing you don't fillet fish for a living LOL 🤣🤣😂

[@SydLyvs93]

i think its a good starting point, i myself have done a horrible hack job on my previous fish, i don't even have the right blades

[@justinwilson2714]

Do not cut fish like this. You will cut yourself.

[@GER0E]

I had to check if this was published on April Fools. Literally cringed the entire video

[@FishHuntNorthwest]

There is more than one way to filet fish. You do what works best for yourself. Many people like this method, so it can't be all bad. 😉