Slippery Little Devils - How do you keep them from sliding around?

I'm a fan of the "big toothy clips", but the boards they come on are typically too small, plus you still have to put them on something like a tailgate, another table, ext... I mounted two on a 4' $30 Cost-Co table. Now I can set up a fish cleaning station built for 2 anywhere in about 20 sec.


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I like that. Did you buy just the clips and where from. I have one of those tables.

I found them online for around $8ea. Don't remember where though. I just did a Google search

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Thank you, Pete, for the paint brush comb suggestion.  No matter where I end up trying to solve the problem, I'm getting one of those combs.  Maybe several.  Between the fish sliding around and my fingers slipping, I'm glad I have medical insurance.

Good point about newspaper ink.  I have a bunch of blank newsprint around here that folks use inside shipping boxes.  I keep it thinking someday I'll have a use for it.  Now I do.

[Fact!! It's pretty common with bottom fish as you hit the rib bones. It's no dramatic ejection off the table, but do slide a little when they come loose.

Fish ejection!  I ejected some perfectly serviceable ginger ale laughing at that.

I like the clips on a larger surface idea, and it's a timely idea since I've been planning to put together a small streamside table.  Slippery fish are even more of a butt-pain when there are strangers hanging around giggling at you.  Giggling at me, I mean; not at you.

The turf mats are hard to clean up and hold smells. Good Day Fishing mats are the bizzomb.

http://gooddayfishing.com/featured-product/

I cut a few inches off the mat so it would fit in my Wondertop.

https://www.opensky.com/wondertop/product/wondertop-1

I believe someone mentioned the Wondertop in a thread about cleaning stations, but I couldn't locate them online.  Thank you!

Yeah, I know Astroturf is not terribly hygienic, but it can be cleaned and disinfected with bleach - and they're cheap enough to replace when the bleach finishes them off.

There are some FDA approved commercial fish cleaning mats I was also looking at, but the  Good Day Fishing Mats are pretty similar - and less expensive.

So...  I need to get some brush combs and some powerful clamps and a sturdy table - preferably height adjustable (I do listen, Pete) - and a decent mat for traction, carry my newsprint bundle, and I'll have a great portable cleaning station.

The Wondertop will be for home, where I do the final cleaning/preparation.  A day cleaning fish without having to disinfect the countertops!  It's all good.

Thanks, everyone!

My buddy catches and fillets a lot of salmon. He made a table just for salmon.  It has a 3" long 1/8" diameter dulled brass rod sticking up on one end of the table.  After scaling, the eye socket of the salmon or anywhere on the head gets impaled by the spike, the other hand steadies the tail and the knife can wield away!  Its a fantastic fillet board.  His is a work of art, but a simple spike in a board would work.

Wooden cutting board, damp cloth underneath it to prevent the board from moving, and properly sharp knives are all you really need.  THe sharp knife being the most important.  If the knife is sufficiently sharp it shouldn't catch on anything that would make the fish move.  Wear a mesh glove if you like - I carry one  with my knives but rarely use it.  It will stop you from slicing your fingers off.  WOn't help with a stab motion, but if you stab yourself you are doing it wrong.

Work on technique and keep your knives extremely sharp.

I used to get newsprint roll ends from the local newspaper facility, no ink on them and free. My kids would use it for drawing and crafts.

Pmmpete's is "Purdy:-)" as I'd expect:-) 
A few 6 penny nails through a 1X2 board would work just fine to hold fish on a long plastic cutting board. 
Personally, I fillet on news paper and lay the fillets on the cutting board to remove the skin.  It's convenient to wrap the carcass in the news paper after removing the skin.  Coming from WI I've filleted countless blue gills and perch and after while it goes almost as quickly as our professional salmon fillet-er does in his salmon video. 
Some things that help is to cut behind the head and a make a shallow cut down the back of side side 1, but not all the way trough. Flip the fish and finish side two and then go back to side one.  That leaves you the same "off the cutting board" elevated surface to do the second side rather than having to slide the fish to the edge.  If you're doing lots of smaller fish such as rock cod, perch or walleye I use a fork thru the tip of the tail piece to hold the fillet and slide down the backside of the fork to remove the skin...Getter done.

My buddy catches and fillets a lot of salmon. He made a table just for salmon.  It has a 3" long 1/8" diameter dulled brass rod sticking up on one end of the table.  After scaling, the eye socket of the salmon or anywhere on the head gets impaled by the spike, the other hand steadies the tail and the knife can wield away!  Its a fantastic fillet board.  His is a work of art, but a simple spike in a board would work.

Yes I saw something like that online for skinning and prepping Catfish. It was a 6 x 1 board with a 6" nail pounded through one end, flipped over and the fish impaled through the head.

My buddy catches and fillets a lot of salmon. He made a table just for salmon.  It has a 3" long 1/8" diameter dulled brass rod sticking up on one end of the table.  After scaling, the eye socket of the salmon or anywhere on the head gets impaled by the spike, the other hand steadies the tail and the knife can wield away!  Its a fantastic fillet board.  His is a work of art, but a simple spike in a board would work.

I'm certain that this works, and it's an elegant solution.  Thank you.

Wooden cutting board, damp cloth underneath it to prevent the board from moving, and properly sharp knives are all you really need.  The sharp knife being the most important.  If the knife is sufficiently sharp it shouldn't catch on anything that would make the fish move.  Wear a mesh glove if you like - I carry one  with my knives but rarely use it.  It will stop you from slicing your fingers off.  Won't help with a stab motion, but if you stab yourself you are doing it wrong.

OMG!  I've never stabbed myself when cleaning fish, but now I'll start thinking about NOT stabbing myself and surely will.   

Excellent point about sharp knives.  I carry a steel to touch up the blades, but was surprised by how cleaning salmon can quickly dull a sharp knife more than what a steel can fix.  My knife needed a good sharpening before the last fish, and sharpening knives is on my checklist now.

The damp towel underneath has two votes now.  I don't usually have the newsprint, but I always have a towel, and can't believe I never thought of using it to slow down a slick fish.  Duh!

You'll want the "lifetime" table from Costco.  Sturdy, adjustable, cheap.  Best cleaning table around.

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You'll want the "lifetime" table from Costco.  Sturdy, adjustable, cheap.  Best cleaning table around.

Thank you, Lee.