Freaking brilliant...$5 Fillet Table

So simple, yet so simple...  Looks like it would roll up nicely or just lay flat inside a yak for those that do the longer excursions like Alaska trips. 

http://fishwithjd.com/2009/01/01/5-cleaning-table/

SCHWEET!!

Even that fish is like "Man I'm about to have my head choped off and the guts ripped from my body. Buy this sure is better than a hard ass, non-portable cutting board" 

Brian

Interesting concept.  They say it's easy to clean, but I can imagine a lot of guts and scales getting caught up in there and being less then easy to remove.   I'm also fond of having a nice flat surface when I remove the skin from the fillets.

BTW, is that striped bass even legal sized?

Ugh.  Can't imagine a less suitable surface!!!

I use a chunk of astroturf door mat for filleting salmon & steelhead if I'm going to leave the skin on, works great to keep the slimey buggers in place. Sprays off pretty easily with the hose, I wouldn't say that it's ever "clean", though. I'm with Bsteves about needing a flat spot to take the skin off, which I do with pretty much every fish except salmon/steelhead.

I filet on a large sheet of UHMW (basically a big piece of cutting board material) and use an ice pick to pin the fish in place (stuck right through the eyes to the board) while I work on it. Keeps the fish in place and both hands free.  A little bleach and a spray is all it take to clean up.  I tried the carpet and the doormat drill and they always smelled no matter what I did.

Good point about skinning the fillet. 

I was caught up the fact the fish don't slip slide away on ya.

Ice pick, nice! 

I made a small board out of a used office chair mat.  The clear kind with little nubbs to stick in the carpet.  When I get ready to skin I flip it over.  Works OK when there's no fish cleaning station around and usually free since I go through a chair mat once a year.

I'm with Ter on this. That would be a pain to clean, and might be a microbe incubator.

I use a UHMW cutting board (or even the top of my cooler, when away from home) and I keep my filet and butchering knives so sharp hat I don't even dare test the blades with my finger. I don't have problems with my fish sliding. I seem to be able to hold them in place easily enough while making the initial cuts thru the skin and scales with a boning knife, then I switch to my flexible filet knife. If I have a lot of fish to clean, sometimes I'll tune up the blade on my sharpening steel a few times before I'm done. I have had friends tell me that I keep my knifes too sharp, but I don't think that's possible to do. A knife can never be "too sharp" for butchering fish.

No knife can ever be too sharp, and yes, I too have the fetish.

No knife can ever be too sharp, and yes, I too have the fetish.

My Dad always said, the dull knife is very dangerous, (it deflects off the object being cut, and hits the cutter) therefor he taught his boys how to keep sharp knives.
holt

  Insayn, how did it work?  Were you able to remove the skin cleanly?

  Insayn, how did it work?  Were you able to remove the skin cleanly?

Don't know, I still have a normal plastic cutting board.  However, for a portable cutting board that I can take in my Kayak, I think I will use one of these flexible cutting boards.  I already have several that I use in my truck camper.



I might even have some left over from a Dutch Oven class I taught few years ago at a truck camper rally. Camp Chef donated them to me to give away at the class. 

INSAYN-
those plastic foldable cutting mats also are dishwasher safe ,to get them good & clean.

 My wife is a big fan of those things.