Cleaning and preparation of fish for cooking is not difficult if you have the right tools.

I use a Victorinox knife with a thin flexible blade which is best for most fish species.

I use the same knife for gutting, filleting, skinning and boning fish.

I prefer a wooden fish filleting board as this protects the edge on the filleting knife and the fish do not slide easily on it.

I also have a simple Vee shaped ceramic knife sharpener that I draw the blade through every two or three fish to hone the edge.

I get on fine with this kit and the fish fillet board can be easily put away after use.

I have also have mates with a variety of fish cleaning station designs and have seen them at work.

Milan the Herne Bay Fishmonger was a fantastic hand at filleting fish.

He had a white marble fish cleaning table in his shop because marble is always 10 degrees cooler than it's surroundings.

A trickling hose provided an even flow of water over the entire fillet table which had been painstakingly leveled to achieve this effect.

He always stressed the importance of keeping the knife and the fish cleaning stations surfaces wet.

Milan was really something to watch, it only took him seconds to skin and bone an average sized snapper.

Milans setup was a real lesson on how to build a fish cleaning table, a thing of great beauty.

Backyard fish cleaning stands are also popular and it's easy to learn how to build a fish cleaning station that works for you.

Scott Macindoe has a permanenty set up stainless fish cleaning table made up from a corner sink unit.

Another friend, Mark Roberts, has two fish cleaning tables with a sink in the middle connected to a hose.

He has a fish cleaning board on one side and space on the other to put the fish.

Under the table he has a 20 litre bucket for disposal of the fish heads, frames and guts.

With big loads of fish one person can use one side as a fish fillet table and another person the other for skinning and boning the fillets.

This is a great set up and I have watched him turn twenty trevally into skinned and boned fillets in less than half and hour on it.

Mark lives just down the road so next time he catches a few fish I will take some photos of his cleaning table and post them here.

Pic Above : Mark Roberts with a big Mokohinau Snapper

Pic Left : Mark with a good Manukau trevally

Ref : How to build a fish cleaning table

Cleaning and Preparation of Fish >>> Fillet Board and Cleaning Table>>>

Filleting A Fish Part 1 >>>Part 2 >>> Part 3 >>>

Skinning Fish >>> De Boning Fish Fillets