Step-by-step video by Chef Russell Dean Lowell
TIPS:
1) Be sure your knive is very sharp or you may rip and tear the flesh.
2) Go slowly at first and be careful. It takes practice to become an expert at filleting a fish.
3) Handle the fish gently to avoid bruising it.
Condensed steps:
1. Cut off the dorsal fin and adipose fin.
2. From the belly cavity make an incision on both sides of anal fin towards tail.
3. Cut just behind the gill plate
4. Starting at the gill plate in the belly cavity cut along the backbone towards the tail.
5. Remove the fillet and set aside.
6. Starting at gill plate cut under the backbone from head to tail. Remove the backbone, head and tail from the remaining fillet and discard.
7. Remove the rib bones along the belly cavity with shallow cuts using the bones as a guide.
8. Cut and remove the white strip of belly fat.
9. Skin the fillet by placing the fillet skin side against the cutting board, start cutting at the tail placing the knife horizontally and just slide along the top of the skin in a slight sawing motion towards the head.
10. Remove the pin bones with needle nose pliers, feel for bones by running your finger along the middle of the fillet from the head to the tail.
11. Flip fillet so that skin side is up and cut the middle of the fillet along the lateral line.
12. Starting at the tail trim out darker color fat line along the lateral line.
13. Starting at the head and angling your knife towards the head, cut into uniform fillets.
Season fillets well with salt and pepper and grill.