Going around the gulf coast doing shows we get to talk to a lot of people about fishing and all that entails. One video we run most of the time has a segment of me cleaning a Speckled Trout. Many people say they haven't ever seen them cleaned like that before. I make a cut on the bottom of the fish from the belly to the head. I then turn it on the side and fillet normally. What this does is get the trout's swim bladder out of the way.
I have been trying to remember when I learned to do this...........it has been so long I can't remember. CRS or sometimers disease I guess. It does speed up the process. One tip and it is hard to do, is to keep the knife perfectly level when you make the belly cut. If you don't there will be a little piece of belly cavity that you will need to trim off of one or the other fillet.
My video editing software has some issues so and can't put together any new videos right now. Below is an old video of us using the Catcher's Mitt to clean fish. It is so old we were using prototypes. lol The Speckled trout cleaning technique starts at 1:08 in the 2:12 long video.
I hope you enjoy using this technique to fillet your trout. Give it a try and let us know how you like it. www.reelfun.fish
Soft rides & hard strikes!!!
Mark