How to fillet tuna

STEP 1

Once you’ve caught and brain spiked your tuna, it’s important to bleed it. I do this by cutting the gill membrane on both sides of the fish and sitting the deck wash hose in the fish’s mouth until the water runs clear.

STEP 2

I then remove the guts out of the fish and have a heap of ice ready to fill the gut cavity and cover the fish if it doesn’t fit in the chilly bag.

I like to ice my fish for at least a few hours to ensure all the nerves in the meat stop working, and you end up with a nice pliable fillet. If you don’t do this, you’ll notice that when you start to fillet a fish that is “too fresh” the fillet will tighten up. This can result in a tough unpleasant fillet to eat. I call that process “setting” the fish.

Once you’re happy that your fish is set properly, I set up my filleting table and sharpen my knives.

STEP 3

Because of the round shape of tuna, I make the outlines of all the cuts I need to make on both sides of the fish before actually taking the fillets off.

STEP 4

Start at the top behind the head and cut down behind the pec fin to the belly. Then work your way from the top all the way down to the tail without cutting too deep. Try not to use a sawing motion, as this will hack your fillet up.

STEP 5

I then make two cuts down the centre of the fillet around the bones and bloodline that all tuna have. I make these cuts down to the bone all the way to the tail.

Then from the bottom of the belly, just outline your cut up to the tail.

Repeat on the opposite side.

STEP 6

It should now be really easy to take each fillet off by simply cutting all the way down and up into the centre of the fish. You should end up with four quarters.

Then I simply skin each quarter and trim any excess bloodline out of the fillets, portion them and vacuum seal them.

Kate is a proud Ambassador for Tuna Champions, an initiative of the Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation in collaboration with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania. Tuna Champions use the best fishing practices for tuna. Like knowing how to catch, handle, release, keep and prepare it to make the most of every fish we catch – and to give the ones we release the best chance of surviving. It’s about respecting and not wasting the fish.

You can find out more here.