Green Label & Fillet-O-Fish

My main fishing goal each year is not to catch more fish than my father in-law (that's goal #2) but rather to share the experience of fishing and boating with as many people as possible.  With a variety of people joining me on the water each year, two common questions I get are "What is green label herring" and "Why do you cut your fish that way"

Green label herring doesn't refer to an environmentally friendly form of bait fish - although it is 100% natural and organic.  Rather, the label color simply refers to the size of herring being packaged/used.  So, from the smallest size of around 3.5 inches to the largest at 10 inches - Orange, Red, Green, Blue, and Black label.  The green label we use is between 5 and 6 inches.

When I fillet a salmon, I use the iFish/eyeFish method instead of a traditional, long fillet from head to tail.  I do this for two reasons 1) I can't seem to filleting salmon without butchering it and 2) because the traditional methods leave so much good meat on the bones.

 Demonstrating with a tasty, candy red Buoy10/Estuary Coho Salmon (Silver Salmon).

Cutting from top down following the lateral line and spine

Cutting back sections along the bones

Very little wasted meat