The Fish Cleaning Disaster

So I finally caught a fish and didn't throw it back. The 6 inch bad boy bluegill I caught this day was going to be my dinner. I was really excited (and disgusted) that I was going to get an opportunity to clean a fish, and super excited I would get to eat it. I only had one problem...I didn't have a fillet knife.

Due to time constraints I didn't have time to do any research on filet knives. In fact, I was in such a rush that I would have to stop at Wal-Mart and get whatever they had.

The selection in hell was slim. They only had one fillet knife there so looks like that is what I would be getting. Was it good? Who knows. I didn't have time to think about it. There was a monster fish to be cleaned!

My fishing time had run late due to my lack of catching fish, so it was almost dark. By the time I got home I had 15 minutes to clean this fish. I had watched hours of videos on the subject, and had a good idea how to do it, but it was dark and my first time.

Because cleaning a fish inside would probably ruin the entire house, I flopped my bluegill on an outdoor table and pulled out my new fillet knife. Either the knife was not sharp out of the box, or my fish was frozen, either way what was supposed to be an awesome learning and eating experience turned into a disaster.

After 5 minutes of "cleaning" the fish in the dark, I was left with a pile of ... well ... I have no idea. It was some kind of mixture of bones and guts and fish parts. Oh...and there was no meat...

FAILURE!

I was now fairly bummed out that I didn't complete my task. I didn't know when, if ever, I'd catch another keeper...