How to Clean a Small Fish with a Big Knife

An easy way to clean a small fish with a big blade. While the argument between fans of large and small blades rages on, I maintain that it is easier to do small knife chores with a big blade, than it is to do big knife chores with a small one. Of course I recognize that you can gut a trout with your thumbnail, so this isn’t the best demonstration, but having gutted scaly fish like perch fish with rocks and shells; I can tell you that a large knife is a lot easier.
This should work equally well with any piece of sharp steel like an axe, hatchet or machete and is much less awkward they trying to manage the tool in your hand.
After gutting, rinsing, and pinning the fish to a stick; I tried an experiment that I’ve been curious about for a while. Could I cook a trout on a twig stove without a frying pan? I got off to a rough start getting the stove going, but eventually got it together and did my best to position the fish properly over the heat.
One problem with small stoves like this is that it can be difficult to maintain a consistent heat output, so the fish spent time alternating between being smoked, burn, and cooled, with short periods of nice medium heat. By the end there was a pretty good layer of soot on the skin, but the meat itself cooked nicely and tasted great. One side was a little underdone, but I don’t mind that and would call this a success not worth replicating.
Questions, comments, and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.
Knife: ESEE Junglas II
Stove: Pocket Cooker
Char: Charred Punk Wood
Stone: Mystery Rock
Tinder Bundle: Western Red Cedar Boughs & Unknown Lichen Species (Old Man’s Beard)
Fish Skewer: Scouler’s Willow
Music
Fredji - Endless Nights • Fredji - Endless Night...
Luca Stricagnoli - The Last of the Mohicans • Luca Stricagnoli - The...
You Blew It! • YOU BLEW IT!!!!!
You Blew It Bad • Family Guy - You blew it

[@MichaelQuigley-fy5rc]

Nice to have a water source like that, like being in a kitchen with running water. Great video, I am so hooked.

[@nwprimate6416]

Great to hear! 😆

[@elwha6025]

Great job! Love those Rainbows. Brings back a lot of memories of catching them in the ONP and cooking them over the fire. I really enjoy your vids, your gear and your skills. I have almost as many big blades now as small. Many of them are very versatile.

[@nwprimate6416]

:) 👍

[@Far-North-Bushcraft-Survival]

Enjoyed the video.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Lonnie!

[@rypaz87]

This is awesome! I haven't seen these methods before, very interesting. Maybe I'll try using my BK2 for cleaning fish this way next week on a canoe trip.

[@justafloridamanfromthe75thRR]

So how did the trip go?

[@taylorjones5291]

Great video, can't wait for the summer after watching this. I love your Adam Sandler audio btw lol

[@robbabcock_]

Very nice!

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Rob!

[@carls6176]

nice trout and technique! i like those seatbelt cutting hook knives to do the belly splitting.. ever miss basic salt/pepper for general enhanced camp cooked food flavors? i collect wild herbs/garlic whenever I go out just for that. try wrapping your char wood in an old window metal screen mesh and put that folded package in your tin..holds the embers in better. ;-)

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Carl! I do prefer using salt and pepper, but still enjoy it without so I don't always bother. I have put some spruce tips in the belly of fish before to flavor it and that came out great. Your screen idea is really interesting. Do you send the sparks through the mesh?

[@carls6176]

yes thru the mesh - screen mesh is big enough.

[@nwprimate6416]

It makes sense. Those particles have to be a lot smaller than any holes in a screen; otherwise we would have to replace our strikers all the time. I will definitely play with this idea as it could be extremely useful in the wind. Where did you first hear about this idea?

[@carls6176]

Oh..some 20 years back..LOL. I was one of the early Tom Brown tracker students in the mid-late 1980's to the early 1990's who ran the whole course load he offered then. we were guinea pigs and flushed out a lot of what became his current courses.

[@nwprimate6416]

Man could I learn a lot from you! Keep these great suggestions coming buddy.👍🙂

[@HaggardOutdoors]

Sweet knife. Thanks for the tips

[@nwprimate6416]

👍🙂

[@geek211]

Have you seen the native technique of pushing the ribs out with your thumbs? Ray mears Sweden episode him and Lars. Lars brings him a salmon. Ray uses his thumbs to filet the salmon. its on yt check it out!
great work!

[@nwprimate6416]

I have. Ray is awesome.

[@auroraborealisknives4019]

Love your vids

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy!

[@linklesstennessee2078]

Good video NWP

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks LT! 🙂

[@marvinzammit4889]

Great Video NW. Always entertaining well done

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Marvin!

[@johnearhart8811]

Never though about doing it that way. Will surely try it. Great idea.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy! It's easier for me than trying to maneuver the tip from the handle end.

[@MuskratJim]

Great stuff!! Interesting char tin technique, I hadn't seen that before. THANKS!

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks again Jim. I hoe you get a chance to try it out.

[@RickTOutdoorAdventure1969]

Good technique and excellent film as usual. I think I'd use the knife in the normal fashion in this situation as i think i can see what im doing better but great to try different methods and I'll put it to the test. Cheers for sharing 🖒. Great stuff

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Rick! I always say do what works best for you. I feel like I have more control this way than trying to maneuver the tip from the handle, but there's no reason to switch if you like your approach. 👍

[@davidharvey5672]

Man that fish looks good, I could easily forgo meat and poultry. Thanks for sharing i enjoyed watching.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy! It would be hard for me to give up beef and pork, but I do love fish.

[@bushcraftnorthof6012]

Good stuff! Always helps to free up the hands.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy!

[@ShelleyRaskin]

Good to show a failure that you fix than just a success!

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Shelley. It seems like things go a little too perfectly sometimes in outdoor videos, so I like being able to bring some reality to the table. It would have been easy to edit is so that I cut from the first flame up to the stove burning and made for a smoother video, but then I wouldn't get to share the lesson or makes jokes about it. 😆

[@CastFromTheHip]

Now that’s a meal.

[@nwprimate6416]

😆

[@beaconman9340]

Way easier then i would try to do it thanks !

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Beaconman!

[@evenhand7743]

beautiful and funny.

[@nwprimate6416]

😆👍

[@Hugo_Stigl1tz]

Lol at first im like oh this is a regular video. Then. "You blew it!"

[@nwprimate6416]

I don't look calm to you? 😁

[@eliot1970]

Golden.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Ace!

[@WayneTheSeine]

Awesome as always. Was thrilled to get the notification. That bow looked to be a cutbow with the orange in the chin mouth folds. Glad to see even you have the Yosemite Sam moments." Great idea by the way, sticking just the tip up through the log. Smart! Thanks for sharing NW. Always a pleasure to watch your videos. BTW, thanks for turning me on to Luca Stricagnoli ….. damn he is not human. :)

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy! I always appreciate your thoughtful comments. You might be right about the fish...definitely had those cutthroat markings.

[@Bushmanschool]

Thanks for sharing this video bro. Thumb up

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Buddy!

[@Banasuka]

I like this Vidio sir, thankyou.

[@stefanrobinson2920]

Cool vid yet again..great to see mistakes.good to see it dosent always work first time and how you got over it ;-)
Thankyou for you vidoes

[@ThePatrick6122]

it never occurred to me to strike sparks into a tin full of charred material. I've always taken my char cloth out and put it in a nest

[@nwprimate6416]

Pros and cons to each, but this one works well for me.

[@mrkultra1655]

My man, right on! I love how you shortened that Junglas by creating that "jig". Beautiful Rainbow, or maybe Steelhead where you are. Looked like a glacial stream, or river? I've been a subscriber for a long while, and I really enjoy your videos. I got hip to you from Lonnie and Connie from Far North Bushcraft and Survival. Thank you for all that you're doing. This is what CZcams should really be all about. People willing to share their knowledge and experience without any recompense. As Dave Canterbury says "Sharing the Tribal Knowledge". Keep up the great work. :)

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks mrkultra! I really appreciate you saying so. I didn't really really think of the knife set-up as a jig at the time, but that is a great way to put it! 👍

[@MichaelQuigley-fy5rc]

I've seen a couple videos now where the Junglass II blade has broken, I wonder if it's worth buying one. I have other Essee knives like 3, 4 and two 5's.

[@nwprimate6416]

I haven't seen those and am surprised. I'll have to do some searching, but I've used a ton of ESEEs and never had a problem.

[@notoiletpaperinthewoods]

That's another thing I've never seen before, keep them coming! :]

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy! You going to get back to making videos soon?

[@twotonanchor]

Your username is the best. Congrats.

[@notoiletpaperinthewoods]

@@nwprimate6416 Yep, I'm uploading some videos I made for Bushclass. I don't have a computer that will allow me to edit videos at the moment so they'll not be edited

[@RiverbendlongbowsOutdoors]

😅😅😅🔥🔥
That was great!
Let the tool do the work is my motto 👍
Good stuff

[@nwprimate6416]

😆👍

[@FullCircleOutdoors414]

Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Atb Jenn

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Jenn! 🙂

[@joeljustin117]

YOU BLEW IT

[@mrForestBeard]

Like it. Trout is amazing :3

[@nwprimate6416]

👍🙂

[@HalfQ]

LoL, , nice fish bro. I love to eat trout fresh from the stream.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy!

[@SmooreMC85]

Gordon Ramsy would be proud!

[@nwprimate6416]

I think he just yells at people, but I would have to laugh. 😆

[@patrickgermond2750]

Sweet

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Patrick!

[@Throughthebit2000]

...still waiting to see a small fish.

[@nwprimate6416]

I guess that's a bit relative isn't it. I spent about ten years fishing in Florida, so from my perspective this could have been bait; but it is a respectable trout.

[@Throughthebit2000]

Big water, big fish! Respect for you and your cutthroat! From Tacoma to Tampa, I think we could all agree that’s a Big knife, relatively, and another lesson on how to git er done..frozen fingers and all.

[@bushcraftsurvivalslovenia5241]

I have to agree with you and the statement "it is easier to do small knife chores with a big blade, than it is to do big knife chores with a small one." I am by no means an advocator for the small or big blades, simply because I think every knife is suitable for specific jobs and there is no universal, ultimate knife that can do it all. Great video otherwise, a good technique shown.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy. I always carry more than one. I just like the challenge of only using one for a given period to see how I would handle tasks if I was forced to use a less than ideal tool.

[@bushcraftsurvivalslovenia5241]

NW Primate Yes that is a great way to practice because it challenges you to use different techniques.

[@seekNdestroy217]

Can you make a video on how you make ur charcoal?

[@nwprimate6416]

Hi JR! I do have a few charring videos, but most of them are without a metal container. Here's a link to one where I char some bark rather than punkwood and the process is essentially the same. You just need to cook it in a metal tin with a hole and remove it before the smoke stops pouring out. czcams.com/video/3bjWql95g8U/video.html

[@seekNdestroy217]

@@nwprimate6416 thank you
And also where did you get ur tracker knife?

[@nwprimate6416]

It isn't mine. I borrowed it from a friend.

[@kylewilshusen9898]

Nice! How did the fish taste?

[@nwprimate6416]

It was disgusting. 😉

[@ghostmover3]

Love my esee 5 I skinned my fish with it made a few vids on it good clean bro

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks stalking wolf! I'll check that out. 👍

[@LetoAt77]

Well done I like your large/survival knife skills. Have tried a Kukri?

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks! I haven't played with a Kukri yet but I know some guys swear by them.

[@jacquiblanchard3131]

I loved this video. This was a great escape. Thanks Brian!!

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Jacqui! 🙂

[@pacificbushcraftandfirecra6358]

Pro fish gutting demo...
Also Pro shoving food into face! TFS

[@nwprimate6416]

😅👍 Yeah buddy!

[@Jose-su8fr]

Nice vid! I’d love to see you try to do the same but with a Victorinox Classic SD😂

[@thomasgold-1000]

Nice technique, thanks for sharing Brian. 👍

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Thomas!

[@michaelmclean1307]

You blew it!! Haha

[@nwprimate6416]

😅👍

[@itad]

Did you give the dog any fish?

[@nwprimate6416]

No he stayed home this time. He's a wonderful companion but a terrible fishermen. You can't ask him to stay out of the water for long, and as soon as he jumps in the fish stop biting.

[@BrosephRussell]

Mm mm yummy trout awesome

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy!

[@nutthrower4415]

Aw if only vids could smell, lol, I have a stove like that never have used it yet maybe I won’t 😂😂

[@nwprimate6416]

😅 It's the only stove I've ever used so I don't know any better.

[@walt5797]

Mmmmm I can almost taste it.

[@fire_x_friction8820]

👍

[@nwprimate6416]

🙂

[@davefarnsworth3020]

Good example of how fixing a large blade down frees up both hands for small details. I haven't had a chance to try the blackberry vine bowdrill yet what with work and the fire's down here in North California . Just aquired a new folding firebox stove and itching to use it.

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Dave. Let me know when you do get a chance to try the vines. This is the only twig stove I've ever used, so I might be due to try something else.

[@seanthomasdowd]

excellent video dude, thank you, thank you thank you, if you only have one knife bigger is better

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Sean!

[@Urdasein]

Brillant !

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks buddy!

[@Flederratte]

Nice video! I liked all your recent videos and activated the bell next to the subscription button ;)

[@nwprimate6416]

Thanks Flederratte! 🙂

[@gerson6106]

Rip fishi

[@nwprimate6416]

Yeah, but he was delicious.

[@gerson6106]

Iam from Costa Rica not good inglish :(

[@nwprimate6416]

No problem 🙂

[@MysMystery13]

😂

[@nwprimate6416]

😆👍

[@storyteller3589]

Nice vid but your fire starting skills wouldn't impress a boy scout

[@nwprimate6416]

Alright...thanks for stopping by.

[@RustyKnorr]

You’re clueless. This guy could start a fire underwater, have you seen his channel? Let’s see the link to your incredible skills, I’m waiting.