Conundrum

[jdff21]

well worth it !!!

Went up and checked my boat today and decided to swing by Cutchers just for the ride. Different sign out along the road saying walleyes are $1.50 each and perch are $1.25 per pound. Still a good deal!

[pimplepounder]

Yes, cheeks don't have much weight so not much gain there for the cleaners. but they are so easy.. They should just charge a quarter per cheek. I bet you could do 6 per minute with practice, that would be $90.00 per hour ..lol

[wakina]

Yes, cheeks don't have much weight so not much gain there for the cleaners. but they are so easy.. They should just charge a quarter per cheek. I bet you could do 6 per minute with practice, that would be $90.00 per hour ..lol

You should visit George Cutcher's fish cleaning when he is really busy! He would be losing money doing cheeks as he cleans average sized walleyes at a rate of at least 6 per minute. The big girls that have those large rib bones slow him up some though. There is a reason other than price that several charter businesses send their clients to him for cleaning services, fast excellent cleaning. That is why I do my cheeks before I take them to him. He probably raised his price $0.50 due to the number of electric knives he goes thru on walleyes. Perch he does with a fillet knife.

[cycleguy]

When you go to someone like this, safe to assume you get the same fish you take in back? Do you have to prep, or package them in a special manner?

[wakina]

They weigh them in front of you and make out the weigh ticket with a stub, you have to have that stub to get your fish back, the other half goes in the uncleaned fish and stays with them the whole time, even after they are cleaned. I have never had a problem with his services losing fish and have always felt I have gotten my fish back. Best to get all the ice out of then while weighing them if having perch cleaned! They will have baskets for you to place the fish in before weighing. They will remain in that basket until cleaned then they wash and bag them and put them in a fridge.

[pimplepounder]

I agree with you Wakina.. Hey, if someone wants to charge $10.00/per fish and people will pay it that is fine but I will not. I have an MBA and I know how business works. I just sort of like to clean my own fish and can likely keep up with most at the cleaning table cheeks and all. I like your idea of cuting them out prior, but I.have watched cleaners do their deal and its not.the same as when I do it with stripping and trimming the brown.

[pimplepounder]

They weigh them in front of you and make out the weigh ticket with a stub, you have to have that stub to get your fish back, the other half goes in the uncleaned fish and stays with them the whole time, even after they are cleaned. I have never had a problem with his services losing fish and have always felt I have gotten my fish back. Best to get all the ice out of then while weighing them if having perch cleaned! They will have baskets for you to place the fish in before weighing. They will remain in that basket until cleaned then they wash and bag them and put them in a fridge.

Wakina, what I mean by this is.. I get so many comments from people (Did you save the Cheeks) I would think that there is money to be made by cutting them out. If some people want them then they have to pay to get them.. Boy if I worked for a cleaning place I could see me having a freezer full of nothing bu walleye cheeks.. lol

[wakina]

I agree with you Wakina.. Hey, if someone wants to charge $10.00/per fish and people will pay it that is fine but I will not. I have an MBA and I know how business works. I just sort of like to clean my own fish and can likely keep up with most at the cleaning table cheeks and all. I like your idea of cuting them out prior, but I.have watched cleaners do their deal and its not.the same as when I do it with stripping and trimming the brown.

Agreed! But. We are talking about butchering only at the cleaners and of course that does not include zippering and trimming the brown or removing those nasty little bones along the zipper line. Butchering (cleaning) is the hard part and it does get the fish down to a much more manageable size that can be iced down and prevent spoilage for those who have traveled to the area to enjoy the great fishing opportunities Lake Erie offers. It also gives them the legal paper work that is needed to prove when the fish were caught and cleaned so they can take home several days catch without fear of being ticketed for over bagging. Even so I would not recommend zippering those fillets until I got home just to be safe.

[wakina]

Wakina, what I mean by this is.. I get so many comments from people (Did you save the Cheeks) I would think that there is money to be made by cutting them out. If some people want them then they have to pay to get them.. Boy if I worked for a cleaning place I could see me having a freezer full of nothing bu walleye cheeks.. lol

From what I have seen they put them in a dumpster and they are picked up daily or every other day with the cheeks still on the carcass. That is not to say that they don't save some of them but allot of those who clean fish for a living don't like to eat fish! I can understand that part of it as most cleaning facilities have an smell that does not induce ones appetite for the source of that smell. I save them for me, my wife does not like them only because they have a different texture than the fillets. I cannot tell you why as she only uses that as the reason she does not like them, so I go with the old saying Happy Wife Happy Life an I do not push the subject!

[pimplepounder]

From what I have seen they put them in a dumpster and they are picked up daily or every other day with the cheeks still on the carcass. That is not to say that they don't save some of them but allot of those who clean fish for a living don't like to eat fish! I can understand that part of it as most cleaning facilities have an smell that does not induce ones appetite for the source of that smell. I save them for me, my wife does not like them only because they have a different texture than the fillets. I cannot tell you why as she only uses that as the reason she does not like them, so I go with the old saying Happy Wife Happy Life an I do not push the subject!

That's pretty funny but likley true. If you have to smell fish guts all day you probably do not want fish for dinner. lol
I am with you on the cheeks I like them the best they are firmer and have a different texture, plus they taste great. I would almost trade fillets for cheeks.. Yes Happy wife Happy life.