Walleye wings

[Northwoods]

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[Hunting Wife]

Look fantastic. Have talked about trying this but haven’t done it.

 

[Northwoods]

Look fantastic. Have talked about trying this but haven’t done it.

I save the cheeks and wings all summer. The wings are good, cheeks are fantastic.

 

[Hunting Wife]

I save the cheeks and wings all summer. The wings are good, cheeks are fantastic.

I do save the cheeks. Nice little nuggets

 

[Gellar]

Cheeks and wings are always the cook’s appetizer at shore lunch.

 

[R.K.]

4-5 collars from 15-17" fish is enough for a meal if you have sides. Best part is the fins, though, and there's no comparison. I'm never throwing away the collars/wings again if I can help it.

Do they take a bit of work to eat? Yes. But cleaning them is as simple as "grab and pull" from the filleted carcass, and I think the meat is even better than the fillets. Below is a side-by-side comparison without sides.

I don't fillet these off- I fillet the fish normally, starting with a cut below the pelvic fins, and a slit down the belly, and then fillet through the ribs. Then once the fillets are done, I grab the head in my left hand, and use the right hand to grab the collar and pull it free from the carcass- pop the throat loose, then pull back. Gills stay on the head, guts stay on the spine. Simple, just a touch messy.

So it's: cheeks, pelvic slit, belly slit, fillet left side, flip and fillet right side (left side underneath to support spine), fold spine over knife near tail to break free- fillets are now saddled with tail. Skin side up, press ribs down flat and slice on top of them to remove. Skin fillets, place in bowl, throw away skin. Grab head, remove collar. Cheeks, fillets, and collar.

 

[Gellar]

4-5 collars from 15-17" fish is enough for a meal if you have sides. Best part is the fins, though, and there's no comparison. I'm never throwing away the collars/wings again if I can help it.

Do they take a bit of work to eat? Yes. But cleaning them is as simple as "grab and pull" from the filleted carcass, and I think the meat is even better than the fillets. Below is a side-by-side comparison without sides.

I don't fillet these off- I fillet the fish normally, starting with a cut below the pelvic fins, and a slit down the belly, and then fillet through the ribs. Then once the fillets are done, I grab the head in my left hand, and use the right hand to grab the collar and pull it free from the carcass- pop the throat loose, then pull back. Gills stay on the head, guts stay on the spine. Simple, just a touch messy.

So it's: cheeks, pelvic slit, belly slit, fillet left side, flip and fillet right side (left side underneath to support spine), fold spine over knife near tail to break free- fillets are now saddled with tail. Skin side up, press ribs down flat and slice on top of them to remove. Skin fillets, place in bowl, throw away skin. Grab head, remove collar. Cheeks, fillets, and collar.

I just licked my screen.

 

[Northwoods]

Cheeks and wings are always the cook’s appetizer at shore lunch.

I did that for years with the cheeks until my BIL told my wife how good the cheeks are. I don’t really like the guy and that did not help his cause.

 

[maxracx]

I am sitting here drooling on my keyboard!!! Friday night wings fry!!!

 

[vanish]

I've fileted a few thousand walleye, and your process has me totally lost. I don't know what this collar business is.

 

[Hem]

Not much of a walleye guy for no reason other than I haven't got to it seriously with fly rod.
Would somebody post a pic of a fish and point to where the wings come from?
Curious mind.

 

[Gellar]

Not much of a walleye guy for no reason other than I haven't got to it seriously with fly rod.
Would somebody post a pic of a fish and point to where the wings come from?
Curious mind.

The two fins on the belly just behind the gills.

 

[R.K.]

The two fins on the belly just behind the gills.

I get all 4 of them instead of just the two pelvic fins.

I've fileted a few thousand walleye, and your process has me totally lost. I don't know what this collar business is.

It’s the throat (circled in blue above) with fins still attached. You can literally just grab and pull off the carcass. Some people fillet off just the lower two fins before filleting the fish, I prefer to fillet the fish first, then rip off the collar with all 4 fins on it.

 

[clinton3]

Wow Nice little nuggets