Open Country PH-6200FG Pan Handler Fish Filleter

The media could not be loaded. Been fishing and cleaning fish since I was four years old. Always had fun doing it, and never minded the time and effort it took to filet a mess of panfish. As an adult, my priorities have changed and am now aware of the niceties of convenience and time-saving measures.I saw this filet gadget in a Cabela's catalog and decided to do some research on the item before deciding to buy it. I mostly came across paid advertisements and vague reviews. I saw one video on YouTube from a guy that actually purchased it.I ordered it from Amazon, it came two days later nicely packaged.Had not been keeping panfish lately, as they are too time consuming to filet....but knowing that the PanHandler was due to arrive, I kept six aside, headed and gutted them and stuck em in the freezer.On my first attempt, the knife wouldn't go any farther than a quarter inch. After reading thru the instructions again, I opened the unit and repositioned the fish...that solved the problem. After that it was EASY!! It is a joy to use, I am still amazed at how little waste there is...I've never filleted panfish so efficiently before.You can scale the fish and leave the skin on. Or you can head and gut, run thru the PanHandler and remove the skin and trim the ribs away. I prefer a boneless, skinless filet so that's my method.Very pleased with this purchase, and would recommend it to any angler!! Look for my video review/demo, will be posting it soon.

I've have been cleaning fish for 60+ years,And I have seen about every gimmick come and go . And tried a few other themBut this thing works, The center slice was a little thicker than I thought it would be,I guess you need that much space to work tonight was the machine work excellent I filleted 103 bluegill most 8,9 and some 10 inches long , You still need an electric fillet knife for a good fillet knife to remove the skin I prefer the skin to be off, I’m pretty handy with a fillet knife and an electric fillet knife but this was quicker I was not disappointed I would recommend it

Its a nice size for pan fish. Gets messy and slick after cleaning a few fish

Bought this last year and have used it to clean hundreds of fish.I have had issuers but there is a learning curve. I have to make sure the tail fin is on the metal and the the meat part of the tail is just inside the opening. The top and rear fin are spread out on the metal as not to let the knife catch it or it will redirect it and not cut correctly.I have found that I struggle with fatter bluegill and larger ones. I make sure to clean everything real well and even put a film of oil on the underside of the metal plates to allow the knife to glide a little better after I’m done cleaning.I can see people getting real frustrated with it but keep at it. It does work. Be careful of the locking latch, mine broke early on.All in all, I like it and am buying another for my son to use and speed up the cleaning process when we limit out..Hope this helps.

WOW! This is a EXCELLENT item! I purchased one of these fillet machines in 1997 when they first came out. I used it several times, loaned it to a "friend" ( you know those types?), and I never got it back!So, I ordered a new unit from Amazon in May, 2012, and it works just a great as the first one did back in 1997! The new one came with a very useful DVD that shows you some neat shortcuts to cleaning panfish to get them ready to filet with this automatic filleter!I will recomend this unit to anyone that fishes and catched panfish, white pearch, bream, sun pearch, blue gill, etc!I can easily scale, dehead, and fillet 30 fish in 40 minutes with this unit!You will like this item, I feel cetain!

I thought that this was just what I needed. I am 67 years old and I have arthritis, my hands hurt when I try to hold the fish while filleting. I have been filleting fish all of my life and I cut meat for 20 years. I thought that this was the answer to my hands. I bought it quite a few weeks ago but I just this week had the chance to try it. I watched the video so I would know how to properly use it and then I tried to fillet some fish. I cut the head and gutted 10 fish and then tried the Pan handler. I was not impressed, the knife did not go through the first fish at all. The next 3 was not much better. The knife felt like it was trying to cut the metal divider. I checked once to see if I had the knife in backwards. After 6 fish I cleaned the unit and put it in the yard sale pile of junk. I think it is junk.

We have been wearing this thing out son. It fillets fish perfect each and every time. Just a amazing product. For the first time this year we actually fished for brim, bluegills and perch. I have tried cleaning these fish in the past with no luck to be honest. I wasn't able to get enough meat from the little suckers. It is very hard to clean these little fish. But this thing cut every piece of meat possible from the little fish and made it so worth cleaning them. One of the best tasting fish ever. Believe me guys and gals this thing I swear to you really works GREAT!!!!

I bought one of these panhandlers a least 10 years ago. Cleaned thousands of panfish. It was starting to show it's ages. Once you learn the little tricks it does a really nice job. Even my wife can use it. I've recommended them to all my friends. Gave them away for Xmas presents to my 3 sons. They all love it.