Note that if the fish is a catfish, the method above is should be modified as you really should skin a catfish. Just cut around the head, circling the body of the fish, to break the skin. Grab a pair of pliers and grab the edge of the cut, and pull back until all the skin is removed. Apart from that, gut the fish as indicated above. Filleting the fish is pretty common, as is cutting a cross section of the fish similar to steaking larger fish (such as salmon). Some scrap meat is used for nuggets. Note that catfish are some interesting animals. They may continue to swim for a short time after gutting. My mom actually froze one and discovered it still alive the next morning. Rasputin reincarnated!