I can scale one pretty fast, but you're right that it probably takes longer. I used to trim the skin off, but with smaller bluegills the skin is so thin that every once in awhile I'd accidentally cut through the skin halfway down the fillet. Then it's a major pain to remove the scales and/or skin from the remaining part.
I also filet slightly differently. I cut the slice by the gill plate, but then I start the tip of the knife at the back of the dorsal fin and cut a "guide" incision forward along the backbone and along the top of the ribcage. Then I go back to the gillplate incision and do what you do, cutting along the backbone to the tail. Again, it takes a little longer, but I find that starting the incision along the dorsal first ensures that I don't cut through the backbone on small fish when I'm cutting the ribcage, and it also keeps the knife closer to the backbone so there isn't any waste meat. An error where your knife strays 1/8" from the backbone is hardly noticeable on a big fish, but on a bluegill or yellow bass that's a major loss of meat.
Once the filets are done on a bluegill or yellow bass, they're slightly larger than a jumbo shrimp - a perfect "bite size" filet to fry up for a great meal with hushpuppies and cole slaw.
bd
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