How can I more effectively remove bones, when fileting a sardine?

Question

Sardines ("kilu") are very common out here in Tallinn, and are very commonly eaten raw (e.g. kiluvõileib). It's particularly easy (and cheap) to find whole sardines that you can filet yourself. I have tried this at home in the following steps:

1. Cut off the head.
2. Slice open the belly.
3. Remove gizzards and nonsense from belly.
4. "Unfold" the sardine.
5. Using a fork, grab the spine at the head-end of the fish and pull it straight out.
6. Spend several minutes collecting bazillions of leftover rib bones, one-by-one, for each tiny fish.

The final step is obnoxious. I must be doing something wrong. How do I get the ribs out of the fish, efficiently?

Answer 1

Perhaps a little bit late, but ...

There is a "correct way" to do it:

Of course there is a video :)

Answer 2

I find it easier to take the fillets off after it has cooked, although this is not always practical. Once its cooked you can prise the meat away along the spine and remove the top fillet. once the top one is removed you can pick up the tail and generally are able to peel the skeleton away from the bottom fillet.

I know not everyone likes to, but I think you can eat the bones of sardines too

I appreciate that this may not be much help if you are wanting to do something with the raw fillets, but may be useful...