Fish storage at camp

[Vanislesteve]

If this has been discussed in nauseum prior, I apologise, I have tried searching, but am coming up with nothing.

Fishing Barkley Sound at the end of August for 4 days and am contemplating storage of fish while at camp. We may have access to a freezer, but we may be keeping in coolers.

Does anyone freeze entire fillets with tail on, then once home, thaw, portion and vacuum seal and re-freeze? If so, any method that works best? I have never been one to freeze, thaw and re-freeze.
Am I better off keeping on ice for multiple days, then portioning and vacuum sealing at home? If so, any method that works best?
Thoughts on fish bags vs vacuum sealing at camp?
Cheers

 

[brutus]

P

If this has been discussed in nauseum prior, I apologise, I have tried searching, but am coming up with nothing.

Fishing Barkley Sound at the end of August for 4 days and am contemplating storage of fish while at camp. We may have access to a freezer, but we may be keeping in coolers.

Does anyone freeze entire fillets with tail on, then once home, thaw, portion and vacuum seal and re-freeze? If so, any method that works best? I have never been one to freeze, thaw and re-freeze.
Am I better off keeping on ice for multiple days, then portioning and vacuum sealing at home? If so, any method that works best?
Thoughts on fish bags vs vacuum sealing at camp?
Personally I keep in fish bags( filleted) on ice in cooler for up to 5 days, I do have a freezer at camp and never freeze and taw later to process

 

[Explorer682]

If this has been discussed in nauseum prior, I apologise, I have tried searching, but am coming up with nothing.

Fishing Barkley Sound at the end of August for 4 days and am contemplating storage of fish while at camp. We may have access to a freezer, but we may be keeping in coolers.

Does anyone freeze entire fillets with tail on, then once home, thaw, portion and vacuum seal and re-freeze? If so, any method that works best? I have never been one to freeze, thaw and re-freeze.
Am I better off keeping on ice for multiple days, then portioning and vacuum sealing at home? If so, any method that works best?
Thoughts on fish bags vs vacuum sealing at camp?
Cheers

Try cutting your fillets in the portion size you want , cut through the meat down to the skin , don’t cut the through the skin . If the fillet is frozen like that you can cut or snap the smaller portions without the need to thaw them .Works well and you won’t need to partly thaw and then refreeze which isn’t going to be good for the meat long term.

 

[dmurph]

I would just bleed your fish right away, gut if possible on boat and store in the cooler with ice. Will be totally fine for many days like that.

 

[Brett McK]

Quarter the fillets leave tail on for legal reasons. Salmon, lings and hali can all be broken down to 4pcs with tail and skin on. Freeze in ziplock full of fresh water. And get em back home and refrozen asap. Bulky in the freezer but works well to proven air from touching the fish and causing freezer burn. If its a weekend, remove guts and gills, and slime and store on hard pack “salt ice” or commercial ice. I find 2l pop bottles work okay but do always end up buying cubes or flakes when I can for the ride home drain plug open usually or drain frequently. Cheers and good eats!

 

[Adrenafin]

For springs I remove the head and cut and fold the tail over, then freeze whole. When i get home i have the local butcher cut into steaks and then vacuum seal into 2 packs. Works great and lasts a good year easy .

 

[Whole in the Water]

Use salt ice if possible, keep the coolers in the shade, drained of excess water, remove the gills and belly ice all the fish and you should will be fine. Most rec and commercial fisherman have done this for decades.

I prefer to leave the filleting and freezing for home, where it is clean and have all the supplies. Also makes for relaxing fishing time (less work) when on your fishing trip.

 

[scott craven]

Maybe just me, but I wouldn't freeze any fish in fresh water.

Salmon, lings and hali can all be broken down to 4pcs with tail and skin on. Freeze in ziplock full of fresh water.

 

[BigBadBrad]

Why not just process them on site and vaccuum seal where you are at then freeze? Have been doing this for 15 years and always works out great and then there’s no extra work when your home. Just abide to the transportation regulations.

 

[RiverBoy]

Why not just process them on site and vaccuum seal where you are at then freeze? Have been doing this for 15 years and always works out great and then there’s no extra work when your home. Just abide to the transportation regulations.

they need to be identifiable and measurable. how can that be accomplished if they are processed in the field?

 

[trophywife]

you only need to leave a 1" piece of skin your fillets for identification... eliminates the slimy skin to deal with at home. eg-hali and ling

 

[BigBadBrad]

they need to be identifiable and measurable. how can that be accomplished if they are processed in the field?

You can portion your salmon into 4 pieces (I leave the skin on and the tail attached to one of the pieces) then vaccuum seal and freeze each individual piece and keep together in one bag. You can portion your lings, rockfish ect ect. You can portion your halibut as per the DFO regs. Vaccuum seal and freeze. Very easy to accomplish.

 

[RevyG]

You can portion your salmon into 4 pieces (I leave the skin on and the tail attached to one of the pieces) then vaccuum seal and freeze each individual piece and keep together in one bag. You can portion your lings, rockfish ect ect. You can portion your halibut as per the DFO regs. Vaccuum seal and freeze. Very easy to accomplish.

My move exactly.

 

[bigdogg1]

Use salt ice if possible, keep the coolers in the shade, drained of excess water, remove the gills and belly ice all the fish and you should will be fine. Most rec and commercial fisherman have done this for decades.

I prefer to leave the filleting and freezing for home, where it is clean and have all the supplies. Also makes for relaxing fishing time (less work) when on your fishing trip.

Exactly what we did on a recent 4-day trip up island. Always bleed and gut on board regardless plus belly stuffing with salt ice works great. Came home and processed the catch which was in perfect shape.

 

[fishbadger]

+1 with the bleed/gut/gill/pack in salt ice program. As soon as you cut/fillet fish, the clock starts ticking, degradation starts, and the moisture runs out of the meat with exposed meat surfaces. Keeping it sealed up in the water proof container it grew up in (skin and peritoneum of the gut cavity) is the ticket.
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[Chasin' Dreams]

You can portion your salmon into 4 pieces (I leave the skin on and the tail attached to one of the pieces) then vaccuum seal and freeze each individual piece and keep together in one bag. You can portion your lings, rockfish ect ect. You can portion your halibut as per the DFO regs. Vaccuum seal and freeze. Very easy to accomplish.

This is what we've been doing on all of our trips where we have lot's of fish and have our two day possession limits. Have been checked once by DFO and all was good. Saying that though it is very important in the eyes of DFO to label your catch and pieces of fish and coolers. If you have to mix more than one anglers catch in the same cooler then you should separate them with labels showing who's is who's and we also put our license numbers with our catch as well. The more info the better for inspection if needed.

I phoned DFO prior to a trip years ago and asked them these specific questions cause some of the instructions may be a bit unclear to some. I have their reply saved somewhere on a flash drive lol just in case it came up in the future. But yes they told me it was fine to cut the fillets into multiple pieces (4) and leave the tail on the end piece and fold it over in the vac packed bags. We do this and individually vac pack our pieces and freeze them. It takes some time to do it all nice and properly but it's well worth it for the freshest fish when you get home.

And definitely don't freeze fish in water with the meat exposed. By the time it takes the fish to freeze the meat will absorb some of the water and will make for a mushy fall apart product. The meat will "water bleach" from the absorption as well. Been there done that tried it lot's of ways. Nope, bad outcome every time. Not the same as freezing shrimp in prawns in water etc..

An example of our processing/packaging after a days catch on one of our trips. On the packages are the date, name of angler, species of fish, and piece identification letter for each fillet example letters A, B, C, D for 4 pieces of a fillet. And note the tail attached to the end piece and folded over in the package. Then they go into a cooler labeled with angler name and license number.

 

[walleyes]

I cut up ours into the allotted sizes for the bigger fish. The small fish like Coho most I will do in one piece or two. Then will individually vacuum seal each piece then in turn place those pieces in order into a large vacuum bag and seal them in a way it forms one fish easily identifiable. I take care to make the folds in so not to obstruct the view of the pieces. Not only does it make for easy identifying fish but it also double vacuum seals the product. Lots of work yes but hey, when one is spending the money to get out there you may as well take the extra time to ensure your product is done right. For this year I also made up these tags ahead of time. Made about 24 with each name on them then when we were packaging we just filled in the tags and stapled them to the bags. If you read the regs the name and license number of the individual must also be on the package. You can see the one Chinook in the pick. Inside it is 4 pieces individually vacuum sealed then placed into a large bag and vacuumed again. When it all sucked up tight it is quite easily seen as one fish, no confusion.

 

[N2013]

I’m amazed at people who process their catch each day. That is the last thing I wanna do on a fishing trip. At the end of the day, fish goes into the cooler, beer is coming out.

 

[walleyes]

I’m amazed at people who process their catch each day. That is the last thing I wanna do on a fishing trip. At the end of the day, fish goes into the cooler, beer is coming out.

All part of the process, work first play later. When your up at 4, fish till 4 or 5 then come in, clean the boat put stuff away, get ready for morning then get to the room and package your fish it certainly makes for a long day. Especially if you’ve filled the cooler that day with bigger fish. It can take up to an hour or more to package everything up. Most days I’m not showered and ready for supper until around 7 or 8. One thing that has sped things up is I’ve been cleaning the fish on the boat either during the afternoon lull or on the ride in. When we get to the dock the fish is done just throw it in the cooler and that part is over.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

All part of the process, work first play later. When your up at 4, fish till 4 or 5 then come in, clean the boat put stuff away, get ready for morning then get to the room and package your fish it certainly makes for a long day. Especially if you’ve filled the cooler that day with bigger fish. It can take up to an hour or more to package everything up. Most days I’m not showered and ready for supper until around 7 or 8. One thing that has sped things up is I’ve been cleaning the fish on the boat either during the afternoon lull or on the ride in. When we get to the dock the fish is done just throw it in the cooler and that part is over.

Yes this ^ I also clean, de gill, and pressure bleed our fish as soon as they are caught then they go on ice in coolers or fish kill bags until getting back to camp after the fishing is over. And I'm sippin' on some good old smooth whiskey while the fish processing is going on. I don't wait till it's done to crack open beers or sip the whiskey Then tie up some gear if needed, hot shower and hit the sack. If weather is going to be too rough to go out the next morning then the poker chips and cards come out.