getting your catch home for dummies

[--weezl--]

So, i'm newly getting into fishing as an adult so i'm now realizing that there are steps between hooking a fish, and it being on my plate, with a fork in my hand! I'm trying to get the best idea for how to get fish home, that will be of the best quality and taste. Here's my process, that i think will work just fine, comprised of what a bunch of people seem to be doing, let me know if there's anything i'm missing, or have wrong, please

step 1, catch the fish, obviously, and kill it. i'm learning that beating it over the head isn't the only way to kill a fish, but a knife through the skull seems to work just as well, but probably easier and more reliable.

step 2, bleed the fish, easiest way is open the gill covers up, put a knife in as close to the head, and pull back towards the tail, right around the middle, stopping when you hit skin, do this on both sides. then stick the fish head down, in water, massaging the back if required, until blood stops pouring out of the gills.

step 3, degill and gut the fish, best way i've seen is cut the bottom of the fish from where the stomach begins, towards the head, through the skin, and into the stomach cavity, then work on the gills, making two cuts in a v shape, just behind the jaw, outwards to the underside of the gill covers. then pull all of the gills and entrails from the fish from head to tail, discarding everything removed

step 4, storing/transporting the fish, best way to do this, is to toss your cleaned fish, inside a cooler with an open drain in the bottom, and lots of ice, making sure the fish is not buried in it, maybe a few pieces inside the stomach to keep it nice and cold

let me know what you guys think about my plans, is this good for all fish, over kill for some? also, the title is referring to myself

 

[firelight]

So, i'm newly getting into fishing as an adult so i'm now realizing that there are steps between hooking a fish, and it being on my plate, with a fork in my hand! I'm trying to get the best idea for how to get fish home, that will be of the best quality and taste. Here's my process, that i think will work just fine, comprised of what a bunch of people seem to be doing, let me know if there's anything i'm missing, or have wrong, please

step 1, catch the fish, obviously, and kill it. i'm learning that beating it over the head isn't the only way to kill a fish, but a knife through the skull seems to work just as well, but probably easier and more reliable.

step 2, bleed the fish, easiest way is open the gill covers up, put a knife in as close to the head, and pull back towards the tail, right around the middle, stopping when you hit skin, do this on both sides. then stick the fish head down, in water, massaging the back if required, until blood stops pouring out of the gills.

step 3, degill and gut the fish, best way i've seen is cut the bottom of the fish from where the stomach begins, towards the head, through the skin, and into the stomach cavity, then work on the gills, making two cuts in a v shape, just behind the jaw, outwards to the underside of the gill covers. then pull all of the gills and entrails from the fish from head to tail, discarding everything removed

step 4, storing/transporting the fish, best way to do this, is to toss your cleaned fish, inside a cooler with an open drain in the bottom, and lots of ice, making sure the fish is not buried in it, maybe a few pieces inside the stomach to keep it nice and cold

let me know what you guys think about my plans, is this good for all fish, over kill for some? also, the title is referring to myself

This is how I bring home most of my fish, whole cleaned and on ice, I filet them at home. I like them to sit iced for a day whole seems to get a product I like more. Sounds like your well on the way to getting the hang of it.

 

[mhbradley]

Looks like you have it under control, just one pointer.

If you can manage to bonk the fish hard enough to knock it out but not kill it, the heart will continue to beat and will force more of the blood out of the flesh.

This will improve the quality even more

After 10 mins or so, go ahead and proceed with steps 3 and 4.

Tight lines!

 

[finaddict]

Once you have it home, Eat what you want fresh and fillet the rest into dinner sized pieces (for 2 4 or 6 people or whatever) and vacuum seal and freeze them keep them in a deep freezer with the temp at below -20 c and it will keep for up to a year.

 

[--weezl--]

thanks for the replies!

firelight, I was thinking that the longer it sat on ice, the worse off it would end up being, good to know I don't have to try to haul butt home to get them filleted and frozen/cooked, as long as i've got ice in the cooler

mhbradley, the knocking the fish out, but not killing it idea, I had thought something of the sort, or even not knocking it out at all and just bleeding it, but I didn't want to be doing the inhumane thing, I know that's the way most sports are going, making sure anything that has to die dies humanely, and making sure all that don't have to, don't, but if that's the norm, or a best practice, I think i'm going to give that a shot!!

Finaddict, I wish, I don't have a deep freeze, but I do have a normal freezer on my fridge, which I have set to maximum cold, so that will do me for short periods of time. I'm kinda lazy anyways, so i'll stock it fully, and will eat everything i've got before restocking it, i don't typically keep a rotating stock of food, so there's little chance of me cashing a lot of fish while they are biting hard, and using that to tide me over the slow months. either way, if i'm bringing home crappie like i'm planning on, the daily limit is 20, and i don't see myself leaving because i've caught enough, if i've got less than 20, so some of those would be getting frozen for sure!

that's kinda the best practice for all finfish?

 

[firelight]

This is what I do for saltwater fish I don't know about freshwater fish.

Lots of ice, drained, salt ice if you can get it.