Packing and transporting catch

[TenMile]

Thought I would start a new thread on packing and transporting your catch. Let's say you go on a 3-4 day fishing trip. Obviously the rules state that you are only allowed 2 days possession on you, but that said, keeping it fresh is very important.

My motivation here is to keep the fish fresh and to minimize the amount of processing and handling I have to do at the end of the day, or after a trip.

After reading the rules here http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish/KeyPoints/packaging_e.htm I'm trying to figure out a way to keep fish as fresh as possible and not violate the rules. I'd be inclined to vacuum pack them at the dock in the evening and then keep the fillets packed in ice (or salt ice), but I'm guessing that this method is off-side.

Another question -- how do the lodges get away with filleting, vacuum packing and sending people home with their fish and not cross the line? Is there something specific they do when they prep and box the fish up for people that keeps them onside with DFO?

Interested what others do for their multi-day trips.

 

[Dogbreath]

quote:how do the lodges get away with filleting, vacuum packing and sending people home with their fish and not cross the line? Is there something specific they do when they prep and box the fish up for people that keeps them onside with DFO?

I'm not sure what you mean by something specific-fish are fileted (or left whole depending)/bagged/frozen and each piece is tagged with the guest's number, most lodges have a record on a dockside blackboard which gives the number of fish taken by each guest and their licence #, as well a hard copy of this is kept and stats are sent back to DFO-that's how it used to be anyway.

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[TenMile]

I've done a Charlottes trip twice. The first time (early 90s) they vacuum packed individual fillets (meal sized). Second time (early 2000s), their fillets were half the fish each (tail left on). Might have been some changes to the regs from the two trips.

 

[HSM542]

I think this is a great thread seeing how there is nothing better than fresh tasting pacific salmon through-out the year! I am also someone that has the misfortune of presently living too far from the saltchuck to get fresh fish as the need arises, so when my annual trip comes around I must ensure quality that starts in the boat. What works great for me is to vacume seal whole fish, then freeze them solid. Keep your records detailed for the trip back home for DFO as regs require, taped to the outside of your coolers filled with ice to keep fish frozen. Lastly when I get home I use a bandsaw and zip the frozen fish into 1" steaks and re-vacume seal the frozen steaks and they come out of the freezer almost as fresh as the sea. This has worked great for me as my trips are all seven days or longer.

 

[Charlie]

quote:Originally posted by HSM542

I think this is a great thread seeing how there is nothing better than fresh tasting pacific salmon through-out the year! I am also someone that has the misfortune of presently living too far from the saltchuck to get fresh fish as the need arises, so when my annual trip comes around I must ensure quality that starts in the boat. What works great for me is to vacume seal whole fish, then freeze them solid. Keep your records detailed for the trip back home for DFO as regs require, taped to the outside of your coolers filled with ice to keep fish frozen. Lastly when I get home I use a bandsaw and zip the frozen fish into 1" steaks and re-vacume seal the frozen steaks and they come out of the freezer almost as fresh as the sea. This has worked great for me as my trips are all seven days or longer.

That works great for me, too! When a freezer is available!

The regulations are very clear; you can process only at your “ordinary residence”. Yea, I know I see it all the time, too. But, that doesn’t make it right and when checked, they could lose their fish and all their gear… and get a nice ticket. I have seen that also, especially at ferry terminals!

If you plan on keeping the fish for more than a day and don’t have a freezer or vacuum packer available, bleed it immediately; gut it and remove the gills leaving the head on. Don’t expose any meat unnecessarily. Do not wrap it or make any cuts in the meat just pack it in ice making sure the meat isn’t setting or soaking in any water. I have kept fish for a week this way.

As for the lodges, it is also very clear:
“When packaging salmon for guests, lodges and charter operations are to provide the following information on the outside of the transport box.
(a) name of angler and fishing licence number; only one name per container.
(b) number of fish by species and number of packages. For example, the label on the outside of the cooler should state, in the case of two packaged Chinook or two packaged halibut:”
"2 Chinook - 2 packages", or "2 halibut - 8 packages"

 

[TenMile]

one thing I was unclear on from the regs. If you fillet and vacuum pack salmon/hali, can you cut it into meal sized pieces and carry them with you? The regs suggest you can cut each fillet in half but don't state whether you can or cant cut it smaller than that. Could you slice a salmon into 6 fillets, vacuum pack each fillet -- but keep the 6 pieces together so that the fish could be re-assembled? Or no?

 

[spring time]

what i do for a 3-4 day trip to barkley is bring lots of ice bleed the fish as soon as you get it. gut and ice it asap. get the heat out of the fish quick. then ice it real good, get belly ice and a good layer of ice then the next fish in the cooler until full. then move on to next cooler. I carry a burlap sack with me keep it wet and put it over your cooler it keeps the cooler colder as the sun is beating down on the burlap not the cooler make ice last longer. you can't take enough ice. (always through it away) sometimes hard to find. keep them cold is the main thing. that's what I do when fishing with my boat. then when I get home I cut to the size I want, and vacuum pack in water so no exposed flesh (no freezer burn)

 

[reelfast]

i spoke at length with a BC game officer at the seattle boat show regarding this topic. their concerns are:

- are the fish of legal length
- are the fish of legal species
- are you within the possession limits

he suggested the following:

- if the fish is clearly longer than legal with the head removed, its ok to remove the head
- to determine species, the tail must remain attached to the fish. that means, however, you can fillet the fish but leave the tail attached at least to one fillet.
- if the fish is in pieces but multiple bags, he suggested marking each bag as: fish 1, fillet 1, 2, etc. this gives them the information regarding how many fish you have as well.

this officer works the ferry dock at victoria so i am going to trust him at his word regarding just how to carry fish back home.

ice is effective but it taks LOTS of ice to be effective. the old timie troller would go for days with iced fish before they could run in and unload, but they had LOTS of ice.