the catch of the day keeping fish fresh while fishing

[goodtimesfishing]

For those that fillet in the field...to be legal you MUST be done fishing for the day. And if you need to show clipped adipose then just do a butterfly fillet(google if unsure what butterfly fillet is). Your 2 fillets will be connected and the adipose will be visible.

[Matt]

Keeping a fish alive on a stringer for an extended period will degrade the quality of meat. As mentioned before, under high adrenaline situations, the body secretes lactic acid which imparts a poor flavor to any meat (not just fish). Keeping the fish alive on a string after an extremely rigorous fight causes undue stress on the animal and exposes the meat to high levels of lactic acidosis. The ideal thing to do is bonk, bleed, and ice immediately. This stops the secretion of lactic acids into the blood stream immediately (by stopping the flow of blood). Keeping the fish on a string dead in the river works fine, as long as it is early spring, late fall, or winter. Unfortunately, surface and shoreline temps are quite high this time of year (around 16-20 C or 60-70 F). You might as well "poach" the fish storing it at those temperatures. For shore-bound anglers keeping the fish live may unfortunately be the only/best option to avoid hauling around all the extra weight, but if you are close to your car and the hike isn't overly arduous I would say a bag or block of fresh ice and a catch cooler is the way to go. Bonk, bleed, and into the bag immediately. Also, when you get right down to it, removing the gills and internal organs immediately will also help keep the meet in prime shape. Certain organs secrete chemicals that may be deleterious to the meat both in flavor and texture if ruptured, or left to degrade inside of the fish. Also, we all know that blood is the key fouler of fish meat. The gills are primarily harbors for excess blood, as is the kidney (blood line) of the fish. Removing all of these from the fish immediately and putting it on ice is the true sure fire way to grade A table quality meat.

It really boggles my mind to see people mistreat their catch. After spending so much time, money, and effort to catch the fish, why waste the end product? I see people dragging fish around on stringers during Pink season all the time, just poaching their fish in 70*f waters. What a waste. Up at Baker this year I would occasionally see a boat with fish out on a string as well (not bleeding them, but dragging them all over) and the surface temps up there were around 68*f on my FF.

[goodtimesfishing]

I agree. Bonk bleed ice. when fishing is hot sometime do an experiment and bonk bleed ice one and then let one swim around on stringer until you leave. then cook both and you will taste a difference!

[Bodofish]

Dang Matt you practicing C&R on that beauty? Or should I say, is She practicing C&R! Hahahahahaha! That's why we don't see you any more! Dog!

[knotabassturd]

I like to bleed the fish immediately (and ice if possible) but also sometimes do something rather unorthodox, especially if I am going to smoke the salmon.

I tear the skin off if I can right at the river. Especially with pinks since their skin isn't quite as tough as coho or chinook.
Much like a grizzly trying to rip off the skin after they catch their fish.

Why? Dead fish = slime. I don't like my fish in a coat of slime.

If I am going to BBQ the fish on open alderwood fire though I will often leave the skin to have a good 'skin side down' layer to prevent charring of the flesh.

BTW after tearing the skin off you can rest assured I don't let any muck get on it so I usually put it directly into a cooler with ice and/or clean bag.

[Gringo Pescador]

I like to bleed the fish immediately (and ice if possible) but also sometimes do something rather unorthodox, especially if I am going to smoke the salmon.

I tear the skin off if I can right at the river. Especially with pinks since their skin isn't quite as tough as coho or chinook.
Much like a grizzly trying to rip off the skin after they catch their fish.

Why? Dead fish = slime. I don't like my fish in a coat of slime.

If I am going to BBQ the fish on open alderwood fire though I will often leave the skin to have a good 'skin side down' layer to prevent charring of the flesh.

BTW after tearing the skin off you can rest assured I don't let any muck get on it so I usually put it directly into a cooler with ice and/or clean bag.

I have to admit, it's kind of a trip to watch you rip the skin off your fish, last season with the pinks you told me this is what you did, but then when you did it I'm thinking "What the hell is he doing?!?!".

[knotabassturd]

Ya sorry about the shock factor GP.

I don’t get out to fish much, especially with a fellow Walaker, so figured I had to use the opportunity to make an impression since you are a go-to guy with casting and catching (now a mod!) that gets after the fish good.

Me continuing to fish the broken trout rod to try and get a limit with only the last eye on it was not planned. Was gratifying getting the limit though with the ‘injured’ trout rod and thanx for that trip. It was good fun with the jigs and you obviously lit it up on the pinks.

BTW- those bobber down steelhead GoPro vids you did from last year were EXCELLENT!

I’m hoping Quadfather gets his up and running to give some good recorded footage. Makes for a better work day watching those! Uh, during breaktime of course.

Don’t know if I’ll get a chance to get after salmon this year (need high success probability to go ) but good luck to all those out there that do.

[natetreat]

Thanks - I got an old beer/bait fridge in the garage with a freezer up top - free off CL

oh!! you must've gotten the "honey, i do NOT want fish bait in my house!!" speech too, huh?

haha, i used to have a smaller like dorm room type fridge for bait after i got that speech. it burned out and stopped cooling..

I've had that same exact conversation as well! Although when I mentioned getting a new fridge she saw dollar signs and accepted that I gotta keep bait in the fridge. But I'm going to have too much bait now, and we can't eat our fish fast enough to make room for Jalapeno poppers AND roe, so Craigslist sounds like a great idea.

[dicinu]

I bonk, bleed and place in my catch cooler...

I use frozen water bottles for my ICE in my catch cooler works for a dual purpose water to drink and keeps the fish nice and cold even on hot days still stays mostly frozen. I have to drink out of 3 or 4 bottles to get a good amount of water it keeps the fish cool for a easily carry cooler.

sportco has them on sale for 29.99 now

big handles to carry on the shoulder also. that's what sold me I was tired of carrying fish on my back then getting the scales on my seats...

[bugmasta]

[Highjack begin]
speaking of ice - I'm a cheap bastard, I rolled out a couple seal-a-meal bags the length of the inside of my cooler, sealed one end, filled em 1/3 full of water, stood em on end in my freezer and let em freeze. Then vacuum sealed the open end, let em thaw, laid em on their side in the freezer and re-froze them.
Now I have two giant "Otter Pops" that I throw into my cooler whenever I go out, then just hose em off (fish blood) and throw em back in the freezer for the next trip. I've used the same ones now for a year
[Highjack End - back to the original subject ]

I do the exact same thing and throw them in my catch cooler. Never had a fish go bad on me.