Field Dressing Fish

If you have a freezer handy, you can put the fish,whole into a fishbag,press out the air and it can be frozen intact, within an hr. of catching. It will keep up to 9 months. Just thaw and debone if you wish and it will be fine...If you are planing on continuing to fish, I would keep a cooler with some fresh cube ice in the car, bleed the fish out, clean your fish, (leave the head and tail on for transport) and immediately pack the cavity with ice and cover the fish withice, as well. This will ensure your catch stays as fresh as possible. Putting a dead fish back into 50-60 degree water for a few hours, is not the best way to look after your catch, and will almost always guarantee a pretty unappetizing meal............Ortho

moro said:

Upon catching a fish in the river, I have always gutted,de-gilled, and scraped the blood line from the fish cavity as soon as it has been landed. I put it back in the water until I get back to my truck and then put it in an iced cooler until I get home.

A good fishing buddy who I consider not only a better fisherman, but more knowledgable than myself disagrees with my method. He keeps the fish totally intact and just leaves it in the water until he can ice it and get home. In fact, he sometimes waits until the next day before cleaning the fish.

I think the method of field dressing the fish immediately preserves the quality of the fish much better than his method. I would appreciate some feedback on this issue.

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If you fish is cleaned you should keep it out of water and wrap it up in some leafs, if not cleaned yet, leave it in the water................thats what older fishermans tought me 40 years a go, maybe it's better metod i dont know? :beerchug:

B.

Thanks for your input. I guess that 50-60 degree water would not be the best way to keep the fish fresh.

moro said:

Thanks for your input. I guess that 50-60 degree water would not be the best way to keep the fish fresh.

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better than living it under the sun as many people I saw doing.

Giuseppe

i will normally clean it put it bach in the water where the water is "flowing" this helps keep the heat down and also placing some bushy sticks over it will help greatly.

Thanks for your input hook. It is sometimes difficult to get a fish iced and properly cared for when you're amile away from your ice chest and still wanting to fish.

for me it depends wheather I'm fishing alone or with someone...if alone i usually will clean the fish and go and since i made the trek back to the car i might head to another location but if with someone then i would do what Hook had described.

Check out this thread.
http://www.bcfishingreports.com/forum/index.php/topic,7948.0.html

I used to bring ice in my cooler during my first times of fishing hoping to land some fish 'coz that's what I intended to do, field dress the fish after landing them. I got tired. I haven't got my first catch 'till now... ;D ;D ;D

I released almost everything I got in my fishing experience, but when I want to keep one I alway keep the last one I catch and go home.

Giuseppe

I usually wait until the end of my day to keep fish. Then I gut it and gill it and take home. My friend always leaves fish intact and throws it straight into the freezer. He insists it keeps better that way. He fishes for saltwater species, and I fish mostly for trout. Not sure if that makes a difference though.

Giuseppe said:

I released almost everything I got in my fishing experience, but when I want to keep one I alway keep the last one I catch and go home.

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I think those who haven't got their first catch swear they'll do exactly the opposite... ;D

boy2its said:

Giuseppe said:

I released almost everything I got in my fishing experience, but when I want to keep one I alway keep the last one I catch and go home.

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I think those who haven't got their first catch swear they'll do exactly the opposite... ;D

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I know. But by the end the beginner catch one salmon, it should be already night

Giuseppe

a good trick is to carry burlap with you clean your fish then wrap in wet burlap as the moisture evaporates it will cool the fish.

Thanks for everyones input. There are lots of good tips that i will use to help keep my fish as fresh as possible.

I use a Hot/Cold bag that you can buy at most grocery stores. Then 2 small ice packs (the blue stuff) that goes in the freezer. its nice becasue it comes up to be about 2 -3 lbs total......even will fit in a cargo pocket.

As for gutting, I do it first thing, unless Im in a boat......then the line is back in the water before anything happens.....when the bites on it a no brainer.