Keeping Fish - What's the best method?

[robertmee]

Not new to fishing, but new to keeping fish....I now have a waterfront place on a large lake, and I'd like to start keeping some of the fish I catch for eating. I've done multiple searches, but not sure of the keyword for such a search. I even manually looked back about 8 pages to see if there was a relevant topic already. So, apologies, if this has been covered ad nauseum....If so, please point me to a topic link.

Anyway, I'm no PETA advocate, but I am considerate of wildlife and don't want to induce any unnecessary suffering. I've read various methods from stringers (both clip and rope), to throw them on ice, to fillet them live to braining them with a club to keep them in a live well. What's the most humane, efficient way to hold/prepare fish for filleting back home?

[Fishnngolfn]

As long as you do not take pleasure in torturing the fish before you eat it, then you will be fine. My personal thought is just be quick in whatever you do. Everytime we keep the fish for eating, we just keep them on a stringer until it is time to cut and gut them. We then just cut off the heads with a sharp machete and then gut them. Make sure you keep the guts and head for baiting the water for catfish that night.

[MIbasser]

When out on the great lakes salmon fishing we would just put them in a cooler full of ice. Keeps them fresh and frozen.

[JB]

My basic rule of thumb is to keep a certain slot range, for example 12-15 inche bass, and throw the big ones back. On other species of fish, I take what I want, but never fillet the smaller ones, like smaller than a 8 or 9 inch crappie.
The colder the water, the better the fillet tastes, that being said, I prefer to take fish when the water temps 50-upper 60's.
Most fish can be taken for filleting at any temp, I just like the colder temps for firmer, less fishy tasting fish.
The quicker you can fillet a fish before it dies the better it tastes IMO...
I always leave them in the live well and alive when I clean them, but even if they have been dead for an hour or so wont hurt the taste any.
Leave a fish in the warm sun for hours before ya fillet it and it tastes fishey to me.
You can ice the fish in the live well, or a cooler all day and fillet later, thats a pretty decent way to do it too.
Once you put the knife behine the head and gills to the belly and make that cut, they are pretty much dead IMO, they flop around a tad during the rest of the cleaning, but its no biggie.
I usually just clean crappies for meat and walleyes, this last camping trip we cleaned some big bass, but I was a guest at a camp, and didnt really
say to much about keeping a slot size only to the host.
To ensure a good population of bass, throw the big females back, keep smaller ones 1-3 lbs for cookin.
After all, god put em on the earth for you to eat, just use your head about selective harvesting.

[WTL]

Yea if they have been dead more than 2 days throw them out. That counts for ones you find floating in the water too.

[robertmee]

Originally Posted by WTL

Yea if they have been dead more than 2 days throw them out. That counts for ones you find floating in the water too.

Funny you should mention....I happened by a 3' long something on the way back to my dock, floating upside down. I figured it was a dead cat, but out of curiousity, I circled back around to see and it was a huge striper. I was contemplating getting my net, when he slowly rolled over and swam away. Either a jet ski that had just been through tagged him or he came through the Dam, but he was about 5 miles away from the Dam, so I don't know.

[BigBassin144]

We like to throw our fish on ice. I've actually contemplated filling the livewell half full of ice instead of bringing a cooler. It'd be easier to empty when the ice melted. but if they haven't died on the ice, then we normally give 'em a whack with the end of the ifllet knife handle before starting to fillet them. Mostly to keep them from floppping and potentially hurting us with our own knives. We've also kept a couple perch egg sakc (That's real, Yellow Perch for you southern guys) They have an odd texture when fried, but they aren't bad. I'd still rather just eat the fillets though.


BB

[BigBassin144]

Also, like JB said, especially with bass, we'll only keep the ones in the 12-15" range. Before you go aand keep any fish, check your state regulations. Ohio happens to have no size restriction on bass, but other states you can't keep any under 15"

JB, the best crappie are caught Ice fishing. And with those, the sooner you eat them, the better. IMO, crappie are no good to eat during the summer.

BB

[Tryinhard]

IMO ice would be a good choice for slowing them down and i usually stun them with a whack and clean live. no pleasure but food has to be killed by sombody

[Stinkies Daddy]

I keep and fillet a lot of crappie. What i do is try to fill the live well keeping it areiated while the fish are in there waiting to be filleted. When i leave the lake i keep water in the live well til i can get to a place that sells ice, i then pull the plug on the live well, go in and get the ice, when the live well is drained i cover the fish with plenty, PLENTY, of ice and go home. When i get home i do all the crap that is involved with keeping up a bass boat, charge batteries, vacume carpet, you know what im talkin bout, leaving the fish to sit bout an hour covered with ice. Then i get my electric rapala knife, an old empty minnow bucket ( to put the carcasses in ) and a big bowl with ice and water in it ( for holding the fillets ) then i fillet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQXIbS5Y-Qs although this is a good method i dont do it this way. I make the cut behind the gill plate and fin but never remove the knife, i just turn it and cut thru the rids to the tail, leavint the skin attached to the tail, then start the knife under the skin and run it thru til the skin is off. then i take my small very sharp rapala 6" fillet knife and cut out the ribs ( you wont loose very much of the fillet). after all are filleted i wash and pat dry and place in the freezer to stiffen the flesh a lil more say bout 30 minutes of so (freezing them a lil makes it a lil easier to use the vac sealer, you wont get as much water pulling thru the bag messing up the seal). If you dont have a vac then place the fillets in a freezer bag and submerge the fillets with water, push as much air out of the bag as you can and seal the zipper, then place the bag in a 9X13 cake pan and put in the freezer (if the bag leaks the pan will prevent you from having a mess in your freezer and will also form the bag into a nice neat lil rectangle block of ice)
I did these in bout 15 minutes, and my method will work on any fish regardless of size. BTW the lil crappie on the right side is 10"

[kicking bass]

Very good advice on keeping your catch. Although I will release the hawgs (they don't taste as good as the smaller fish) I do keep my fish. The reason being is I have four step-children, and fried bass is one of the few meals EVERYONE will eat. I could not help but notice that no-one mentioned putting your fillets in salt water overnight. My dad (God rest his soul) always did this and I do too. Is it neccesary to do this? I could save a lot of salt AND make my Dr. happy at the same time.

[bamabassman]

just remember kicking.. keep em legal on the keepers. we eat bass too. along with crappie. bass here has to be at least 15 inches. crappie lengths vary, some 9, some 10. depending on where you are at.

[metalbrew]

Originally Posted by kicking bass

I could not help but notice that no-one mentioned putting your fillets in salt water overnight. My dad (God rest his soul) always did this and I do too. Is it neccesary to do this? I could save a lot of salt AND make my Dr. happy at the same time.

I cook a lot and fish a little, but what you're describing is called brining. I brine my fillets and it takes advantage of a physics trick.

When you put salt in water it's a solution and solutions always try to be equally concentrated. Since the water inside the fillets is less salty the natural order of things draws more salt (and more water) into the fillet which makes it juicier. It's not about making things saltier, it's about making it hold more liquid. You don't have to use a lot of salt to make the trick work. If you look for pickling salts they dissolve easily in cold water.

I brine my pork shoulder too before BBQing. Today's pork isn't as juicy as it once was, mainly due to the less fatty pigs we raise today.

[bamabassman]

now that is very good to know metalbrew. i'll have to try that on my next pork shoulder, thanks. as for the fish. all i do is put em in freezer bags with water and lemon juice. the juice takes out the fishy smell and taste.

[metalbrew]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

now that is very good to know metalbrew. i'll have to try that on my next pork shoulder, thanks. as for the fish. all i do is put em in freezer bags with water and lemon juice. the juice takes out the fishy smell and taste.

Glad to help, I know I'm a nerdy dude but I like to fish...

I wouldn't bother bother brining fillets I was planning to freeze anyway, more moisture usually means more mushiness when you freeze/thaw. If the fillets are thin I'm not even sure brining helps that much but it makes a big difference when they fillets are thicker.

I like to think of fishing with Senkos as pre-brining.

[kicking bass]

I got ya covered bamabassman. 14 inches is the law here as far as I know. I should check into it but that's what I was told years ago and just followed that guideline.

Thanks for your input also Metalbrew. I will be looking for pickling salts and now I even know why:-)

[bamabassman]

hey kicking.. ya gotta wally world? they have the fisherman's lawbook there. free too.

[flbassman]

We usually throw 'em on ice. Or keep em on a stringer. If they aint dead by cleaning time, we just put the filet knife to the back of the skull real quick, clean and kills em fast.

We were using the lethal injection, but it was gettin expensive, and one time we musta shot the stuff in the meat, cuz since my buddy ate that fillet, he can't finish his sentences, and his arm twitches a lot.....

[BigBassin144]

If you freeze your fillets (or even if you don't) soak them in milk or buttermilk before cooking. this does the same thing as the lemon juice, it removes the fishy smell or taste if there is any.

BB

[kicking bass]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

hey kicking.. ya gotta wally world? they have the fisherman's lawbook there. free too.

Yep, sure do, I'm the one who keeps em in business to. :-) I know the book which you are referring. I'll let ya know what it says.

[zooker]

i don't keep bass as a rule. but a striper or a cat fish will make the trip to the livewell if i am not fishing a tourny..

zooker

[crankybait]

We have always put our fillets in milk... Someone here reccomended it a while ago when i first joined, and I've been doing it since.

[bamabassman]

cranky, BUTTERMILK is good too. but if we are gonna freeze em, we use lemon juice. after thawing, we use milk and fish fry.....tastes like.......hahahahahahhaa.

[crankybait]

any big difference between milk and buttermilk? Milk is more readily available, but if buttermilk is better, I'll go that extra mile

[flbassman]

Originally Posted by crankybait

any big difference between milk and buttermilk? Milk is more readily available, but if buttermilk is better, I'll go that extra mile

Not a lot. Buttermilk makes the meat a little sweeter I think. You should be able to get buttermilk at the grocery store.......