Caring for your Catch - Proper Fish Care after removing the hook.

[Steve-O]

We eat fish fairly regularly at my house. At least once a week as a family and daily for me at work. I love fish tacos!

It really helps that have been supplying the freezer for the last 18 years with high quality wild Alaskan Salmon, Halibut, Lingcod and Rockfish via my annual fishing trips to that great state.

The sad part is that until the last few trips I had focused on the fishing, catching and "Being in Alaska!" part of my trips and it wasn't until I starting going solo without the coworkers and former group of anglers during the first 14 years fishing there that the light bulb came on.

The knowledge I've gained since then has been invaluable  and a game changer for improving the quality of the fish being caught by practicing proper and correct techniques of fish handling and processing
during and after the rod, reel and net part.

Yeah, we hooked them, reeled them in quickly and did the bonk and bleed part fairly well all those years....but from that part on - WE WERE DOING IT ALL WRONG!

Sometimes we just scratched out heads as to why some of the fish turned out mushy, funky tasting,  a different color, bruised, and gaped ( one of the worst offenses perpetrated by us!). And later loss from freezer burn - again we caused that, too due to improper handling and packaging techniques.

Bit by bit the light bulb went from dim to brighter.

Several incidents over the years helped and initiated a desire to "hit the books" and find out what really is the very best way to clean, prep and freeze fresh caught fish. Especially the quantity I would bring home from Alaska and expect to feed my family and friends with until the next trip.

What I've learned can be found from online resources and here are a few links.

Ike Jime practice was one of the most eye opening practices that I've incorporated into my fish harvesting for food skillsets.

really good site - http://www.ikijime.com/

Alaska Fish and Game site... but the info applies to all fish harvesting, IMO.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=777

And if you do care to go there click the link embedded in the article and download the book by Doyle - it is "The Bible" for proper fish handling.

https://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/ssl/checkout2.php?step=1&bypass=TRUE&id=11561

While some of the content is the "ideal" way to process fish the best way much of information can be applied to any fishing excursion be it on a boat or bank side.

Hope this helps some of you like it did me.

Tight lines and best fishes!

[Dominick]

Good stuff Steve-O.  We try our best to cool the fish down in Baja.  I would like an ice slurry but the boats we fish from just don't have the equipment to do a proper job.  Most times we do the knock on the head, bleed and put it in the fish box and put ice on it in the fish box.  Not the best method but the quality is usually pretty good.  Dominick

[David Hall]

interesting and informative.  Thanks for posting.

[jigmaster501]

I have presented quite a bit on this topic over the years. I spend more time caring for the catch than I do catching my catch....lol

First,

Forget shaved, cubed and crushed ice. You need round ice cubes that are as small as possible. The duller the ice cube in an ice slurry, the less damage is done to the surface of the fish where a large percentage of spoilage microorganisms are present.

Bleeding the catch is good but Ikejime can cause more spoilage if done under unsanitary conditions. It can make a difference if you have the ability to do it correctly. It also helps control rigor mortis and depending on the species and the strength of the cellular structure, sometimes it is better to wait to fillet until after rigor mortis to prevent quality loss.

Once dead, never hold a fish up by its tail. You will fracture the myotome (flake) connections in the flesh, destroying quality.

Proper evisceration is essential. Removal of gills and all the viscera including the kidneys without puncturing goes a long way and vastly extends shelf life.

Dropping internal temperature in a slurry to less than 40F as fast as possible is critical, especially in histamine forming species. Adding 1 cap bleach per gallon of water will aid in reduction of spoilage microorganism and pathogenic bacteria.

Once cold, pack the fish in ice with the bottom of the ice chest left elevated so melt water can drain away and carry undesirable microorganisms with it.

Carefully fillet your catch on a clean and sanitized cutting board with no scratch marks harboring spoilage microorganisms and pathogens.

Once filleted, do a chlorine rinse with 1/4 cap bleach per gallon of potable water for about 10 minutes and dry the fillets (with paper towels) and place in a vacuum bag and seal. Label the bags (KEEP FROZEN OR KEEP REFRIGERATED AT 38F OR LESS). This is to control non proteolytic Clostridium botulinum which has no foul odor or indication of toxin formation. It grows above 38F......

Place the vacuum sealed bags in the refrigerator and place 1 FILLET in the freezer at a time until hard frozen, then place the next fillet in and so on.

This way the freezer is not over loaded trying to remove the heat energy all at once.

The best quality freezing is done rapidly.

The critical freezing zone is from 32F down to 23F. This zone is where you control the size and shape of the ice crystal that form in the flesh.
Fast freezing results in tiny, round ice crystals which pose little harm to the cellular structure. Slow freezing results in large, sharp edged crystals which puncture the cells and release the water and flavor with it. It also allows for concentrated mineral erosion of the cellular structure as the pure water is forming ice.

The critical freezing rate is the time frame from 32F to 23F. The faster the better. A fillet should take no longer than 1 hour for best quality. This is why you don't throw them in all at once.

Bringing your fish to -4F for 7 days will destroy viable parasites allowing for sushi processing or partial cooking without the parasite hazard. Surface pathogens was discussed awhile back in a post.

Holding your fish at a stable temperature in the freezer prevents the ice crystals from reconfiguring and creating sharp edges while frozen.

Defrosting under cold running water until just soft and placing back in a 38F refrigerator prevents the concentrated minerals which defrost first from having an extended time to cause cellular erosion. Again going from 23F UP to 32F as fast as possible without temperature abuse is crucial. It also prevents CBOT toxin formation. Once defrosted, remove from the bag immediately and cook.


Hope this helps.

[Steve-O]

Thanks for chiming in jigmaster!

How I care for my catch now compared to my past efforts is night and day.

I'm surprised I didn't ruin all the fish I harvested or get sick to death from some of the fillets I froze and brought home from Alaska.

We have always had a -10 to -15 degree freezer which made quick work of freezing the fillets and they were always single stacked on tall racks.

The care from hooked to freezer is where we were troglodytes...bonk, thud, bleed, toss on the bank for hours until limit is reached or put the gutted fish in the river full of bacteria on a stringer for hours.

Now I take 30-40 pounds of ice with me every time and get those chrome beauties cold fast, limit fast, and get back to the lodge to process them into the freezer carefully and quickly.

I see and taste the difference careful processing makes.

[jigmaster501]

In a 32 degree room, 10lbs per 100lbs of fish will achieve an 18 degree F drop in temperature when it is all melted due to the high latent heat of fusion of ice.

Under normal circumstances, shoot for 3-4 times that amount when out on the boat because once cooled, you need the ice to keep it cold.

Now since we all hope to catch 500lbs of fish each trip...(lol), we all need lots of ice.

[Dominick]

Thanks Jigmaster.  In a perfect world that system you laid out is probably the best way to preserve the quality of the fish.  However, as I explained above it is not always easy to do under the circumstances of fishing in Mexico.  Dominick

[whalebreath]

Depends where you are-as mentioned Mexican, Fijian or Colombian Pangas don't have much for ice carrying capability- here in British Columbia salt ice is widely available and makes a tremendous difference.

[jigmaster501]

Dominick,

You can bleed the fish out and then put them on ice this way your ice stays cleaner. It can be done in Mexico. Make sure the ice is from potable water.

[Dominick]

Dominick,

You can bleed the fish out and then put them on ice this way your ice stays cleaner. It can be done in Mexico. Make sure the ice is from potable water.

That's the way we do it.  The ice comes from the hotel and they claim the water is purified.  I have not had a problem with their ice in over 18 years.  Dominick