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If you are going to take some fish home to eat, try these tips.
Remember, only take what you need and leave some for next time!
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In hot weather take a cooler along. Fill it half full of ice
before you go, and when you catch fish put the ones you are going to take
home on the ice right away. This will keep them fresh for the trip
home. You may have to stop on the way for more ice, the trick is to
keep them covered with plenty of ice to keep them fresh. Don't let
them sit in the water caused by melting ice for very long or they will
spoil. You may have to periodically drain the water during the day.
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If the weather is cool enough, fish will be fine in the live well as
long as they get enough oxygen throughout the day. If you don't have a
live well, the next best thing is a wire basket. I
use a floating basket when the surface temperature is below 75 degrees. In
the Summer months I use a larger basket that doesn't float and attach a
longer rope to drop it about 4 feet from the warm surface water.
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When ever I bring fish home to eat, I ice them down in a cooler
until I am ready to clean them, which is usually not until the next day.
I do it that way for two reasons. They stay fresh, and they aren't as
messy when you clean them. Here is how I do it, give it a try sometime
and you'll see what I mean! Like I said above, the trick is to put
plenty of ice on your fish to start with. If you have a lot you should
alternate layers, a layer of ice then a layer of fish, etc. I only use
a cooler with a drain plug, I pull the plug and set the cooler at an angle
so when the ice melts it runs out the drain and the fish don't sit in water.
If it's warm outside, you might have to shake the cooler a time or two
during the day to make sure that the ice doesn't bridge across when it melts
and leaves a gap between the fish and ice. If this happens your fish
won't be close enough to the ice to stay cold and could spoil. Just
make sure and check it a few times during the day and make sure the ice
doesn't melt into one big clump, keep it broken up and you'll be fine.
I always check the gills before I clean the fish the next day to make sure they
are still fresh, you know you are doing it right when their gills are bright
red in color, just like when you pulled them out of the water!
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One last tip, and this is a good one! I don't soak my fish in
water any more! After I fillet and rinse them I lay them out on
newspapers and pat them dry, then I put the fillets in freezer bags and
freeze them "dry". To remove the air I "float" the bag in a
bowl or sink full of water, carefully pushing the bag down to squeeze out
the air but not get any water into the bag then I zip it shut just barely
ABOVE water level. Sometimes it takes a few tries before a person gets
the hang of it, since I don't seem to be able to keep fish around for very
long it works well for me! I know folks that freeze their fish in water and I
think it probably keeps better that way. If I did I would only use enough
water to cover the fillets and the package would be more fish than water so
it would freeze fairly fast. I do believe that fish tastes much better
if it's not soaked in water. (or salt water for that matter) Try keeping a
few pieces out of the water next time and see the difference for yourself,
drop me an email and let me know what you think!
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