I always have fun taking my family out fishing, but for us it is a bit more than that. When we go foraging, we hunt, we trap, or we fish we are acquiring food. Whether it goes in the pan or goes in the freezer, one of our objectives is to provide food for the family. This natural food is healthier, fresher, and tastier than food from the grocery store and it costs us next to nothing. In survival scenarios, it could save your life.
However, getting fish from your hook to your plate takes some work. From our first fishing trip, I taught my son how to stringer, gut, scale, cook, and preserve our fish. It is important that he understands the process that is needed to turn a fishing trip into a meal.
There are lots of anglers that avoid this part of the process. They consider it the messy part of the job, and either stick to catch and release fishing or give their fish away. In our family we have a profound respect for nature and rarely fish for just sport. We put in the work so that every fish we catch is appreciated and treated with care. In this article, we are going to cover every step you need to take after you bring in a fish to keep for food.
Keeping your Fish Kicking
The longer your fish stay alive, the fresher the meat will be when you eat it. It takes lots of focus to be sure your fish stays alive. You need to be sure it is not shocked by the process of reeling it in, and you need to be sure it does not have too much damage to organs or too much blood loss. You also need to be sure it stays in cool water with a good amount of oxygen present.
Be sure you use bigger hooks when fishing for food. Big hooks are less likely to be swallowed by a fish, so there is less chance of needing to rip out the guts immediately. In addition, tiny fish that are too small to keep will not be able to fit the hook in their mouths. Be cautious when removing the hook so you do as little damage as possible. If the fish swallowed the hook, use needle-nosed pliers and try to back the hook out without doing too much damage. You can get fly fishing pliers designed specifically for this purpose.
Always hold the fish as little as possible as fish have a mucus on their scales that protects them from illness. If this mucus is disrupted, it can be a big problem for the fish. Never hold or stringer a fish by the gills. This practice is fairly common, but it does massive damage to the gills causing a fish to die prematurely. Instead, poke a hole through the bottom lip and stringer the fish there. You can also use a live well which is really the best way to keep your fish alive as long as possible.
Gutting and Cleaning
Once you are done fishing, it is time to prepare your fish for the pan or for the freezer. For this, you will need a filet knife with a long, flexible blade.
Start by poking a hole in the belly of the fish down toward the tail. The incision should go into the cavity and then be extended up the belly to just below the head. Set your knife down and reach inside to pull out all of the guts. You should have a bucket or garden hose close by to clean your hands.
From here you can scale your fish and leave the skin on, or you can filet the fish and remove the skin. If you are scaling a fish, just run your knife against the scales to remove as many as you can. Be sure you rinse off your fish to get rid of any loose scales.
You next need to make a cut just below the pectoral fin down to the spine. I like my cut to be ‘C’ shaped to get the meat above and below the fin. Next, hold the head and run your knife along the spine towards the tail. You are cutting through rib bones, so it may take a little force. Then repeat this process on the other side.
If you need to remove the remaining skin, lay the filet skin down on the edge of the cutting board. Use your knife to make an incision between the skin and the meat. Grab the loose piece of skin with one hand and use the other hand to run the blade between the skin and meat. You should be putting pressure down on the knife so as little meat as possible is lost. You now have your clean filet and can portion it however you like.
Freezing
Fresh fish is always better eating. One of my favorite ways to eat fish is to pull over on the shore and fry it up right there for a shore lunch. If I cannot eat it immediately I normally freeze it.
For freezing to work well, you need to remove air from the package. A vacuum sealer is a great way to do this. They can be a little pricey, but you will make up that money with what you save in fish you do not have to throw out. It sucks all of the air out, so the fish lasts as long as possible.
You can also freeze fish in salted water. This takes up much more space, but it just takes some zipper plastic bags. Fill up the bag with fish, add salty water, and place it upright in a freezer. You need to be sure that the bag is not leaking, or you may have a big mess. Dry off your bag so it does not freeze to the freezer floor. You want your packages to be mostly meat, so pack them 80% fish and 20% water.
When you are eating the fish that you catch, it makes the entire experience more special. You appreciate the life of the animal even more. If you respect the meat and respect the animal, you need to know how to properly handle fish after you catch them. Follow these simple steps and you can be sure your fish will stay as fresh as possible.
