Fish & Water - Sounds Wild
Fish Care

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Fish care

A couple of anglers are taking their last casts of the afternoon. It's been a successful day, and they have five nice salmon on a stringer. One will be eaten fresh, and the rest will be frozen. With a little care, those salmon that come out of the freezer in six months will still be quality fish.

The first 20 minutes after the catch is the most important time for quality. You can only keep a fish in good condition. You can't make bad fish good. For starters, there's no need to beat a fish to death with a club. Bludgeoning a flopping fish bruises the meat. Stun the fish with a single bonk on the top of the head, then break a gill with your finger or cut it so it starts bleeding, and put the fish in water. Bleeding the fish makes for better meat. By only stunning the fish, its heart will continue to beat and push out more blood. Bleeding in water can remove twice as much as bleeding the fish in air. Put the fish in a bucket of water, or use a stringer

Fish should then be cooled as rapidly as possible - preferably with ice. A slushy mix of ice and water is ideal. Bleed the fish in water for a few minutes before putting it on ice to keep your ice clean.

It's best to dress fish at a cleaning station where you have access to a clean platform and a hose with clean water. Dressing a fish on the beach or riverbank - or even a boat without a table - and keeping it clean can be difficult. Just bleed it, rinse it, and put it into the cooler of ice. Dress the fish later when you can get to a more sanitary environment.