Dealing with fish once in the boat

marvin4239":2b96t7yp said:
You Brats on the left coast really have problems. I put my catch in a small plastic zip lock sandwich bag and then in a igloo six pack cooler on ice and clean them when I get home. :lol:
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Marvin,
How do you fix that bait? BBQ, bake or fry? :lol:
 
Fishtales":kcqpm1w7 said:
marvin4239":kcqpm1w7 said:
You Brats on the left coast really have problems. I put my catch in a small plastic zip lock sandwich bag and then in a igloo six pack cooler on ice and clean them when I get home. :lol:
Click to expand...

Marvin,
How do you fix that bait? BBQ, bake or fry? :lol:
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I tried smoking them but once they dried out they disappeared. When you barbeque them the sauce is all you taste, if I try to bake them they fall through the grate when I bread them to fry I can't tell whats breading and whats fish. :(
 
I had the port side lazarette made as a fish box. It drains out the side and will hold a salmon up to about 20 lbs. I've only had one or two fish on board larger than that. I bring the fish on board and put them in box. I cut the gill in the box and either put them on a stringer over the side or let them bleed out in the box. I use a manual bilge pump to pump some sea water in to the box and then toss a bag or two of ice in. Works well for me. If I catch a salmon over 20 lbs (which has only happened once or twice), I'm happy to clean blood out of the cockpit.
 
I have some great bonk and bleed stories Dan, more bonk than bleed though.
If there is a tougher fish to put down than a halibut I don't want it on my boat. I started of with an "Ugly Billy" and all that did to a 60lb halibut was put him in a bad mood. Have now moved on to a sweeet little solid aluminum bat.

Marvin, nothing wrong with those little fish bait is always good to have :wink:

stevej
 
stevej":2565woyp said:
I have some great bonk and bleed stories Dan, more bonk than bleed though.
If there is a tougher fish to put down than a halibut I don't want it on my boat. I started of with an "Ugly Billy" and all that did to a 60lb halibut was put him in a bad mood. Have now moved on to a sweeet little solid aluminum bat.

Marvin, nothing wrong with those little fish bait is always good to have :wink:

stevej
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If it is any where near 60# in my boat, it gets Harpooned & tied off to a cleat, Shot W/44mag 300g(takes all the wiggle out of them) and bled, when its done bleeding it goes in the bucket :mrgreen: :beer
 
I've caught flounder all my life. The world's record was caught about a mile from my dock 22lbs. I can't imagine dealing with a 50 lb or larger Halibut. Pictures of typical flounder in my album.
 
Dan, I e-mailed Burke Waldron, one of the F&G honchos in Junea about this problem. I wanted to keep my catch as fresh as possible on a two or three day possib.e Here is what he told me about cleaning halibut:

"The regulation states that you can’t butcher or mutilate a halibut beyond the point that it can be determined how many fish are in possession. In short, filleting halibut in the boat is permitted as long as it can be established how many fish there are. In practicality, that means filleting the fish into quarters and we prefer that the skin be left on until the fish is off-loaded from the boat. It is also OK to take some steaks to the beach and cook them before returning to port as long as what you leave on the boat is still definable as to how many fish are there. What we don’t want you to do is cut the fish into small, square fillets and store them in small zip-lock bags.

If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to call me at 269-5955

Burke Waldron"

You can bet I will have a copy of his e-mail onboard this summer.

You know, I think I will skin the halibut, too. But I'll keep the skins in a separate bag and on ice. I think that will still be in the spirit of the regs.

I just bought some of those new large (20 gallon) zip loc bags at Sam's Club. They come 7 to a box for about $8.00. They're 20 inches by 20.7 inches. The plastic is pretty heavy duty, too. That's a great size for putting in a full fillet of a larger halibut or several smaller ones.

For all my catch I like to bleed the fish overboard and fillet it as soon as possible after that. Except for halibut, they are cut into the size pieces I want, put into zip locs and then into the big cooler that I've layered with ice and rock salt. I clean the shrimp immediately, too, putting a couple dozen in each Zip Loc. They start to freeze right away.

I have an inverter on board. I plug in the Food Saver and vacuum bag all the fish (except the halibut)and the shrimp on board the boat when I've anchored for the night. We just had some shrimp the other night. It smelled and tasted as fresh as when it came out of the water.

I've been kicking around the idea of hanging the fish from a davit or hook on my transom rack and doing the skinning and filleting over a plastic tub lined with a hefty bag. I think a guy could keep most of the goop under control that way. I'll have to see if that is a workable idea this summer.

Pat
 
There's a new device out now called Handi-Vac by Reynolds (aluminum people I believe). My wife bought one for my birthday last week, can't wait to try on all sorts of things. You can get quart and gallon size refills. It is small, so fits with my storage availability on the boat.

Here's the pricing:
Suggested retail price is $9.99 for the Reynolds® Handi-Vac Vacuum Sealer Starter Kit that includes 1 Vacuum Sealer and 3 Quart Size Vacuum Freezer Bags. The cost is $3.29 for cartons of 14 Quart Size Bags or 9 Gallon Size Bags.
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They don't recommend reusing the bags to reseal different items, but removing portions and resealing is fine.

And no -- I don't sell them or own any stock... :lol:
 
I've been using the Food Saver vacuum sealer for four or five years. I found that if you have a lot of moisure in what you are sealing it sometimes won't seal properly. In these cases I put a paper towel rolled up in the bag after I put in the fish or shrimp. The towel sucks up the moisture and prevents the moisture from interferring with the seal. I ate some speckled trout the other night I had for 20 months and they were just as good as when I sealed them.
 
Salmon, after identifying as legal (no adipose fin at times of year) we net, bonk on board, tie to rope and then slice gills off the swim deck off the stern while wearing fillet glove. With the Columbia running 73 degrees in August, it is important to transfer them to a large cooler with ice (I use gallon milk jugs to keep it dry - we figured out water ruins more in a cooler than warmth does a long time ago). For halibut we use the harpoon or the .44 mag Ruger - which also gets them bleeding; I like the #8 shotshell rounds at close range, the 300 gr. Noslers are just too loud. Tip of the day... don't shoot them in your boat. One thing worth mentioning, use a fillet glove.... they are stainless steel and kevlar, provide an excellent grip on the slimey catch and protect the hand from accidental slices while out bobbing around in the waves where a cut artery could be extremely unfortunate, especially if by yourself. Wear it on the left and hold the knife firmly with the right. Extra long (5"?) headed needle nosed pliers are great to have too for reaching deep hooks, don't know how I got by so long without them. For tuna we use a large garbage can loaded with iced salt water, cut their gills and drop them in head first, letting them flail away there so we can keep trolling. Once the action slows we pull them and put them in iced fish bags. Foodsaver vacuum sealers are wonderful.... we use it for salmon, preserving bait, home grown hogs, deer, elk and the bulk packed meats from the store. C.W.
 
There have been a lot of tips about bonking halibut. I have had best luck by hitting them on the edge of the head just above the nose. Most people seem to beat them between the eyes which only ruins the cheeks. I don't think the brain migrates to a different location, just the eyes. If you smack them just as you would any other fish it will have a lot more effect.
 
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