Boatnut
08-09-2007, 12:23 PM
One of my favorite fish recipe books is one by Scott and Tiffany Haugen and available here
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/157188291X/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-3469653-3864649#reader-link
They go into a lot of detail about how important it is to take proper care of your fish after they are caught, especially during these hot august days.
The first thing you should do is bleed your fish. I always bleed my walleye but it really helps doing this to steelies too. Thump them first with a "fish thumper " then clip their gills and put them in a 5 gallon bucket, head down. If you don't thump them , they will try and get out of that bloody bucket, then you really have a mess on your hands.
After they are bled out, you want to throw them in the cooler with plenty of ice. Bring an extra bag or 2. Keep bringing the ice on top of the fish as they go into the cooler. Put the extra bag on top when finished and making the run home. If your cooler is on swim platform, it might not hurt to leave the drain open. Ice lasts longer with water drained off and the fish won't be floating in bloody water.
I most always leave the skin on my fillets as I either grill them or have them smoked. The skin on these fish has a lot of slime which can contain harmful bacteria. I use a homemade scraper of bottle caps and a small piece of wood for this as shown here-
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q76/boatnut69/bottlecapscraperMedium.jpg
I hold a the fish on the table and garden hose in one hand and scrape with the other, removing most of the scales and slime then flip and repeat. This really gets rid of most of the slime/scales.
I would remove only one fish from the cooler at a time, rather then throwing them all up on the table at once. Keep 'em cool!
After the fish are slabbed off and rib bones removed, lay them on crushed ice in a big tupperware container or similar as shown here
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q76/boatnut69/filletsoniceMedium.jpg
Also try and minimize "skin to meat" contact by laying the filets skin to skin, then meat to meat.
Once the fillets are packaged, lay in refrigerator or freezer in single layers so they will cool down/freeze faster.
It's really not that much work and well worth the extra effort in my opinion. Steelies and other salmonids have a much higher fat content then walleyes and can tend to spoil or get "tainted" much easier.
Sorry for the windy post!
Mike (aka Boatnut)
"Many fish bites if you got good bait. I'm a goin' fishin', yes, I'm a going' fishin' and my baby's goin' fishin' too" Taj Mahal, "fishing blues"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/157188291X/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-3469653-3864649#reader-link
They go into a lot of detail about how important it is to take proper care of your fish after they are caught, especially during these hot august days.
The first thing you should do is bleed your fish. I always bleed my walleye but it really helps doing this to steelies too. Thump them first with a "fish thumper " then clip their gills and put them in a 5 gallon bucket, head down. If you don't thump them , they will try and get out of that bloody bucket, then you really have a mess on your hands.
After they are bled out, you want to throw them in the cooler with plenty of ice. Bring an extra bag or 2. Keep bringing the ice on top of the fish as they go into the cooler. Put the extra bag on top when finished and making the run home. If your cooler is on swim platform, it might not hurt to leave the drain open. Ice lasts longer with water drained off and the fish won't be floating in bloody water.
I most always leave the skin on my fillets as I either grill them or have them smoked. The skin on these fish has a lot of slime which can contain harmful bacteria. I use a homemade scraper of bottle caps and a small piece of wood for this as shown here-
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q76/boatnut69/bottlecapscraperMedium.jpg
I hold a the fish on the table and garden hose in one hand and scrape with the other, removing most of the scales and slime then flip and repeat. This really gets rid of most of the slime/scales.
I would remove only one fish from the cooler at a time, rather then throwing them all up on the table at once. Keep 'em cool!
After the fish are slabbed off and rib bones removed, lay them on crushed ice in a big tupperware container or similar as shown here
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q76/boatnut69/filletsoniceMedium.jpg
Also try and minimize "skin to meat" contact by laying the filets skin to skin, then meat to meat.
Once the fillets are packaged, lay in refrigerator or freezer in single layers so they will cool down/freeze faster.
It's really not that much work and well worth the extra effort in my opinion. Steelies and other salmonids have a much higher fat content then walleyes and can tend to spoil or get "tainted" much easier.
Sorry for the windy post!
Mike (aka Boatnut)
"Many fish bites if you got good bait. I'm a goin' fishin', yes, I'm a going' fishin' and my baby's goin' fishin' too" Taj Mahal, "fishing blues"