CLEANING YOUR FISH

 

Cleaning Fish

If you're going to eat your catch, you have to keep it fresh. Keep caught fish in a live well, a cooler or on a stringer in the water. And always fill your cooler or live well with the same water you're fishing in.

If you're not going to eat your catch, unhook it carefully—while it's still in the water—and release it.

Fish spoil quickly if you don't handle them properly from the moment you land them. You'll end up with softened flesh, a strong flavor and a "fishy" or sour odor.

In this section we'll give you some basic fish-cleaning tips. And some more detailed information on scaling, filleting, steaking and storing your catch.

Things You'll Need to Clean Fish

    * Work table
    * A good fillet or fish-cleaning knife
    * Scaling tool, either a dull knife or a spoon
    * Container for the cleaned fish
    * Bucket for scales and discarded fish parts.
 

Cleaning Fish 

1. Most freshwater fish will die after being out of the water for about ten minutes.
2. Larger fish and saltwater fish may need to be killed before you clean them—but that involves something called an "icky stick" and brain puncture—so we'll leave that for another time.
3. Small pan fish can be held in one hand during cleaning, large fish should be held on their back on the table.
4. Insert the knife tip into the fish's belly near the anal opening and move the blade up along the belly, cutting to the head.
5. Keep the knife blade shallow so you don't puncture the intestines.
6. Spread the body open and remove all of the entrails, locate the fish's anus and cut this out in a "V" or notch shape.
7. Some fish have a kidney by the backbone. Remove it by scraping it out with a spoon or your thumbnail.
8. Rinse the cavity out with a good stream of water and wash the skin. Some fish have a dark tissue lining the abdominal cavity that can be scraped off to prevent the strong, oily flavor it causes.
9. Remove the head if you like, trout are often cooked with the head on.
10. Clean your fish-cleaning table immediately, collect the guts, heads, and scales, and bury them

Scaling

Scale the fish on a flat surface using one hand to hold it by the head. Rake the scales from the tail toward the head with a fish scaler or a large spoon. Remove the scales on both sides of the body.

Fish with very fine scales, like flounder, take a great deal of patience to clean. Take your time—some people are very sensitive to getting scales in their mouth while eating.

Skinning

Removing the skin improves the taste of many fish. It also removes a layer of fat just under the skin. Catfish, bullheads and other bottom-feeding fish are usually skinned.

1. Hold the catfish by its head firmly on a flat surface with a clamp—it's a good idea to snip off the spines before skinning.
2. Cut through the skin behind the head and pectoral fins.
3. Use pliers to remove the skin from the body, pulling from the head toward the tail.
4. Grasp the head of the fish with one hand and the body with the other, break the backbone at the head.
5. Pull the head and guts away from the skinned body.
6. Wash the fish in clean water—it's ready for cooking.

Filleting

Filleting means getting the meat of the fish without the bones. Larger fish, like largemouth bass, northern pike, salmon and walleye are usually filleted. A filleted fish has its skin and all of its bones removed before cooking. Scaling isn't necessary.

Fillet knives have a long, thin blade that's very sharp and specifically designed for filleting fish. To work properly, they must be really, really sharp. If you have any slime on your hands or the fillet knife handle, wash it off to prevent slipping.

You can also wear metal-mesh fish-cleaning gloves to protect your hands.

1. Lay the fish on its side on a flat surface.
2. Cut the fish behind its gills and pectoral fin down to, but not through, the backbone. 
3. Without removing the knife, turn the blade and cut through the ribs toward the tail using the fish's backbone to guide you.
4. Turn the fish over and repeat the steps.
5. Insert the knife blade close to the rib bones and slice away the entire rib section of each fillet.
6. With the skin side down, insert the knife blade about a 1/2-inch from the tail, gripping firmly and put the blade between the skin and the meat at an angle.
7. Using a little pressure and a sawing motion, cut against, but not through, the skin.
8. Remove the fillets from the skin.
9. Wash each fillet in cold water.
10. Pat dry with a clean cloth or paper towel. The fillets are ready to cook or freeze.

Steaking

A large fish is often cut across the body into thick steaks. First clean the fish and skin or scale, if necessary (salmon steaks are often prepared with the skin still on). Before steaking, chill the fish or put it in a freezer until it is partly stiff for easier cutting.

Cut through the body working from the tail toward the head. Make each steak from 1/2-inch to 1-inch thick. After steaking, trim away any belly fat or bones you can see, but not the backbone.

Tips, Tricks, and Warnings for Cleaning Fish

 * Fish fins can be very sharp and cause serious puncture wounds.
    * Some exotic fish can be toxic if not prepared properly, like puffer fish.
    * Some fish are too bony or strong flavored to be considered edible.
    * Some fish have very sharp teeth, be careful if you're holding a fish by the head during cleaning.
    * Research the area you're fishing to determine if the fish are safe to eat, some bodies of water are polluted with mercury and other heavy metals that fish absorb.
    * Lakes, ponds and streams are the best place to catch fish for eating because they're usually fed and drained by a larger contributing river or underground spring.
 

LANDING THE FISH.

Landing

As your fish gets closer to the boat, drop your entire rod and reel to your waist. If the fish goes under the boat, get your rod tip in the water and follow it. If you can see the fish, you'll know when it's tired. It'll roll over on his side. And if you can't see the fish, you'll be able to feel it.

Mouth Pick-Up

Carefully avoiding hooks, many bass anglers use the thumb and index finger to grip a bass by its lower jaw. This holds the jaw wide open and temporarily paralyzes the fish. You can also land pan fish by pulling the fish towards you with the rod. Then grab the fish by the mouth or around the belly to remove the hook.

Gaff Landing

Don't gaff a fish unless you're planning to take it home. In most cases, you should try to land your catch with a net. If you gaff a red snapper or a grouper that's too small to take home, you'll be releasing a fish with a gaping hole in its side that's not likely to survive.

Today's nets are made to withstand a lot of weight when handled properly. 

Netting

Always try to land a bigger fish with a net. Place the net in the water and lead the fish into the net head first. Don't stab the net at the fish. If you don't get it the first time, re-aim and try again. Keep the fish in the water if you plan on releasing it. If you plan on eating the fish, get it out of the water as quickly as possible and take the hook out away from the water.

To handle a fish with sharp teeth like a walleye or northern pike, carefully hold it around the body. Other fish like chinook or Atlantic salmon have a strong tail and you can grasp them in front of the tail fin.

Eye Pick-Up

Never hold a fish by the eyes or gills if you plan to free it.

Beaching a Fish

Beaching a fish involves leading it into increasingly shallower water and gradually sliding the fish on its side onto dry land. In salt water, time your retrieval with an incoming wave. As the wave recedes, quickly grab your beached fish and pull it ashore.

Unhooking a Fish

If you're practicing catch and release, try to remove the hook without exciting or harming the fish. The eyelet (small hole) of the hook is the best place to grab the hook. Back the hook out the same way it went in.

There are special tools designed for taking out hooks. But needle-nosed pliers work pretty well. If you need to, use a hook remover or pliers to flatten the barb. Depending on how the fish is hooked, you might be able to cut away a small amount of flesh to get the hook out.

Professionals sometimes flatten the barbs on their hooks before they start fishing to cause less harm to the fish they catch. In some areas, you can only fish with barbless hooks.

Resourse from takemefishing

PLAYING THE FISH.

When a fish feels the hook, it struggles to get free. This might involve jumping, making a long run, swimming back against the line or swimming around obstacles. Each species of fish fights differently.

Fish hooked in shallow water are more likely to jump and behave more frantically than those hooked in deep water. Deep-water fish often seek the bottom.

It's possible to land many small fish just by reeling them in. They'll fight, but they aren't as strong as the line and the rod. Use lighter tackle and you can get some fight out of the smallest fish in the lake.

If you're catch and release fishing, don't fight too long or the fish will die from exhaustion before or after you release it.

Fighting Bigger Fish

Setting the Drag

If a fish makes a run for it, don't panic. And don't try to reel in while the fish is swimming away from your line. Relax and let the drag and rod do the work. After you've set the hook, set your drag. If you're using 12-pound test, you should use about 4 pounds of drag. Just keep the rod at about a 45-degree angle to the water aim it straight at the fish.

When the fish slows down and stops taking more line, it's time to go to work. The best technique for the catch is to gently pull the rod up and then reel down as you lower it, using a pumping motion. Do it in small, smooth strokes rather than large abrupt sweeps because it will help keep both the line tight and the fish much calmer.

If the fish runs again, let it go and you will probably notice that this run is shorter and slower. But don't let the fish rest. If you can't hear your drag working, you should be reeling.

Don't be anxious. Even if you get the fish close to the boat, that doesn't mean it's done fighting. If it turns and runs, let it go. Your line is pretty short at this point, and pump-and-reel action could break it.

WHEN TO FISH.

Time of Day/Season Sequencer/Turnover/Temp by Species

Spring/Early Morning

Fish aren't biting. The water is cold and doesn't heat up because the sun is low and the rays bounce off the water. But don't go home yet, because winter is over and fish are hungry and spawning. Best to wait until a week or so after thaw, as spring turnover takes time for the water temperature to even out to 39.2 degrees.

Spring/Late Morning-Early Afternoon

Fish are biting off and on. The water begins to warm up because rays begin to penetrate the water. Remember to fish the downwind shoreline, as the winds will push the warmer surface water along with surface food into that area.

Spring/Afternoon-Early Evening

Fish are eating a lot because their metabolism and digestion are cranked. Water is warm because the sun is directly overhead.

Summer/Early Morning-Late Afternoon

Fishing is excellent from before sunup to just before mid-morning. At this time of year there is abundant food and cover for fish, so finding hungry fish can be a challenge.

Summer/Late Morning-Early Afternoon

Fishing is poor for most of the day. Fish move to deep water to cool off.

Summer/Afternoon-Early Evening

Fishing is excellent from early sundown until dark as the waters cool and fish rise up from the depths.

Fall/Early Morning

Fish aren't biting much from sunup to early morning. The water is cool because the sun is too low to penetrate the water.

Fall/Late Morning-Noon

Fish are biting off and on in warmer, shallow water. The water is generally cool due to the season.

Fall/Afternoon-Early Evening

Fishing is excellent. Sun is directly overhead for several hours and the water gets more comfortable near the surface. This makes for seasonally good fishing because fish are putting on weight for the winter. Look for bait schools where bigger fish are more likely to be. 

Seasonal Lake Turnover

Turnover refers to the exchange of surface and bottom water in a lake or pond. This annual recycling program happens twice a year. There's spring turnover and fall turnover and summer stagnation in between. From spring to fall, warmer water goes from the top of the lake to the bottom and cooler water moves from the bottom to the top. 

An understanding of turnover, combined with knowledge of what kind of water a particular fish likes, can make you a real fishing genius. As always, good luck.

Spring Turnover

Spring Turnover

Once the ice is out, the water on the surface of a lake starts to warm. When it reaches 39 degrees it begins to sink and is replaced by cooler water from below. This exchange continues until the water temperature is constant in the entire lake. Early in this process, fish will stay in the shallow areas of the lake where the water warms up faster, and where the first plant growth of the spring occurs.

 

Summer Stagnation

Summer Stagnation

During the summer, the sun heats water near the surface of lakes, but it doesn't sink. Eventually a condition known as "stratification" develops, putting a well-defined warm layer of water over a cool one.

Fish like the cooler water, but they also need the higher oxygen levels found in warmer water. So they'll migrate to an area right between the two levels of water called the thermo cline. The thermo cline can occur between 2 and 10 feet in depth, depending on the size of the lake. 

It's best to find a point or some other form of structure that extends out from the shoreline and slopes gradually down into the thermo cline. This should be a place where fish can find warmer water, but have quick access to deeper, cooler and safer water.

Fall Turnover

Fall Turnover

With the arrival of fall and cooler air temperatures, water at the surface of lakes cools, becoming almost as heavy as the cooler bottom water. Strong autumn winds move surface water around, which promotes mixing with deeper water. This is fall turnover.

As mixing continues, lake water becomes more uniform in temperature and oxygen level, allowing fish to move around freely. Fish can be difficult to find as long as these conditions prevail, usually continues until the weather turns cold, chilling the lake's surface.

Water Temperature and Turnover

Each fish has a different range of water temperature in which it can survive. Although fish cannot always find the exact temperature they prefer, they are usually found in water close to that temperature.

By combining a knowledge of preferred water temperature and lake turnover, you can kind-of-sort-of predict which fish will be in a particular part of a lake at a particular time of the year. 

Fish that like warmer water will be surface feeders in the summer and bottom feeders in the fall. And fish that like cooler water will feed deep in the spring and on the surface in the fall. But don't hold us to this. Fish are always tough to catch.

Temperatures

Temperatures

Too many hot days in the summer can make fish in shallow lakes, ponds and rivers sluggish. The same thing happens in the winter when water temperatures are lower. Why? All fish are cold-blooded. Meaning they can't keep their body temperature at a constant level like humans and other warm-blooded animals. So the temperature of their surroundings influences the fish's body temperature and bodily functions. Really high and really low water temperatures reduce the amount of oxygen in the water, making fish less active and picky about when and what they.

So here's the first rule of when to fish. Fishing will be slower when it's too hot or too cold.

Understanding this bit of biology will help you decide what kinds of lures and baitsto use, and how fast or slow to work them. Work your tackle slower in colder water and faster in warm water. 

Light

Fish prefer early morning and evening sun to the bright sun of midday. Morning sun warms the shallows, creating more comfortable water temperatures for fish to feed. Late morning is best when the sun has had more of a chance to warm the shallows. This is particularly true during early spring in shallows with dark or mud bottoms because dark areas absorb heat more rapidly than light sandy bottoms.

Warm water temperatures make bait fish more active and available to game fish on cool early-spring days. On hot sunny days, fish move to cooler, deeper waters to stay comfortable. High-heat conditions make shallow and top water lures and bait best only in the early morning and late afternoon when cooler temperatures and lower light levels allow fish to cruise the shallows for meals.

In midday, hot water surface temperature, decreased surface oxygen and occasional increasing winds cause fish to move deeper. In these conditions, deep fishing baits, rigs and lures are best.

Already, you can see how a combination of time of day, light and weather can affect your fishing.

Variable Weather Conditions

Wind

Wind can play a large role in fishing success. Wind pushes water and surface food to the far shore, with bait fish behind it, and with game fish behind the bait fish. So if you're fishing from shore on a windy day, fish where you have to cast into the wind. That way your lure moves with the wind, just like the other food in the lake at the same time. If you're fishing from a boat, cast with the wind on a sheltered shore.

Storms

Storms and changing weather patterns affect fishing success since fish are keenly attuned to changes in barometric conditions. With many fish, feeding increases during the hours immediately before a cold front, but slows during and after a storm or front hits.

Fishing after a cold front is poor and continues to be poor for a day or two. Warm fronts cause surface water temperatures to increase, putting fish into a feeding mode. This can be particularly true in the winter, when a warming trend can cause otherwise sluggish fish to start feeding actively. Most of this feeding activity is on or near the warm surface.

Cloudy days improve fishing since the clouds prevent light penetration. Overcast skies cause fish to cruise for food more than they would during bright days when they tend to hide and stay close to structure. On overcast, cloudy days, fish are less likely to be at specific structure spots or areas and more likely to be scattered throughout a waterway.

A light rain is another good time to fish, especially a warm spring or summer rain. Rain can help you hide from the fish since the rain breaks up the view a fish has through the water surface. This is true for shore, wade or boat fishing. Rain also washes insects and bait into the water, creating a feeding binge for fish.

Hard rain conditions are a poor time to fish. A hard rain muddies the water, makes it difficult for fish to find bait or lures and causes heavy runoff, which can clog their gills. The increased water flow in rivers from any rain increases current flow and makes it difficult for fish to maintain a comfortable position in the river. High water levels can also create rapids, waves and unsafe fishing conditions.

When there's lightning or the possibility of lightning, get out of the water immediately, whether you're in a boat, wading or on shore. Safety first. Plus, there's no way you're going to catch fish in a violent storm.

Salt Water and Tides

Tides raise and lower the water level approximately two times per day and affect where fish are located and how they feed. The timing of a high or low tide changes daily and is also different for each coastal area.

A shallow area that might hold fish and may be a good spot to fish during a high tide, might be a bare mud bank during low tide conditions. And a slough (a slight depression in the bottom) that might be perfect for bottom feeding fish during a low tide, might be too deep and difficult to fish on a high tide.

Running tides (rising or falling) are best since they cause bait to move and promote active feeding among coastal fish. Changing tides, time of day and location are also important when you're fishing in brackish water—coastal water that's a mix of salt water and fresh water and contains saltwater and freshwater fish. Brackish water is found in most tidal creeks and rivers along coasts and is highly affected by tidal movements.

In general, the best fishing is almost always on a rising or falling tide—not dead low or dead high tide when there is little or no water movement.

Determining the best time to fish requires checking on many fishing factors and outdoor conditions. Read the local newspaper and visit with folk at a local tackle shop to get accurate tide information.

Fishing Technique.

Longline Fishing Technique

 

Captains Fishing Commercial use long queues to catch a variety of fish. In contrast to recreational fishing - a person using a pole - long-line fishing uses a main line and many leaders of catching an abundance of fish, it requires only a small number of people to work. Blue water you fish for swordfish and tuna or bottom for grouper, snapper and shark longline fishing is a very productive way to commercial fishing.

      Types of long-line fishing
   1. There are two types of long-line fisheries: pelagic or "Blue Water" fishing and demersal species, or "bottom" fishing. catch longliners float their hooks Blue Water shallow-water oily fish such as swordfish, tuna and shark negotiable. Longliners set their equipment, so that on or near the bottom of the geological fault, such as submarine ridges to catch fish, including grouper, snapper, sharks and other demersal species hooks. 

      Defining a Long Line
   2. The main line is set at a high flyer buoy, which is then thrown overboard. The GPS coordinates for later use and, accordingly, to the captain in a position to re-write buoy. Modern technologies have led to the buoys with integrated GPS functionality. Once the buoy is released, the boat slowly motors and voltage records the buoy the outline of the coil. As the line leaves the ship, hooks and leaders with baited longline snaps are attached at intervals. After working a given amount of hooks on the main line were, is a small buoy to the main line has support on the line and to facilitate recovery in the main line to be broken. If these - known as "cutting" - should occur, the master may proceed to the next buoy and continue the recovery process saving devices wherever possible. In bottom fishing, weights added to help the line down. 

      Getting a Long Line
   3. The species you for a direct impact on fisheries, as long as you allow the hook "soaking". After the brackets in the water for the allotted amount of time, the high-flyer is recovered. The subject line and one eye on the coil. At that time, the process begins in reverse - the boat moves slowly along the line, while the coil is spun and recovered the main line. Now, carbine away and the fish are introduced into the boat. unmarketable fish are released and empty hooks, buoys and weights are stored for further use baits and replaced.

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