When to clean the catch?

[jiggin365]

I usually clean them in the garage right when I get home.  If they are froze up after a late evening, I will leave them frozen throughout the night until the following morning.  Then wake up, unthaw, and fillet them.  Haven't noticed a problem with the quality of the fish.

[Tinker]

I don't have to clean them because I release them all.  Doesn't anyone else release fish anymore?

Yep the little ones and those speckled carp!!

[double_a85]

I don't have to clean them because I release them all.  Doesn't anyone else release fish anymore?

I wasn't after a catch-keep/ cath-release argument when I started this thread. That has been discussed thoroughly in many other threads....

I may have to look into one of those vacuum sealers. Sounds like they do a good job from what ya guys are saying. We are heading to Peck on Friday and I always hated bringing home frozen fish to clean after a weekend trip... will probably at least fillet them out (leave skin on) at camp--- then deal with the rest of the cleaning once I get home on Sunday.

[sra61]

A lot of the guys that I know fillet them as they go. They shovel the guts down a hole over deep water. I asked FWP about this a while back and they just referred back to the regs where it says it's legal over deeper water. I made myself a cleaning station last winter that goes over the front of my ATV. I plug my Rapala fillet knife into the cigarette lighter on the ATV and can scoop the guts into a bucket right on the end of the board. It works pretty good. I just leave the skin on each fillet for identification purposes.

[missoulafish]

Cool!

[lundin-loading]

^^^now thats sweet!

[double_a85]

sra61---


That is a great idea!! Could ya pm me some details on that--- where to get the board, ect... I would love to have something like that--

[tyrinnysaurus rex]

Piss off

Real intelligent response there.

[captain54]

We have a basement kitchen, and that keeps me out of trouble with the wife. I clean then after eating my dinner while drinking an adult beverage or two. If my son and I really got a big haul I'll do half or more and put the bucket thats left outside till morning( if its really cold ) not I'll put fish in a 3 1/2 bucket in the bottom of Fridge. It really doesn't take long to do 25- 30 panfish. All we really target are gills and crappie.

[Papa John]

Re: the comment above on gills and crappies caused a flash-back and got me chuckling. Years ago my dad was a machinist and brought home a scaler to mount on an electric motor for doing 'gills and crappies. Hold 'em by the head and tail while running back and forth over this mechanical marvel and Wa-La, scales gone. Worked sweet except scales exited the scaler in a 360 degree arc covering walls, ceiling, operator, and anything else in the immediate area. We were soon ejected from the basement back to the outside pump. I really like the idea of cleaning on the lake, but only if it's not too cold. Getting delicate in my old age.........

[sra61]

I really like the idea of cleaning on the lake, but only if it's not too cold. Getting delicate in my old age.........

I hear that too. I'm not too good about it either. I get too busy fishing, and usually forget until they're frozen.

[bowhtr]

I'm too busy fishing to clean fish on the ice... I clean them in the kitchen and use bleach water to clean up the mess.  Usually turns out cleaner than when I started.

[Bucket Brigade]

Your welcome to clean them BEFORE you bring them over to my house!  LMAO

[eyewinder]

I am a card-carrying member of the slush bucket brigade!

Fish that I'm going to keep go directly into a slush bucket after being caught (lake water and shavings made by ice auger) in my bucket/seat.  When I get home, slush is added, as needed, and bucket is moved between mud room (wife keeps it heated, darn it). and outdoors, depending upon outside temperatures, so that slush bucket doesn't become "solid-block-of-ice bucket."  Sometimes fish & slush are moved into an insulated cooler and held there until filleting)

I'm sure some fishermen would be absolutely mortified if I admitted that sometimes a couple of days pass before I gain access to the kitchen sink for filleting purposes. . .so I won't admit it.  My only hard and fast rule is that slush bucket fish must be processed before next fishing trip -- unless there are only a few, in which case I may combine them with next day's catch for filleting and eating.

The (mostly) crappie & perch firm up a bit in the slush bucket, and are actually easier to fillet (for me) after an overnighter in the super-chilled water.

[vicster]

For those who do it at home, try Borax when cleaning up the slime off your cutting board and sink.  Makes it much easier and will help keep the women in your life happy!

[wirehairman]

I am a card-carrying member of the slush bucket brigade!

+1

[perch poacher]

I wrap them in newspaper the day of catching and put them in the cool garage over night.  The next day when I fillet them, the paper has absorbed the slime. This works for pike too.  I always bleed my fish right when I catch them by
cutting the gills at the "V" on the underside.  This makes the fillet white and less "sloppy" filleting.

[Deadbait]

I just have the wife clean the fish.


Very nice, I usually have my wife come out to gut and quarter my elk too!






















Right...

[Bucket Brigade]

I find it incredibly cruel you'd hook a fish in the mouth for your pleasure with out intention of providing for you or your family, you should try that with mammals.

I do believe that when a person "hooks" a mammal,  its called "trapping."  Hope this helps out. : )

[MTCBR]

I definitely prefer cleaning pike on the ice, keep the slime and smell out of the house... unless there is a way to reduce the mucous they produce? 

[Pindrifter]

I clean mine when I get home, In Ohio here, they want them whole when out, And I love grossing the wife out, That's the most fun, She yells     When your done,   Use the Comet Cleanser,  YES HONEY.

[JayHelfrich]

I definitely prefer cleaning pike on the ice, keep the slime and smell out of the house... unless there is a way to reduce the mucous they produce? 

There sure is.  The last few trips I've killed them as soon as they come out of the water.  And I mean kill them dead with a blow to the head with my bucket chisel.  I found this way of doing it this summer when an older gentleman pulled several pike out of a cooler at the fillet table in North Dakota this summer.  There was little to no slime on these fish.  Heck, even less than most of the walleye had.  I asked him how he could keep a pike on ice and not get a slime rocket.  He took me over to his boat and showed me a 22 caliber CO2 pistol.  He said all keeper pike get shot in the brain before being netted and then once in the boat they get a wack on the head with a hammer and into the slush ice in the fish cooler.  I guess the slime is a defense mechanism and killing them turns it off.

Jay

[The Rezerend]

I've found that salmon scale a heck of a lot easier when they're slightly frozen. So mine get tossed out the shanty and then gathered at the end of the day. Since most my fishing happens on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning, it usually isn't until Sunday evening that mine get cleaned. The fiance says she can't tell the difference between Friday and Sunday fish. I've never really bled anything besides ling but may start doing so.

[HuntHard]

I prefer to clean it prior to cooking and eating 

[double_a85]

I prefer to clean it prior to cooking and eating 

Dang it--- so thats what I have been doing wrong... I will try this fancy new technique the next time out.

[montanapiker]

I definitely prefer cleaning pike on the ice, keep the slime and smell out of the house... unless there is a way to reduce the mucous they produce?

I've found that freezing them overnight and cleaning them in the morning knocks it all off.  the slime freezes and comes off when you rinse them before you filet.  I started whacking them in the head with a "tire checker".  mellows them right out