Perhaps some of the readers were fortunate enough to see a PBS documentary years ago on the evolution of modern day frozen foods in our grocery stores. There were some lessons to learn most importantly for ice fishers due to the environmental conditions we fish in.
Back in the early 1900's Mr. Birdseye was in the food preservation business. Frozen foods he processed always degraded in quality after they were frozen and then thawed for cooking and meal preparation. The fresh flavor was always lost when he would freeze his products. Then one winter he was in the far North fishing Arctic Char on a lake and staying in a log cabin and roughing it. The wintertime temperatures were far below zero(F) and he observed that his char, when left on the ice, froze solid almost immediately. Later he would saw a chunk off the frozen fish, thaw it and cook it up. He noticed that the fish tasted exactly like fish right out of the lake and cooked fresh.
That lit up the ol' light bulb and BINGO FLASH FREEZING was invented. As you know it changed the face of food marketing in the world with just about everything being flash frozen now to preserve the best quality of flavor, whether its vegetables, meats or processed items.
In his research back in the lab he found out that SLOW FREEZING (the process all businesses were using at the time) allowed large crystals of ice to form in the meat which ruptured the cell walls. When the meat was thawed much of the essence of flavor "leaked" out of the tissues and resulted in a degraded flavor. The FLASH FREEZING process is so rapid (like his fishing at -40°F) that only tiny ice crystals are formed in the tissues of meat and vegetables and so when its thawed that fresh flavor and texture is retained and tastes almost as good as fresh.
So there you have it. When I see photos of ice fishers with piles of fish laying on the ice in moderate temps where they laid there slowly freezing I think about that documentary. If you really want to take home the best tasting fish for the table, if you aren't fishing in sub-zero temps that will flash freeze your catch it would be best to keep them on a stringer downhole or in a bucket in your shelter. You may really be surprised at how delicious those perch, 'eyes, and pike really are.
