The truth about Ling

[Mrobrien]

I have been catching ling for many years now and have recently been hearing a lot of different opinions about how to clean/take care of them.  I have heard from some that you have to skin them immediately because the enzymes on their skin will ruin the meat.  One guy even told me their slime is poisonous.  Other people have told me all I have to do is bleed them.  Some say to never let them freeze or their meat won't be good.

I have caught and ate 100's of them over the years and they are some of my favoriate eating fish.  Only a couple times I have had the meat not taste great, but that is usually after a few days in the fridge or after I have frozen them for a while.  I usually keep them alive on a stringer until I am ready to go home, then I simply bleed them (through gills), and hope they aren't too frozen by the time I get home.  If they are, they go in a cooler of warm water until I can work with them.

Am I doing this all wrong?  Suggestions?

[chumley]

The reason to skin ling immediately is that it is much easier done then, instead when their skins freeze to the meat.

And when you take them home and thaw them to clean. the slime stinks to high heaven.

But the skin does not affect the taste, and it is not poisonous.  Old wives tales.

[gblomquist]

My family and I have been eating ling for as long as I can remember and the only problem we have had with cleaning/preparing them is the slime, similar to what chumley said.  Great fish for eating and always worth the slightly added pain of cleaning them with the added slime.

[Mrobrien]

Thanks guys.  I figured that was the case but just wanted to make sure i wasn't messing it all up.  Yeah that slime sure can be tough.  I was up until 2 a.m. last night cleaning it up.  Do you ever use a salt water bath to firm up and draw blood out of the meat?  I heard that somewhere too.

[bowhtr]

Do you ever use a salt water bath to firm up and draw blood out of the meat?  I heard that somewhere too.

I like to boil mine in salt water and then dip them in a sweet cream butter with a touch of garlic yum yum!

I think cleaning them on the ice would be nice but seems like I'm always to busy fishing to get this done.

[PerchPounderMT]

How does the MT F&G stand on cleaning fish on the ice?Ive asked the bios but they never know.

[chucknduck]

I'm gonna start cleaning em on the ice. Wife might freak if I clean em in the new house like I did in the old one. Gonna leave the mess outside.

[Big Shmack]

I've also heard adding a can of 7-up to the water will give it a sweet taste like lobster, when you boil it.

[Wenger]

How does the MT F&G stand on cleaning fish on the ice?Ive asked the bios but they never know.

I doubt there is a problem, after all the fish cleaning table at Hell Creek is on the ice. Anything left will be raven food with a day or less.

[jcmontgo]

Yeah I think the trick to cleaning ling is clean em soon! I second the suggestion of boiling in 7up. Makes them taste a little like shrimp/crab/lobster especially after a dip in butter! One further question while on the ling subject....cured bait, fresh cut, or fresh whole minnows?

[vicster]

I think your ok filleting fish on the ice, but your supposed to leave a strip of scales on the meat to allow identification of species with regards to limits. 

[Born Late]

As per FWP, "While a person is fishing, or while on the water or on the ice:
- All fish in possession must be whole with head, skin, fins and tail attached. Gills and entrails may be removed."

I'm just the messenger.

[SnowedOutMT]

How does the MT F&G stand on cleaning fish on the ice?Ive asked the bios but they never know.

The regulations talk about open water, but I'm sure it's the same for ice. Here's what they say:

When you are in a boat on the water and fishing, it is acceptable to dispose of fish entrails in deep water in the lake, reservoir or
river. When you are near or on the shore or bank, it is recommended that you bag all fish
remains and dispose of the bag in an appropriate garbage receptacle. Help keep the shoreline
clean for others. It is unlawful to discard game fish; however, dead non-game fish may be
treated like fish entrails for disposal purposes (puncture the bladder first so the fish will sink).

[vicster]

Well there you go, glad someone read the regs;)  Thanks born late.

[Wenger]

As per FWP, "While a person is fishing, or while on the water or on the ice:
- All fish in possession must be whole with head, skin, fins and tail attached. Gills and entrails may be removed."

I'm just the messenger.

That kind of ruins 'ice lunches' of fresh fried walleye. Might end up staring on "Wardens"....

[PerchPounderMT]

I asked the fish bio out on CF after seeing piles of perch skins on the ice and he told me he knew of no reg that would prevent you from filleting on the ice,go figure.

[4EVER406]

We got a written warning and had a heated discussion with a game warden about this at hell creek.  He couldn't show me in the regulations where we did anything wrong by cleaning fish on the ice, but he insisted we had.  There were two game wardens and they didn't even agree with each other on the subject.  The local game warden at hell creek is a good guy.  The one from TRR is a dick.  We weren't over our daily or possession limits and the regulations say it's allowed on open water.  Despite the warning, I'll still continue to filet on the ice.  As long as species are distinguishable and you haven't exceeded any limits, there should be no reason why it's not allowed.

[Wenger]

Well the guy must have driven onto the ice right by the cleaning table...set up on the ice.

[4EVER406]

Yep.  It was a frustrating conversation to say the least.  This is pretty much how I clean my ling. How to Clean a Burbot:

[Born Late]

...the regulations say it's allowed on open water.

You're entitled to your opinion regarding restrictions on fish cleaning but to be clear, that's NOT what the regulations say.

I do hope FWP cleans up the language to accommodate shore/ice lunches.

[StoneIce]

Don't know about ling specifically, but in my experience freezing any fish is never the way to go.

[chumley]

Well, I have been catching ling and skinning them on the ice since the 1970s, have talked to many game wardens and biologists during that time, and never has any one told me what I was doing was against the law.

I  think if you stick to skinning them, gutting them, and cutting the heads off, you are good to go.  Anyone can tell a ling is a ling with its skin off and head missing.  Now, if you go the extra distance, and remove the meat from the carcass on the ice, that's when I think you would be heading for trouble.  No way to tell how many fish you caught. More difficult to tell the ling meat from the other white-meated fish out there, so species identification is iffy.  I just throw the headless, skinned ling into a garbage sack and take that home for final processing.

Most wardens understand that is a pain in the arse to deal with frozen ling when you get home. The process to rip the skin off only takes a minute on the ice. But, as others here pointed out, there are a few wardens out there who are complete dicks.  So beware.

[Strippnthedream]

Just reading the regs while I was in the chair here is what she says for the central district.
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