|
Boundary Waters Quetico Forum BWCA Food and Recipes Keeping fish for a later meal? |
Author
Text
04/24/2014 09:35AM
So, once you've caught the fish I'd like some advice on how long (and how) to keep them. If you catch fish in the morning to eaten at dinner, must they be cleaned immediately? Likewise for fish caught in the late evening to be eaten for breakfast the next day. I've seen photos of whole fish hanging from a tree on the stringer. How long can they be on the bone? Other than keeping them from bears and turtles, how do you address this issue?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Luckydog
04/24/2014 10:19AM
Clean as soon as possible after deciding to keep. If you have a way of keeping the fillets cool, great. Otherwise, eat. Otherwise, release. (Oops, decide this first...)
Left on a stringer in the lake all day is not a good option. They will either be rotten. or turtle food. or both.
Photos of strung fish hanging in a tree were (hopefully) just for the photo opp.
Left on a stringer in the lake all day is not a good option. They will either be rotten. or turtle food. or both.
Photos of strung fish hanging in a tree were (hopefully) just for the photo opp.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." -- Yogi Berra
04/24/2014 01:26PM
If it's warm and I don't plan on eating them within a couple of hours I wouldn't keep them. Would you leave fish on the counter at home for hours? You can risk leaving them submerged in deeper water away from camp and hope they don't rot, or get eaten. But you will be risking the chance of wasting the fish.
"The world is big, and I want to get a good look at it before it gets dark". John Muir
04/24/2014 02:12PM
Eat them for lunch, then go catch some more for dinner.
"Keep close to Nature's heart, yourself; and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." ~ John Muir
04/24/2014 02:56PM
We've found that walleye keep very well if given enough line. We tie a 6 foot leader to a 12 foot line and have kept them for 2 days no problem. However we only keep one at a time, which I'm sure helps.
For lake trout we do the same thing, and they will stay alive for a few hours, enough to keep them fresh till dinner, but not any longer.
For lake trout we do the same thing, and they will stay alive for a few hours, enough to keep them fresh till dinner, but not any longer.
“Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.” ------- Bob Marley "The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. ----- Mark Twain, American writer and Freemason
04/25/2014 06:12PM
I have had good luck with salt brine, in a lidded pot covered with a wet towel. Maybe it was luck, but I have had no problems using that method. This method came from my uncle who says it was how he brought fish back in the old days.
05/01/2014 12:03AM
I have read guys talk about putting a wet paper towel on the filets. The evaporation keeps them cool.
I don't know why you couldn't filet them, put them in a leechlocker, and sink them in deep water.
If you put them on a stringer, add a long rope so they can get deep. You're about 20% likely to lose them to a snapping turtle though.
I basecamp with a cooler, so it's easy for me. I filet them, put em in a zip lock and stick em in the cooler.
Whenever possible we try to eat them after that fishing session. If that's not practical we release them. Yeah, you might not catch any next session, but there's always spaghetti, or pb and J's.
I don't know why you couldn't filet them, put them in a leechlocker, and sink them in deep water.
If you put them on a stringer, add a long rope so they can get deep. You're about 20% likely to lose them to a snapping turtle though.
I basecamp with a cooler, so it's easy for me. I filet them, put em in a zip lock and stick em in the cooler.
Whenever possible we try to eat them after that fishing session. If that's not practical we release them. Yeah, you might not catch any next session, but there's always spaghetti, or pb and J's.
Subscribe to Thread
Become a member of the bwca.com community to subscribe to thread and get email updates when new posts are added. Sign up Here