how do i clean, prep fish?

[bigvisk]

So, how does one clean/prep fish in the kitchen and in the bush.

I have just started fishing recently, last summer a little, and much more this summer. I now want to keep some of these fish. but, what do i do with them?

i caught two big pike today (well, big for me) at 25" and 20". i kept them, brought em home and tried to filet them like they do on youtube, well i wasted a good amount of meat i think. basically they filet it, then filet the skin off.

now, i guess that is ok for home, but what if you are in the bush, on say a canoe trip, or whatever and you want to cook it over the fire. is it safe to just gut it, prop it on a stick and cook it up? do you have to skin/scale it? do you have to cut the head off it?

Thanks in advance.

[offtrail]

just saying you should have left the pike at the lake or river. It's a whole different ball game when it comes to cleaning pike. I should do a video on this but for now there are many videos on youtube that will help you with pike and other fish.

[Deleted]

I am not your normal person by any means...to me a fish, ANY FISH, is meant to be eaten.

If I am out camping or such and catch a fish, I am eating it for the upcoming meal...don't matter what it is. I don't go fishing unless I plan to eat what I catch.

Generally, this is what I do. I cut the head off, slice the belly open and remove all the guts, if I happen to find or have any veggies or wild tubers, I place them inside the fish, otherwise just fold it shut, wrap it in a sheet of aluminum foil and place it on a flat rock next to the fire inside the ring for cooking, turn it occassionally to cook it from all directions. When its done, crack it open and enjoy the meat.

I got a pack from a Walmart clearance isle, its a Remington nylon zip bag with 8 plastic tubes that seal water tight. It is suppose to be for carrying shotgun chokes, but I use each tube for different seasonings. This way I can salt and season whatever I catch, be it fish, squirrel, coon or whathaveyou...I suggest you do the same. In my lil pack I keep salt, seasoned salt, mrs dash table blend, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, sugar, instant coffee and toothpicks (sometimes I switch the toothpicks for lemon pepper seasoning and make skewers from green twigs. There is an extra external zip pocket where I keep several sheets of foil neatly folded with a few tea bags and coffee filters. The toothpicks can be snapped in thirds and used to hold a large fish closed at the belly, around other foods before wrapping it in foil.

If no foil is handy, I have placed a deheaded & gutted fish directly on a hot stone in a fire and let it cook, then when its done, use my knife to scrape the ouside open and finger pick the meat out. when you are hungry, it doesn't matter as long as you get to eat. No point in wasting it!! I will scale a fish, but if it doesn't have scales, I don't bother with peeling/skinning it, IMO its just natures wrapper for cooking it.

The only thing I don't like about spearing a fish for cooking to eat it is that as it gets done, fish tends to get flaky and chances are its gonna fall off and you might loose it to the fire or dirt.

Sorry guys...but I have been hungry enough times in my life to appreciate whatever meal the Good Lord sees fit to bless me with...and I don't mean end of the day hungty, I mean, its the only meal for the last week hungry I am a starving child hungry. To me FISH=FOOD.

[Redneckidokie]

Oh Dink, that made laugh. You will never starve.
As I was reading this picture came to mind. Your out in the woods, shoot an elk, roll him on the bon fire whole, and when he is done you jump on him and eat your way through the butt end and right on out his snout......burrrrp! Wipes mouth on sleeve, and right on back to business. LOL

As far as the fish go I fillet them at home, but grandad when we were out on the river camping he would take the bigger fish and gut them out, trim off the fins and tail. He then put medium sized flat preheated rocks inside and used wire or nails he carried to 'stitch' up the belly, to keep out debris. Then either layed them on rocks around the fire, some time he would scrape back the hot coals and put the fish direct into the a thin layer of coal then cover them completely. When done he scraped off the ash and charred skin, opened them up like butter fly shrimp and surprisingly we had clean steamed flakey fish, on a crispy plate.
Amazing to me. At least that is the way I remember it. He passed when I was nine. Wish he could have stayed longer.

[garret]

i saw ray mears prepare and cook fish this way a while ago and tried it myself and now cook all my fish while camping like this

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi_pgVlUC8Y

it starts at about the 5:20 mark

[wtrfwlr]

Jun 11, 2012 5:10:11 GMT -7 garret said:

i saw ray mears prepare and cook fish this way a while ago and tried it myself and now cook all my fish while camping like this

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi_pgVlUC8Y

it starts at about the 5:20 mark

Bravo Garret what a wonderful video to share! Thanks, I can't wait to see if I can do the same with other fish as well.
Those wooden canoes are pure beauty and owning one has been a dream of mine since I was a young boy. It is just so poetic that anyone named Lars has to own a gorgeous wooden canoe doesn't it!

[bigvisk]

thanks everyone. i dont know many people that eat the fish they catch, so everything i heard was second hand, like you have to take the skin off, etc.

so, if the fish has scales i should scrape them off before cooking, but otherwise i can decapitate, gut, and wrap or even place in coals with the skin on, and just eat the meat on the inside. i figured in the bush i didnt need to do all that (it is time consuming, and in the woods i expect it would get dirty fileting a fish, especially at my level).

[wtrfwlr]

Jun 11, 2012 8:26:45 GMT -7 bigvisk said:

thanks everyone. i dont know many people that eat the fish they catch, so everything i heard was second hand, like you have to take the skin off, etc.

so, if the fish has scales i should scrape them off before cooking, but otherwise i can decapitate, gut, and wrap or even place in coals with the skin on, and just eat the meat on the inside. i figured in the bush i didnt need to do all that (it is time consuming, and in the woods i expect it would get dirty fileting a fish, especially at my level).

Here is what I normally do.
Bream/Perch- scale>dehead>gut>bread with cornmeal and deep fry.

Catfish- fillet with fillet or electric knife. Or skin>gut>cut into steaks. Bread and deep fry or smoke/grille.

Bass/Walleye/Smallmouth- fillet with fillet or electric knife. Bread and deep fry.

Trout- gut>dehead or not>grille/bake in foil/lightly bread and pan fry.have

For scaling it is very quick and easy with practice. I use a spoon and start at the tail.

Fish that I fillet I don't mess with anything but slicing the meat off. No gutting or dehead is needed.

If I am going to make Catfish steaks then I skin the fish first, then gut, done.

Some small Cats I will skin>gut>dehead and cook whole.

As far as time consuming with practice you will be able to clean fish very quickly. When I had my huntin cabin over on the White River I would walk the docks and offer to clean others fish on the halves. Great deal for us both, I got free fish and they didn't have to fool with them!
The dirt thing should not be of concern. If you just use a log or rock and keep it sorta clean and up off the ground, plus if you have fish you are obviously near water to wash them up, right.

Hope this helps, if you have any questions just ask. I'll see about putting together a video in the future for Ya.

[xwing]

i DINT KNOW THAT FISH PREPPED TOO! I thought they just swam around and ate stuff. I Suppose you clean prep -fish the same way you do regular fish...you just keep THEIR preps for when you need them with yours. ;D ;D ;D

[wtrfwlr]

Jun 11, 2012 10:24:20 GMT -7 xwing said:

i DINT KNOW THAT FISH PREPPED TOO! I thought they just swam around and ate stuff. I Suppose you clean prep -fish the same way you do regular fish...you just keep THEIR preps for when you need them with yours. ;D ;D ;D

Oh Yes xwing. It's known as F.I.S.S.H. aka Fish Institute Stopping Sushi Harvest.[/color]

[bigvisk]

oh boy, i wish fish did prep and all i had to do was catch them and fully stock up with their preps