Do you rinse your fillets?

[CrappieHunter]

I’ve always rinsed my fish under cold water, I recently heard someone talking about how that messes up the taste/texture. Is that true? Do you rinse your fish or not?

 

[Sluggo]

Not only rinse, but soak overnight in the fridge in water. Draws out any remaining blood and firms up the meat. Then I eat or freeze in a bag of more water.

 

[CrappieHunter]

Not only rinse, but soak overnight in the fridge in water. Draws out any remaining blood and firms up the meat. Then I eat or freeze in a bag of more water.

I’ve never soaked them before, how well does that work?

 

[Twitch]

I rinse my fillets and then soak in ice water overnight to draw the blood out. They are plenty firm coming out of the ice water bath. If I’m freezing instead of eating fresh I freeze in a ziplock bag of water

 

[Sluggo]

Been doing it all my life and I got some age on me. I think it works good.

 

[Twitch]

Sluggo beat me to it

 

[CrappieHunter]

Been doing it all my life and I got some age on me. I think it works good.

Yeah I might have to try that, probably easier than trying to scrub the blood off every single fillet

 

[CrappieHunter]

I rinse my fillets and then soak in ice water overnight to draw the blood out. They are plenty firm coming out of the ice water bath. If I’m freezing instead of eating fresh I freeze in a ziplock bag of water

I’ve always freezed them in water but i recently got a vacuum sealer, haven’t tried any of the fish I’ve sealed yet but if they taste as good as the water bag fish I’ll completely switch over, tired of having a big bag of bloody fish water in my fridge

 

[Twitch]

I’ve always freezed them in water but i recently got a vacuum sealer, haven’t tried any of the fish I’ve sealed yet but if they taste as good as the water bag fish I’ll completely switch over, tired of having a big bag of bloody fish water in my fridge

I put them in a bowl of ice water overnight. They come out firm and 0 blood. Then if not eating fresh freeze in water.

 

[Slappy]

Yeah I might have to try that, probably easier than trying to scrub the blood off every single fillet

Keep them alive in the livewell and cut the throats before heading in. Zero blood on the cleaning table or in the fillets.

 

[svnmag]

I bleed or gut (trout)/ice any fish I keep asap. I "zip" the fillets and trim off ANY red flesh, then soak overnight in Sprite or mild saltwater ( I've grown to prefer the saltwater--with a shot of lemon juice) in the 'fridge.

Soak up the little oil spots with a paper towel with your hang over. Channel cat seem to have the most.

Ideally, the fish is in the Butterball Turkey Fryer that afternoon. If you're not ice fishing; freeze in that shit with complete immersion in the "brine" (may need to add water) for the New Year's Fish Fry.

Your new handle seems to be working. Good deal.

 

[Rowdie]

I always cut the gills and run cold water in the bucket for a bit if hot out. Zero blood and clean table when done right. I rinse in clod water and any mess from table off and rinse. I then put them in a colander which sits inside a bigger bowl. Cover it with tinfoil and let any water drip off at least overnight until I eat or freeze. I seldom freeze fresh walleye almost never.

I find by not soaking them they are much firmer when cooked. Soaked filletes seem mushy too me, wife and others I've given fish to.

 

[CatDaddy]

As already mentioned, bleed the fish out before you fillet. If you haven't tried it, you'll be a believer after you do. No more blood on the table, on the fillets, etc.

 

[CrappieHunter]

I bleed or gut (trout)/ice any fish I keep asap. I "zip" the fillets and trim off ANY red flesh, then soak overnight in Sprite or mild saltwater ( I've grown to prefer the saltwater--with a shot of lemon juice) in the 'fridge.

Soak up the little oil spots with a paper towel with your hang over. Channel cat seem to have the most.

Ideally, the fish is in the Butterball Turkey Fryer that afternoon. If you're not ice fishing; freeze in that shit with complete immersion in the "brine" (may need to add water) for the New Year's Fish Fry.

Your new handle seems to be working. Good deal.

I’m interested in the saltwater and lemon. What does that do? Just pull out some extra dirty stuff?

 

[CrappieHunter]

As already mentioned, bleed the fish out before you fillet. If you haven't tried it, you'll be a believer after you do. No more blood on the table, on the fillets, etc.

Yeah I’ve done that for walleye before and feel like it makes a difference. But I don’t usually do it to the crappie that I mainly keep. I’m not sure if it makes a major difference on panfish but I’ll be willing to try it again

 

[CrappieHunter]

I always cut the gills and run cold water in the bucket for a bit if hot out. Zero blood and clean table when done right. I rinse in clod water and any mess from table off and rinse. I then put them in a colander which sits inside a bigger bowl. Cover it with tinfoil and let any water drip off at least overnight until I eat or freeze. I seldom freeze fresh walleye almost never.

I find by not soaking them they are much firmer when cooked. Soaked filletes seem mushy too me, wife and others I've given fish to.

Yeah I gotta make one of those bucket rinsers, I’ve seen charters use them and it seems to clean them very well

 

[CatDaddy]

Yeah I’ve done that for walleye before and feel like it makes a difference. But I don’t usually do it to the crappie that I mainly keep. I’m not sure if it makes a major difference on panfish but I’ll be willing to try it again

I started doing it to all fish - all my winter crappie get gills cut before fillet. In the winter, I use a net livewell that I put fish in - keeps them alive and unfrozen. I bleed them in that at the end of the trip.

 

[CrappieHunter]

I started doing it to all fish - all my winter crappie get gills cut before fillet. In the winter, I use a net livewell that I put fish in - keeps them alive and unfrozen. I bleed them in that at the end of the trip.

Yeah I’ve been looking to buy one of those ice fishing live wells for a while. Not fun defrosting 20 frozen crappie bricks when you get back from fishing at 11

 

[CatDaddy]

Yeah I’ve been looking to buy one of those ice fishing live wells for a while. Not fun defrosting 20 frozen crappie bricks when you get back from fishing at 11

This is the one I use. Two issues I've had are 1) net can freeze to the side of the hole if you aren't paying attention and 2) don't forget to zip the zipper that runs the whole length! Makes for an interesting day once you realize you actually don't have anything in the livewell!

 

[CrappieHunter]

This is the one I use. Two issues I've had are 1) net can freeze to the side of the hole if you aren't paying attention and 2) don't forget to zip the zipper that runs the whole length! Makes for an interesting day once you realize you actually don't have anything in the livewell!

Do you have the one from Clam?