Transporting Fresh Fish

[Brook]

Every make a multi-day fishing trip the very object of which is to stock up on fish? Lot’s of people I know do that on an annual or semi-annual basis, hitting the appropriate runs.

Trouble is, more fish gets ruined on the trip home than any other way. What too often happens is that the motel owner, or an obliging restaurateur freezes your catch. If you can find dry ice there’s no problem. But that’s getting harder and harder to do. So you put the frozen filets on regular ice and head home.

The problem is that water ice exists in a steady-state between liquid and solid at 32F. So what happens is that the ice is actually defrosting the fish as you travel. If you’re on the road for more than a day, chances are the fish will be completely defrosted by the time you reach home.

There is absolutely nothing guaranteed to ruin the quality of raw fish as refreezing it once it’s been defrosted.

The solution is to learn how to super-chill the fish instead of freezing it. Essentially, this means initially using a cold brine bath to quick-chill the fish, and then storing and transporting the fish in an ice & salt mixture. You can find all the details at http://www.the-outdoor-sports-advisor.com/freeze-fish.html

How effective is super-chilling? According to the Georgia Sea Grant, merely icing fish will keep it fresh for from 48 to 72 hours. Superchilling, on the other hand, means it will keep for as much as a week.

One ramification is that you can amass fish as you catch them and keep them superchilled until you’re ready to head home. For instance, last time we vacationed on OBX we built a supply of Spanish macs over the course of four days. Gave us plenty of filets for the next several months.

Keep in mind that the kind of salt you need isn’t always readily available. So when we know that heavy fishing will be part of our trip we bring several 5-lb bags of canning salt along in case we can’t get it locally.

[Tacpayne]

Hey Brook thats a good read. I use a piece of closet maid wire shelving in the bottom of my cooler instead of the wood rack though. My cooler is usually on the basket of my truck so I can leave the drain open also. I know several people that have ruined good fish with improper storage and transportation methods

[Peixaria]

I have transported whole coolers of fresh fish from the OBx to Asheville for my family. I wasn't sure whether prefreezing was a nono. I normally will freeze all of the packages solid first. Then into an eighty gallon cooler, layer of ice, Then regular Iodized Mortons salt, sprinkled liberally then a neat layer of fish packages. Repeat the layers and make sure to put in lots of salt. I normally can use up to a big blue container of Mortons[26 oz.] for one full 80 gallon cooler of fish and ice. I have driven 8 or 9 hours to Asheville in September heat with this set up. The most surprizing thing is that if the cooler is completely full, with no air space at the top. The whole contents of the cooler actually becomes one solid frozen mass. I actually had to chip it apart to pack the freezer when I got to Grandmas house in Asheville. 1 big Salt, 2 or 3, 16 lb bags of ice, and 60 -80 lbs of Bluefish and Mackeral fillets prefrozen solid. Works good, Dont even have to leave the drain open because there is no runoff, It becomes a solid frozen block.

[vbjimmie]

That's kinda the way ice cream is made, isn't it?

[Peixaria]

The salt actually drops the internal tempature of the cooler to close to, or below freezing. Very simple, I am still not clear on whether the fish could infact be frozen first or was to remain fresh until destination. If your taking home 80 lbs., or a large quantity, seems like you would be freezing the majority anyway.

[Brook]

>I wasn't sure whether prefreezing was a nono. <

It's not a question of being a no-no, Peix. It's more a matter of how long you'll be on the road. Usually frozen fish, particularly if it fills the cooler, will last at least a day. Salting the ice helps even more, because it lowers the temperature below 32F and the fish doesn't defrost. Or not as quickly.

Under those conditions I also duct tape the seal area of the lid as well. And, if feasible, wrap the whole thing in a sleeping bag (insulation, don't forget, works two ways).

If there isn't enough fish to fill the cooler, topping off the air space with crumbled newspaper, towels, whatever, also helps.

It's when you start talking two and three or more days on the road to get home that it can become a problem. If you read my article you know the story about the Atlantic salmon. But there were other cases before I learned the value of salt---either to make ice colder, as you discuss, or to superchill as the case may be.

Another reason I prefer superchilling is that I can treat fish in the round that way, then do any additional prep work at leisure once I get home. For instance, I might decide to convert a bluefish into steaks while fileting Spanish macs (or even leaving them whole), etc.

The very worst thing you can do is let the fish sit in water for any length of time. That's why some sort of rack is recommended in the bottom of the cooler, as is leaving the drain open if you can.

Not all these techniques are always feasible. But it's good to know about them so you can use them when you have to.

[Brook]

>Hey Brook thats a good read.<

Glad you enjoyed it, Tacpayne.

The one thing I had drummed into me, as a young outdoorsman, was that you respect the fish and game at all levels. What point is there to catching it in a sportsmanlike manner, only to let it go to waste because you haven't learned how to treat it?

I'm always amazed at how some folks treat their fish and game. You still see people dragging a stringer of dead fish around all day in a warm lake, f'rinstance. Then they wonder why it tastes bad.

And the number of hunters who don't know how to field-dress a deer is incredibly scary.

[Tacpayne]

This would be a good thing to put in the Bible really

[HStew]

On boat we would stay out till we caught enough to make a trip, sometimes 6 days.You need to get the heat out of the meat fast. Our super chill was a barrel of iced sea water."Ice is the life of seafood", so the old saying goes. Once your fish comes out of the chill DO NOT let fish "swim" in melted ice water in a cooler. Keep it on ice and keep it drained. You'll be good for a week!!!

[Brook]

That last part can't be stressed enough. Dead fish should be kept out of water!

A quick rinse, or a half-hour super-chill is one thing. But if the fish swims around in water for any length of time it just promotes bacterial growth and decay.

[greg12345]

If you really want your fish in top condition, right after it is caught then it should be bled (stick a knife behind the pectoral fins or cut the gills), quickly gutted, and gills cut out ASAP and then packed in ice...whole process takes less than 5'.

[Oldmulletbreath]

You should apply the same rules to your baitfish. I am always amazed at the number of people who buy fresh bait, leave it in the bag and throw it in a cooler of ice and water to float around for days.

[HStew]

That's called "mullitized' cooler, or "shrimpitized" cooler, or the "empty stinky".