Harvesting Fish for Dinner

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

Interesting. As far as I know here you can fillet away, but you better keep enough skin/fin so that they can confirm the species.

Yes and length. I showed up to the ramp with just meat haha

[cyclops2]

Canadians & some USA Fish & Game officers want POSITIVE pieces of skin on every piece of meat.  Way to make friends with a warden.  Ask him if any kids fish under the dock there. If yes. I unload my perch limit / count next to the dock on Thursday  at noon. He looks at me & smiles.

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, Deephaven said:

Interesting. As far as I know here you can fillet away, but you better keep enough skin/fin so that they can confirm the species.

In MN there's a few different regs.

Muskie, catfish, splake, brookies, brownies and rainbows must have head and tail intact for measurement

Bullhead, sunnies and crappies - fillet-away without restrictions

All other species - no more than 2 fillets per fish...extras will count as another fish...1" square piece of skin for ID purposes.

Though Sauger without head and tail will be counted as Walleye

[cyclops2]

Anyone else notice if a perch loses a lot of that sweet aroma.  If they die or are killed and left dead.  For the morning fish trip?  My Italian Fish Monger begs me to keep them alive to his cottage. We get that request done. Fresh caught & killed & filleted they smell SWEET. That aroma largely disappears in 15 to 30 minutes.

Why he brings the golf cart & waits at the dock for me and the stringers of live fish. I would put his 88 years & electric knife against any other pike carver

[Skunkmaster-k]

Perch smell like a wet fart to me. They sure do taste good though. 

[slonezp]

22 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

Anyone else notice if a perch loses a lot of that sweet aroma.  If they die or are killed and left dead.  For the morning fish trip?  My Italian Fish Monger begs me to keep them alive to his cottage. We get that request done. Fresh caught & killed & filleted they smell SWEET. That aroma largely disappears in 15 to 30 minutes.

Why he brings the golf cart & waits at the dock for me and the stringers of live fish. I would put his 88 years & electric knife against any other pike carver

I'd rather keep fish alive in a livewell. I don't know about the sweet aroma you speak of, but have you ever had deep fried perch roe? It's like eating fish dumplings. 

[cyclops2]

No  Victor restricts what sizes I can bring in for food. No breeders. No too small. I am sure he has told me no females before or during spawn.

I will ask him to do 1 big huge female your way.

[TnRiver46]

Yesterday I pulled up a yellow bass from deep, swim bladder out the mouth. Tried him as dead bait for a few minutes then straight into the cooler. Then got a spotted bass and bonked him, right into the cooler for a delicious evening meal. 

[Chris Catignani]

On 11/27/2021 at 10:35 AM, TnRiver46 said:

I learned once it’s somewhat illegal to fillet the fish while fishing 

Yes...this is true in Tennessee. There is no way for Fish and Game to know if you have the legal fish (length/species) or not...plus they want you to dispose of the fish properly too.

[cyclops2]

40 years ago the camps had a cleaning table 10' from the waters edge. Clean and toss the unwanted parts into the water. NEVER a scrap the next morning. All the fish,  snapping turtles & land animals cleaned up every bit...................... WITHOUT those DUMPSTER bags & stink.  

 

Progress my foot.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Chris Catignani said:

Yes...this is true in Tennessee. There is no way for Fish and Game to know if you have the legal fish (length/species) or not...plus they want you to dispose of the fish properly too.

 

11 minutes ago, cyclops2 said:

40 years ago the camps had a cleaning table 10' from the waters edge. Clean and toss the unwanted parts into the water. NEVER a scrap the next morning. All the fish,  snapping turtles & land animals cleaned up every bit...................... WITHOUT those DUMPSTER bags & stink.  

 

Progress my foot.

That was my argument to the warden, I figured dumping the fish heads into the river was better than my apartment dumpster that I lived in at the time. Oh well. Happy flies and maggots for all residents to contend with from there on out haha

[Jigfishn10]

10 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

That was my argument to the warden, I figured dumping the fish heads into the river was better than my apartment dumpster that I lived in at the time. Oh well. Happy flies and maggots for all residents to contend with from there on out haha

I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I saw a game warden. I know it was before Y2K. ?

 

You know your old when you refer to the year 2000 as Y2K. ?

[Darth-Baiter]

One day I’ll eat one of my catch.  
 

I do hit some clean lakes.  I’ll bleed it, slide it into a plastic bag. ( I get bags from ironically my fish monger) and slip it on ice. I don’t like the fish to soak in ice water.  Just me. 
 

I don’t own a suitable ice chest yet. Nothing that fits easily on my kayak. 

[TnRiver46]

40 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I saw a game warden. I know it was before Y2K. ?

 

You know your old when you refer to the year 2000 as Y2K. ?

That’s wild. They check me all the time. Granted I’m a fairly suspicious looking character, especially in my shallow water boat 

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

That’s wild. They check me all the time. Granted I’m a fairly suspicious looking character, especially in my shallow water boat 

 

It's the camo. They see you trying to hide from the fish and figure you're up to something.

[Big Hands]

On 11/27/2021 at 7:51 AM, scaleface said:

I keep them on wire clip stringer when fishing from a boat with elec motor  propulsion . The fresh water flowing through the gills by the movement of the boat keeps them fresh and alive al day . The bass never die unless they are bleeding badly to begin with . I clip the fish through the lower mouth , not through the gill opening .

This works, or at least it did back in the 80's when I used to do it ;~)

 

Of course I didn't fish in lakes where there were other opportunistic creatures like turtles or gators that were happy to steal-a-meal left dangling in the water.

[gim]

Placing a fish in a live well here and then releasing it later on used to be illegal here in MN.  I wish that law would actually be reversed and instituted again.  Some people even toss them in a bucket, on a stringer, or in a basket, and then try to release them when they catch a bigger one.  Its unfortunate that people can't understand that the fish isn't going to survive when you do that, but its now legal.

 

The possession limit is also the same as the daily bag limit here so you can't stock pile specific species of fish in the freezer and then go fishing and keep more.  You must either eat them or give them away (properly labeled of course) if you would like to go keep any more.

[TnRiver46]

6 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Placing a fish in a live well here and then releasing it later on use to be illegal here in MN.  I wish that law would actually be reversed and instituted again.  Some people even toss them in a bucket, on a stringer, or in a basket, and then try to release them when they catch a bigger one.  Its unfortunate that people can't understand that the fish isn't going to survive when you do that, but its now legal.

 

The possession limit is also the same as the daily bag limit here so you can't stock pile specific species of fish in the freezer and then go fishing and keep more.  You must either eat them or give them away (properly labeled of course) if you would like to go keep any more.

I’ve always said I wish my live well dispensed ice instead of water. That would be awesome 

[MickD]

On 11/27/2021 at 9:53 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

BTW: I have no livewell. 

Then take an appropriately sized cooler, with a bag of ice in it, and put the fish in there.  Not rocket science.

[Jigfishn10]

37 minutes ago, MickD said:

Then take an appropriately sized cooler, with a bag of ice in it, and put the fish in there.  Not rocket science.

YOU SOLVED IT!

Unbelievable man. You were able to sift through 40 plus replies to this thread and swiftly came up with the solution. 
 

On top of all that, you even added a little wit and levity to the thread. 
 

Thank you so much, Mick. I’ve learned a lot here. ?

[Catt]

[cyclops2]

My fishing friend, Victor restricts what sizes I can bring in for food. No breeders. No too small. I am sure he has told me no females before or during spawn.

I have 2 stringers with metal clips. I usually bring in both filled with 6 perch each. I do catch and release if I am catching ones just big enough to keep. 

BUUTT    I am fishing in shallow waters. So as I swap out small ones for larger ones.  NONE ever die due To THERMAL SHOCK  as the dive to the deeper water bottom. 

They also are not OVER or UNDER Oxygenated by livewells.

 

Their is 1 fish that is not good for catch and a DELAYED RELEASE.  Pike are usually floating belly up about a 1/2 hour after being caught & kept on a stringer. They just FREAK OUT being restrained to the boat.  A explanation I had read about is linked to the Lactic Acid build up in them.  I place some belief to that theory.  I have had almost every pike get frantic and start doing Death Rolls while attached to a stringer next to the boat.  I would unwind the twisted up pike. rattles & thumps he is wound up tight again.

Victor has requested no more pike because they are dead & have a off flavor from struggle to death on a stringer.   Pike NEED to be killed instantly with a club and a layer of ice with the  ice floating in water.  Then their distinct flavor is preserved.   

[dgkasper58]

On 11/27/2021 at 9:38 AM, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

Just a suggestion, how about keeping last hour fish instead of first one you catch? Unless you plan to keep all the fish. Another way is floating basket, mark spot, come back when you done. 
 

I normally don’t keep fish, if I plan to keep, mostly crappie, I’ll wait until almost time to go home and pick only a couple that big enough. I gutted hook bass a few times, if I cannot remove the hook, I’d end my fishing trip right there. I don’t want to waste the fish by leaving in the sun or throw back in water.

Make sure to look at how to remove a gut hooked fish that is pinned on here.  I cannot believe how many fish I have saved since reading it...

[cyclops2]

Since I only do catch & release of all bass.  I have crushed down completely  all barbs. Zero painful pulling hooks out of fishing kids & adults. 0 trips to E R & waiting long times.  Kids & adults waiting too long to set the hook ?   I have 2 of those red plastic tools with different sized SLOTTED  balls on each one. Everybody quickly does their own removals with barbless hooks AND wearing a pair of magnifying glasses.   

 

 Pike are the only fish I always do. The massive set of teeth are just too dangerous for most people.  I put them as dangerous to most people as small harmless looking Bluefish.  Watched a father put his finger into a 12" Blues mouth to remove the hook. I know the Blue bit his finger to the bone 5 times in 1 second.  Sounded just like a jackhammer .  He changed colors by the time I got to him & his son.  His & my hand kerchiefs slowed the bleeding enough to where he felt safe enough to drive to a E R for stitches.

[Black Hawk Basser]

On 11/29/2021 at 2:29 PM, gimruis said:

Placing a fish in a live well here and then releasing it later on used to be illegal here in MN.  I wish that law would actually be reversed and instituted again.  Some people even toss them in a bucket, on a stringer, or in a basket, and then try to release them when they catch a bigger one.  Its unfortunate that people can't understand that the fish isn't going to survive when you do that, but its now legal.

 

The possession limit is also the same as the daily bag limit here so you can't stock pile specific species of fish in the freezer and then go fishing and keep more.  You must either eat them or give them away (properly labeled of course) if you would like to go keep any more.

That's unbelieveable for Minnesota.  I thought Iowa had lax game laws.  They don't allow culling here, unless we changed it recently too.