Preparing a Fish

You caught a great fish...now what?

Cooking and eating your fish right after you catch it is always best. But if you have extra fish or you just prefer to eat it later, you can generally freeze it and it will be good for at least a couple months. Either way, cleaning and preparing your fish properly right after you catch it is vital to the quality of your meal, whenever you decide to have it.

If you decide to store the fish for later, prepare it in the same way you would if you were going to cook it immediately. This means cleaning and dressing it. In short, before freezing you must scale it, gut it, remove its head and fins, wash, and drain. Small fish can be frozen in whole. Freeze completely in ice, either in a block or in a freezer container, with water covering the fish completely before freezing. You can fillet larger fish, and wrap in foil or heavy-duty freezer bags. I always keep the steaks or fillets separate with a layer of wax paper or similar.

Regardless if you're going to freeze your fish or eat it tonight, follow the same process of preparation.

Remove as much of the fat and skin as you can with a sharp fillet knife . Contaminants in water that get into your fish usually accumulate in the fatty areas and you should try to cut those areas out. Fatty areas are generally along the top, middle, and bottom edges of a fillet.

Once your fillets or steaks are ready to cook (fresh or thawed from freezer), do so to your personal liking. As with cooking anything, the manner in which you do so depends mostly on your own taste. As long as the fish is cooked thoroughly, go ahead and get creative with your own touch. Some general tips to consider when cooking your fish include:

Don't overcook. If you cook at too high a temperature or for too long, the meat will get tough and you will lose much flavor.
Your fish should be thoroughly cooked once the color is solid and the innermost part of the fish is flakey when poked with a fork.
While cooking, be careful when turning or moving steaks/fillets to avoid breaking it up and creating a mess of your creation.
There are numerous ways to cook your fish. Based on what spices and other ingredients you enjoy, the possibilities are endless. Just a few ways you can cook your catch are pan-frying, deep-frying, baking, boiling, poaching, steaming, broiling, grilling, and even smoking (smoking isn't recommended for all types of fish and isn't necessarily a method of cooking).

Proper preparation before and after storing your fish can make all the difference when it comes time for the best part...eating it!

Time for a new fillet knife? Here are some great ones we have to choose from in our outdoor store-Fillet Knifes
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