Freezing our catch

Every now and then the situation may arise that we may have to freeze our catch before they are gutted. Has anyone got any views on this?
Is the taste any differant when semi thawed then gutted? How long can we get away with the fish in the freezer?
Wanting sea trout or salmon for christmas dinner and get rid of the turkey.

Personally I wouldn't freeze a fish with the guts in. The best thing for all who would be consuming the fish is that the fish be gutted and filleted or steaked then frozen ready to thaw, cook and serve.I don't like the thought of refreezing any meat.

Fish properly dealt with should keep in a freezer for a good length of time.

Well done in the comp, nice flies

Cheers D

blacknsilver said:

Every now and then the situation may arise that we may have to freeze our catch before they are gutted. Has anyone got any views on this?
Is the taste any differant when semi thawed then gutted? How long can we get away with the fish in the freezer?
Wanting sea trout or salmon for christmas dinner and get rid of the turkey.

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Firstly, many congrats on your winning flies..well-tied and well done!

With regards your post, I agree absolutely with Dropper in that you shouldn't freeze anything that hasn't been prepared and ready to instantly cook.
I can't back this up with scientific evidence, but it sounds more than a bit risky to freeze a fish without cleaning it out first. Even if you're pushed for time, it surely doesn't take a minute to open a fish up and wipe out the inside..? Salmon and sea trout would most probably have nothing in them, but stockie rainbows would almost certainly have matter in them which was being digested. Personally, I would never eat a fish which had been thus frozen; just not worth the risk.

I have always found that no matter how quickly a fish is prepared and frozen, there is always a small loss of taste and, certainly a notable loss to the texture of it, when compared to a fresh one. How long you could safely keep one frozen would depend on how quickly it was put in after capture and at what temp. it was kept. I have eaten fish that had been in the freezer for over a month, but there was a marked deterioration in the quality of eating, which would probably get worse the longer it was there.

Also, IMO, It would be an unacceptable risk, to re-freeze a partly-thawed fish and decidedly dangerous to re-heat one that has been even part-cooked and allowed to cool.

Sorry I can't be more specific..

Thanks for the reply and the thumbs up on my flys.
The reason that i ask about the freezing of the catch is that im off to scotland salmon fishing for a week. Its nice to take a fish or two. Staying in a hotel is not always that easy to clean out the catch. Last year the guy said it was fine to freeze them as they were. Just thought i would get a few opinions on the matter.
Mark

I have always frozen salmon with the guts in, and have never had any problems. You are more likely to introduce unwanted "bugs" whilst cleaning the fish, but either way, it is one of the least likely ways of causing food poisoning. The smokeries always preferred to take the fish frozen but uncleaned.

What you do at the other end...thawing and cooking is the important part. Getting rid of the turkey is probably the safest call!!

IMHO.

W&S

Have always frozen the fish "as they come out of the water" and have not noticed any diffrence in taste. What one does notice is how much easier it is to carve up wonce thawed. The knife goes through the bones better.
Have butchered hares and vacum frozen them and to my taste they are better after a few weeks in the freezer.

My view echo's that set out below. Salmon and seatrout can be frozen with the guts in- there's is no food in there and to be honest it's alot easier and cleaner actually cleaning them when partly thawed (still stiff, but not solid).

I always freeze the fish I want to smoke whole (all smokeries inc. Bings Heath where I go prefer the fish whole and not cleaned- preferably frozen as well). If you clean out the body cavity then the fish can suffer from 'freezer burn', especially if wet which spoils the texture of the fish, possibly leading to a loss of flavour when cooked.

Overall frozen fish do not taste quite so good as a fresh one, but it's close, if you freeze a nice fresh fish then in my view it's 95% there. Also if it's a large salmon or seatrout there's no real way of avoiding freezing- unless you can get eight of you to eat it all at once within a couple of days.....

Also- mega important tip as far as I'm concerned- use good quality freezer bags and squeeze all the air out- e.g. proper thick polythene fish tube, or for steaks of fish good quality freezer bags- this helps prevent the air getting to them, and prevents bags breaking (cross contamination) and helps prevent freezer burn. Nothing anoys me more than to see sandwich bags used or heaven forbid a bin bag- for the King(s) of fish!!!

In my view game can actually be improved by freezing- the ice crystals that may form in the meat I think break up the structure of the flesh and make the meat tastier and easier to 'baste'. In some ways mimicing 'hanging' for another few days. I've not done hares, but pigeon and pheasant taste better after being frozen.

As for time- I try to eat all my salmon and seatrout before the start of the new season (April) that I've frozen the year before, game the same. I don't think there's any diffference between a fish frozen a month, or one that's been frozen nearly 12 months.

I try to do a 'stock take' every three months or so to avoid stuff getting too old, and I have thown away the odd 'MIA' trout or sewin that's in the bottom- BUT it's rare that I have to do that. Usually it's stuff that's not got a date on and I think is over 12 months old, I try to give away a couple of additional fish to friends if it looks like we're not going to eat all ourselves before the start of a new season.

Usually by the end of the season I'll only have around six/seven seatrout and 2 salmon anyway.

Andy

Personally my own thoughts are as follows.

If i have fish in the freezer too long i have become a fish monger not an angler. as such i try and eat all my fish fresh. Some inevitably end up frozen such as lager fish that get steaked or filleted and smaller singles awaiting partners to make a meal for all the familly at once. My freezer is now empty of Gamefish the season is over and i feel that is how it should be, if i have extra i give them away which helps stengthen our support with non-anglers or practice catch and release to support seasons to come.

As i say my own views, let your own concience be your guide.

Besides i need the freezer room for The winter Doe cull and the wildfowl !

Incedently a master butcher and respected Deerstalker told me that Venison was safe to defrost use part and then re-freeze although to do so comercially was illegal and he wouldn't do so in the shop he did at home. This is as the fat is outside the muscle rather than inside as with beef /lamb etc. I have done this myself since and it really does seem ok. With fish? well i am not sure but recon the meat is too delicate and the taste should be adversly effected anyway.