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Gutting And Cleaning Fish
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Published: October 30, 2006
So you caught a fish? Congratulations! Unless you are fishing under catch-and-release restrictions, you probably want to feature your catch at mealtime.
Whether you caught a largemouth bass or a king salmon, merely having the fish will not do any good unless you know how to properly gut and clean it in preparation for cooking.
Luckily, the hardest part – catching the fish – is over.
Before you can gut and clean your fish, you need to make sure the fish is dead. This sounds painfully obvious, but there is nothing worse than watching helplessly as your prize catch flops back into the water while you prepare the digital camera.
To prevent such an event, you have two options. If you plan on doing more fishing later in the day, you do not want to kill the fish right away. Most fishing boats have a live well where you can store your fish to keep it fresh. This allows you to keep the fish alive, strung in lake water, while you continue fishing.
Once you are done fishing for the day, quickly kill the fish. The easiest way to do this is to pick up the fish by the tail and whack it against something hard. Aim to make contact under the head and the fish should quickly comply as its neck breaks. If it is too large or you do not trust your aim, grab an oar (or another long-handled tool) and swing away, again aiming to break the neck.
Begin to gut and clean your fish immediately (some anglers even prefer to still be in the boat). Using a sharp knife, scrape along the body of the fish in the opposite direction of the scales. If the scales do not immediately fall off, apply added pressure and they should come straight off.
Next it is time to get your hands dirty and cut inside the fish. Flip the fish on its back and make an incision running from where the gills meet the head down to the anus. If you would like, you can make a second cut across the belly from gill to gill.
Now reach in and make a slice separating the head from the rest of the organs. Repeat this process to separate the organs from the anus. Without these two cuts, the insides will not cleanly come out.
After you have made your cuts, reach inside the fish and pull out its guts. After what is hopefully a clean pull, there is one more thing to look for. Inside the body cavity along the fish’s backbone there may be a blue vein: scrape this out. Next, rinse off your catch with plenty of water to give it a good cleaning – hardly a problem given your location.
The final step you may want to take is one based entirely on preference. Depending on if you want the head of the fish attached when you eat it, you may want to slice it off. This also can be done at the beginning of the gutting process as another means to kill the fish. To cut off the head, make a simple cut just behind the gills. Once you knife your way through the vertebrate, the head will come off with an easy slice.
Sources:
Catching, gutting, cleaning fish. 26 October 2006. <http://www.43things.com/entries/view/1030116.& gt;
Gutting a Fish. BBC Online. 10 August 2006. 26 October 2006. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A378335.>
Whether you caught a largemouth bass or a king salmon, merely having the fish will not do any good unless you know how to properly gut and clean it in preparation for cooking.
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Before you can gut and clean your fish, you need to make sure the fish is dead. This sounds painfully obvious, but there is nothing worse than watching helplessly as your prize catch flops back into the water while you prepare the digital camera.
To prevent such an event, you have two options. If you plan on doing more fishing later in the day, you do not want to kill the fish right away. Most fishing boats have a live well where you can store your fish to keep it fresh. This allows you to keep the fish alive, strung in lake water, while you continue fishing.
Once you are done fishing for the day, quickly kill the fish. The easiest way to do this is to pick up the fish by the tail and whack it against something hard. Aim to make contact under the head and the fish should quickly comply as its neck breaks. If it is too large or you do not trust your aim, grab an oar (or another long-handled tool) and swing away, again aiming to break the neck.
Begin to gut and clean your fish immediately (some anglers even prefer to still be in the boat). Using a sharp knife, scrape along the body of the fish in the opposite direction of the scales. If the scales do not immediately fall off, apply added pressure and they should come straight off.
Next it is time to get your hands dirty and cut inside the fish. Flip the fish on its back and make an incision running from where the gills meet the head down to the anus. If you would like, you can make a second cut across the belly from gill to gill.
Now reach in and make a slice separating the head from the rest of the organs. Repeat this process to separate the organs from the anus. Without these two cuts, the insides will not cleanly come out.
After you have made your cuts, reach inside the fish and pull out its guts. After what is hopefully a clean pull, there is one more thing to look for. Inside the body cavity along the fish’s backbone there may be a blue vein: scrape this out. Next, rinse off your catch with plenty of water to give it a good cleaning – hardly a problem given your location.
The final step you may want to take is one based entirely on preference. Depending on if you want the head of the fish attached when you eat it, you may want to slice it off. This also can be done at the beginning of the gutting process as another means to kill the fish. To cut off the head, make a simple cut just behind the gills. Once you knife your way through the vertebrate, the head will come off with an easy slice.
Sources:
Catching, gutting, cleaning fish. 26 October 2006. <http://www.43things.com/entries/view/1030116.& gt;
Gutting a Fish. BBC Online. 10 August 2006. 26 October 2006. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A378335.>
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