Catching Fish

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Hud3

I don't have the stern steps, so I bring 'em in with the gaff, and quickly pour vodka or cheap rum over the gills. Much quicker, less messy, and more humane than beating them to death with a billy club. Make sure the booze is in a plastic bottle!

Oh my God!

I'd rather drink the vodka and beat the fish with the empty (glass) bottle - LOL.

[mrohr]

I use rum ,take a swig and spray it in fish mouth,then drop fish in a large trash bag to keep slime etc out of boat.Wildest is when sailing alone in a fresh breeze, must have all ready beforehand and often lose some.But, fresh fish on the grill is the best!

[GULET]

As an experience underwater fishing woman, I can recommend this sport to all those who love to face the fish 'face to face'. No photos unfortunately, but will put them soon.

[Kathleen]

I've enjoyed this thread. The image of fresh fish pulled from the ocean or bay and grilled for dinner sounds awesome. I like the thought of trolling for fish under sail and have even net surfed to find out how to do this! Then...I think of snagging an eel....which is super yummy...grilled with a bit of plum sauce. Eel looks great on rice in little rectangle pieces. Whole, it looks like a snake. *shudders* I could probably buck up and muddle on if the eel was skinned or cut up, but that is the snag for me.

Here is what reality would look like:

Me: "Oh cool, Captain! We caught a [fill in fish or eel]."

Captain: "Didya now! Good job! Clean it and we can eat it tonight!"

Me looking at my ghetto Annie nails: "But...my manicure!" *sees the eel and shudders*

Captain: "You caught it! You clean it! Hop to work, galley girl."

Me whining: "But it looks like a snake...it is still flopping....is that blood????"

I suppose everyone can see the direction this would take. Okay, so I am a baby when it comes to blood and guts. At least I can buck up when I need to tend to someone else. However, in fishing, I can cook anything someone could catch and clean. And for the record, the captain isn't going to catch or clean anything....perhaps an oyster. That's about it.

I'm so impressed and envious of those of you who can do this though. Thank you all for the awesome pictures and posts.

~Kathleen

[zeehag]

fish are easy--catch it fillet it and cook and eat it. nothing difficult about that---thenye either make soup out of rest or dispo it--the guts only catch catfish lol and i am sooo tired of those----caught 4 different kinds in one river lol.....i prefer trolling as the cstfish donot come to the surface,,,,as far a s learning to fish is concerned--what is there to it--just the equipment and the things biting the equipment--lol.....they are attracted to certain things--use that to the advantage of catching the slippery things---all ye really need is autopilot or heave to for the catching/landing of the fish.....and a fillet knife and cutting board some plastic baggies for the cleaned fish and ta daaa----dinner---if the damn thing ever bites the lure .....no big deal....is only slickery for a minuet lol.....have fun!!-i use 45 pound test for trolling and 15-30 for bottom fishing ..... casting takes finer line than trolling.....use line as light a s possible for the sport of it.....LOL

[Curmudgeon]

The fish guts are not the problem when cleaning a fish. With a little practice you can learn to "field dress" a fish in about 30 seconds. Grab the gills and pull; most everything comes out and you can just drop it overboard.

The real problem with many larger salt water fish is the scales. You must use a scaler, and when you do, the scales get everywhere. That's why I clean fish in the cockpit, never the galley, and why a presurized deck wash is a really good thing to have if you will be cleaning fish on your boat.

[Nice N Easy]

I almost always have a line out. Guess I am a little more traditional than some, as I have a rod holder on the rail, and use a fairly heavy boat rod. Usually pull a squid type lure, either pink or blue. Only try to catch one fish per day, as fresh from the water is, IMHO, much better. By the way, King Mackeral is very good, if extremely fresh and grilled. Any other way of cooking them, does have a little bit of oily taste.

[john540]

Here's a couple of fish I caught off Northern Baja on the way down.

[mrohr]

the mess is the biggest problem,i drop fish in trash bag after spraying rum in mouth
(fight over!) Now, neatest is to dingy to a sandy beach if possible by dinner time and clean fish on waters edge ;then all slime comes off everything (you, cutting board,etc.)with a good sand scrub.Work? yes, but much less than scrubbing boat down.BTW if you are not scrupulous in your onboard cleanup ,just add a little sun and you will have flies following you all the way to antartica.LOL

fight over

[Curmudgeon]

But if you wait too long to clean them, the enzymes from the stomach make the flesh taste "fishy." It's best to gut them right away and then refrigerate.