Freezing/thawing fish

poster

To the fishing guys on here, how do you freeze/unthaw your fish to keep the quality. I fish a lot but gave up on keeping more fish than i will eat in the next couple days. After a freeze/thaw the quality seems to suffer greatly and that fishy taste comes out. Ive tried freezing in water, vacuum sealing, thawing slowly, rinsing and not rinsing before freezing. Not a big deal to keep less fish as im out often, but some get in the 10-15lb range and i cant eat all that at once. Any suggestions?

hoosier_egger

I have always frozen my bass, crappie, catfish, and bluegill in quart size zip lock freezer bags filled with water. To thaw I simply place in lukewarm water and thaw in the bag. Give them a rinse and then it's on to frying. I've never noticed a change in quality. 

NonaScott

I always used the freeze in water method back when I was catching more dolphin then I could eat in the keys but had the same results as you. I'm not sure there is a good method other than flash freezing and I can still tell that. When it comes to fish nothing beats or is really close to fresh.

poster

NonaScott said:

I always used the freeze in water method back when I was catching more dolphin then I could eat in the keys but had the same results as you. I'm not sure there is a good method other than flash freezing and I can still tell that. When it comes to fish nothing beats or is really close to fresh.

Yes its very frustrating, another hurdle we have here is that to transport game fish the skin mist be left on for identification so i either have to freeze it with the skin on or wait until im home usually a few days later. I was hoping for a miracle fix, but theres likely not

gmac

What I do on the transport is skin the fish until there is barely an 1/8th of an inch holding at the front of the fillet. Then when I get home a quick tug takes it right off but it is still technically attached and therefore legal for transport.