Not iceing your catch
Submitted by Dean on Fri, 2008-06-20 21:56
Just after reading the commodore marine post about the fishing boat.
Just wondering why everyone says You must Ice your catch.
We sometimes do and sometimes dont. And honestly can't tell a difference from eating between a fish which has been put on ice and one which hasn't.
They are put straight into a killtank, and bled.
flangies
Posts: 2550
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Makes a difference not
Makes a difference not in taste but how fast the meat deteriorates iv had fish go rotten in the same day and iced fish lasting 2-3 in that trip before going home and eating them. Things do not decompose as fast when they are frozen, thats why a morgue uses freezers for dead people. just dont eat them
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Dean
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Date Joined: 23/02/07
The fish are kept whole in
The fish are kept whole in the Kill tank, and never had a problem with the flesh deterioriating, it is out of sunlight and pretty cool.
Also commonly hear people saying it dehydrates the catch, never tasted a difference in that either.
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
I think any time you are
I think any time you are exposing fish to a warmer environment compared to where they came from, ice is a good idea. If you pull a dhufish or snapper out of 22 degree water on a 36 degree day, I reckon it's best to try to get them back down to that 22 degrees, or less. Also, "warm-blooded" fish like tuna and mako sharks have body temps that are warmer than the surrounding environment and should be iced down even on a cold day. Otherwise, they will literally start to cook themselves from the inside out.
Feral
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definatly agree with the
definatly agree with the tuna comment Auslobster ... as for bottom fish the faster you can get the body temp down to 2 deg. the longer it will last .... just remember to use ice/salt water slurry and you can keep fish for over a week if left whole and then packed in ice with no water .... not really a problem if you are eating the fish that night and its just kept cool but for longer term storage its a must.
alfred
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You will need to ice if you
You will need to ice if you eat it raw, or you will taste the difference!
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Andy Mac
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fillets much easier too if iced
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Adam Gallash
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agree with feral
Feral has seen the fish, I agree with him. Just keeps the fish a lot better. I saw some fish not on ice at Gnaraloo last year this time, a 22kg longtail, I could hear the boys being sick the next day before heading out. Wasn't good. You spend the money to catch the fish, spend the money to look after it properly once you get it IMO.
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SPESS
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Fully agree ad.s do it right
Fully agree ad.s do it right the first time and have no dramas! Its not expensive to buy ice......it the deckies duty anyway. Beer, ice, bait pretty easy really.
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Dreamweaver
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Agreed - Ice
Yup agree totally with Oz and Feral. We always put our catch in an Ice slurry. Remember, std (uninsulated) kill tanks will allow warmth from the water through the hull skin. Then there is the collective warmth of the fish. We use a tall white tub first. We Icky the fish, then bleed them inverted in the tub, then transfer to the slurry. The slurry is then kept uncontaminated and the yuky stuff is easily dipped over the side and the tub flushed - with a firm grip on the handle!
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Paul G
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I do as dean , no ice just a
I do as dean , no ice just a kill tank bleed and keep cool, but i'll get some ice next trip and ice the fish. I'll let you know my thoughts when i eat them to wether i can taste the differance .
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Dreamweaver
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will be intersting Paul
will be interesting to read your findings...
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Paul G
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There's a big differance
There's a big differance between bleed and unbleed , and spiking your fish also makes a big diff. So yer i'll try it and post my findings. My wife will be able to taste the diff stright away if any.She loves her fresh fish
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carnarvonite
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Icing fish
As a rule if fish is iced properly and the ice is replaced it should last 10-12 days[used to skipper fishing boat].If you borrow wifes oven thermometer ,when you bring a fish up from the deep stick thermometer into the meat and see just how low the temperature is at the bottom.The readout on your sounder is only surface temp.
Faulkner Family
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i never
i never used to ice the fish just put them in water .now i use ice and there is a big dif in the taste imo.even changing water often made no dif,and as mentioned they are easier to fillet when cold
RUSS
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PACEMAKER
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The misus worked for a cold
The misus worked for a cold meats department in Woolies where they are very strong on correct food safety standards. She tells me that fish is a high risk food and that bacteria starts to form at 5 degrees and above. Although I agree with the above one would think that icing the fresh catch would also be done to prevent you getting crook also as mentioned by Adam.
my 2 cents worth
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Catch 22
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Ice is essential
Fish starts to deteriorate the moment it is caught. Ice will definitely result in better taste when it hits the table.
synthos
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Ice & Slurry
Wahts the deal with keeping them on ice or in a saltwater ice slurry ? some of you mention one or the other ?
till
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I think the idea is to chill
I think the idea is to chill them down as fast as possible with the slurry and then whack em on ica after that.
tommo77
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what does the salt do
in a saltwater ice slurry?
does that help keep it longer or for taste?
ody
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Hi Ya,I think it is
Hi Ya,
EDIT : I'll remove that after thinking through the logic.
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STAAL LOVER
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Didn't know that spess
I'll have to remember that one for next time out!!!!
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STAAL LOVER
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Salt water slurry
actually gets colder than fresh!!
Might have to ask HEAD why!! He would have read it for sure!!!
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NOHA
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Salt water freezes
Salt water freezes at approx -4 degrees. Therefore your ice last longer as freshwater melts at 0 degrees and the seawater slurry will be colder than the melting point of your ice. Your fish will chill down faster and can technically freeze in a good slurry.
Your fish will be much better in an ice slurry than an esky with a few frozen blocks in it as you need to drop the temp in your fish as quick as possible to stop any microbiological degradation (phew them are big words) of your catch. In a slurry you have full surface contact pulling the heat out and not just a small point and the rest at air temp. A slurry will transfer heat away from your fish, bring its core temp down, a lot faster than stationary cool air contact will.
Edit: Damn you Staal you posted will I was typing. Now I feel I should delete my whole post.
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NOHA
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Nah Matt.. I guess some
Nah Matt.. I guess some would say he has been hanging arround with me
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hlokk
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Gee, thanks
Gee, thanks
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Bloke
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LOL
I remember reading somewhere something about shitting in your own nest
I know! cold as ice
.....but ya get that hey
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Ryan Thipthorp (not verified)
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Date Joined: 01/01/70
ice!
Dean,
I always ice my fish and all the above info is good. I dont use a slurry as i like to move my ice box around and when i get home i lift out the whole ice box with fish which is heavy enough without the 130l box having a sh!t load of water. The water temp of seawater melts the ice quickly so you need alot more ice to maintain a cold slurry. These above reasons for me is why i use ice only!
I spike my fish, put then into my insulated box and cover them with a light amout of ice. As for taste, yes i see & taste the difference with the filletting being alot easier as Andy mentioned!
When i worked as a decky there was days that i saw and smelt the fish going off at the end of the day (sometimes).......yuck!
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Adam Gallash
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Block ice is the shiznit
Go block ice if you have it available, we bought 3 blocks and kept it in a 105l esky and it lasted 6 days with 3 half blocks still left at the end of the trip, probably still keep really well in a slushy too.
I still can't figure out why people don't ice their catch. They pay all this money for a boat, all this money to get to Exmouth, all this money on gear and the associated bits and pieces then don't fork out a small amount of coin to look after the fish they catch. Got me stuffed!
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Rodrat
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Last visit to exxy
We were at the marina filleting our catch and another group of guys came over to do there catch and they hadnt iced thier fish and the first fish they filletrd was a golden trevally and it stunk to high heaven!
I looked at the bloke and he looked back at me a said i think will will save that one for bait. Crazy!!! Like adam said why spend all that money on the trip and not make the effort to look after your catch.
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Rodrat
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Frozen fish
Went out in the sound last week for a fish and got some nice size king george. They were put in the box with ice and saltwater and were there for about four or five hours.
When we got them out to fillet they were stiff and nearly frozen.
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Ryan Thipthorp (not verified)
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fully agree!
I still can't figure out why people don't ice their catch. They pay all this money for a boat, all this money to get to Exmouth, all this money on gear and the associated bits and pieces then don't fork out a small amount of coin to look after the fish they catch. Got me stuffed!
Fully agree Adam, i think the same thing not only up there but also down here. Often i'll jump on peoples boats who invited me out for the day and they have spent money on everything "but" when i say where's the ice.........they say "i didn't get any it should be okay" or " they'll be fine in the cooler box" or "it's not a hot day"
Fish starts to breakdown as soon as it leaves the water as mentioned. Fish flesh has more ground for breeding harmful bacteria so yeh get it chilled quickly. My favourite analogy is would you leave a warm peice of raw meat or chicken in a box all day with no ice or refrigeration and then eat it later on that night or the next day?.....I wouldn't.....JMO
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Dreamweaver
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Slury for me...
Salt Slury for me for all the reasons Noha posted so well earlier. If it's not a day trip, then I see the merits of block ice as Adam mentioned.
We don't have to worry about the water being too warm down here
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ody
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Hi Ya, Salt water freezes
Hi Ya,
Salt water freezes at approx -4 degrees. Therefore your ice last longer as freshwater melts at 0 degrees and the seawater slurry will be colder than the melting point of your ice. Your fish will chill down faster and can technically freeze in a good slurry.
I'm not going to argue 'cause I don't know but aren't icebergs fresh water? In other words, if you got a chunk of iceberg and melted it in a clean container, isn't the water be fresh? If not, why have people suggested towing icebergs to WA and collecting the water for scheme water use?
Other than that, I found this:
Pure water freezes at 0°C (32°F), water that is saturated with salt (in otrher words, no more salt can be disolved in it) freezes around -21 °C, or about -6 °F.
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hlokk
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With icing a fish in a
With icing a fish in a slurry, do you guys remove the fish after a suitable time (e.g. when its cooled to the backbone)? If so, is it packed on ice, or just chucked into another cooler with some ice blocks?
I guess packing it in ice after its chilled in the slurry would be a bit more important for commercial operators who keep their fish onboard for a full day or more? Not sure if its quite as important if the fish is kept in a slurry for only a couple of hours?
Also, what about ice burn? Does resting the fish on a solid ice block cause much damage to the flesh. You can see it affecting the skin, and you would think it might freeze that flesh first, rather than chill evenly?(it would still chill though). I havent done any comparison tests though.
And lastly, one person I went fishing with who is a very avid and experienced fisherman said that he doesnt use slurrys because it promotes bacterial growth (i.e. bacteria is distributed around). I thought that if the slurry is cold enough, its not going to be a problem anyways (the point of the ice is to slow bacterial metabolic processes to stop spoiling)? Most fish handling articles I've read i've read say slurry is the way to go, so atm, i'm trusting the fish handling/commercial practices :p
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NightOwl
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I was under the
I was under the assumption that the bacteria present in fish are primarily responsible for the breakdown of the flesh. The bacteria can only function effectively at higher temperatures, by cooling the fish to 0 degrees, your causing the bacteria to slow down therfore slowing the breakdown of the flesh as well as levels of contamination.
For me personally, the importance of this would be the health risks involved in consuming fish, which if not cooled for long periods of time, would have high levels of bacterial contamination. (i can see why the 22kg longtail made those guys so sick)
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