Proper Care and Handling of Sport Caught Fish: From Stream to Table

May 3, 2004 (Updated December 2007, June 2008)
Suzanne Driessen
University of Minnesota Extension Educator, Food Science
Email: driessen@umn.edu

Many anglers catch and eat fish during the fishing seasons in Minnesota. While you are packing your tackle box with all of the supplies you need to catch fish, Suzanne Driessen, University of Minnesota Extension Educator specializing in food safety, reminds anglers to also pack the right equipment to keep fish from spoiling.

Driessen says fish tastes “fishy” when it hasn’t been handled properly. Driessen provides the following tips from the University of Minnesota Sea Grant Program (http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/fish/cooking.html) to handle your catch safely.

Because of its high protein content, fish spoils quickly. If you keep fish alive, use a metal mesh basket or a live well and keep them under water in the lake or river. A stringer can damage the flesh and increase the chance of bacteria contamination. Fish stored in a bucket of water uses up the limited amount of oxygen quickly and die. Spoilage begins as soon as the fish dies.

When you're ready to clean and dress your catch, scale, gut, and remove the head and fins. Wash thoroughly and drain. Ice is the key to fresh tasting fish. Chill and store fish in crushed ice. One pound of ice for each 2 pounds of fish is a good rule of thumb. Freeze small fish whole. You can freeze fish in a block of ice by placing the fish is a single layer in a freezer container. Cover the fish with cold water and freeze. Freeze fish at 0°F or lower. The University of Minnesota Sea Grant research found fish stored at 15°F for as little as 2 weeks showed a significant loss of quality.

Cooking destroys harmful bacteria and parasites. Outbreaks of the broad fish tapeworm infections have occurred in Minnesota due to eating uncooked pickled pike. The larvae of the broad fish tapeworm passes through smaller fish until they lodge as hatched small worms in the flesh of larger species like northern pike, walleye pike, sand pike, burbot and yellow perch. This worm, if eaten by humans, can attach to the small intestine and grow to lengths of 10-30 feet. Don't eat raw fish unless it has been frozen for 48 hours to destroy parasites. Freeze fish at 0°F for 48 hours before pickling. Don't overcook your fish. Cooking fish at too high a temperature or for too long a time toughens it, dries it out and destroys the flavor. Insert a fork into the thickest part of the fish and lift up to see if the fish is white throughout or cook to 155°F as measured by a food thermometer.

Before you live solely on fish, Driessen advises reviewing the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), latest fish consumption advisories. These are based upon the levels of mercury and PCBs found in fish from Minnesota's lakes and rivers. View the advisories at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/fish/index.html. Lake survey reports and site-specific recommendations can be found on the MDH website at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/fish/eating/sitespecific.html.

Peer reviewed by Deb Botzek-Linn, University of Minnesota Regional Extension Educator, Food Science, December 17, 2007.