You've spent hours knee-deep in your favorite stream landing some of the best-looking fish you've ever seen.
Maybe you've spent hours fighting the current and the tides at the mouth of the Kenai River dipnetting for red salmon.
Now it's time to go home.
Is your catch still good? Will it be by the time it hits the freezer? More importantly, will it still taste good in a couple months after you thaw it out and grill it up?
The proper decisions during the first few minutes after you land that halibut or salmon will determine how much you enjoy the fish later on.
"Fish need to be bled and gutted quickly and then kept cold," said Lisa Hanson, owner of Custom Seafood Processors Inc. in Soldotna. "Doing those things makes a huge difference in the quality of the fish. They're going to eat this stuff later."
Hanson said her company has been in business for 10 years and will process about 5,000 pounds of fish on a busy summer day. Custom Seafood has large blast freezers and a crew of 32 workers in the summer. The company charges $1.50 per pound to fillet, vacuum seal and freeze fish.
Hanson has a number of suggestions to help anglers get the highest quality fish when they return home. They include:
Bleeding
Cut the gills and let the fish bleed out. Also, prevent the fish from flopping around. The flesh of fish, especially halibut, is tender and can bruise easily.
"It only takes 30 seconds to slash through the gills," Hanson said. "Otherwise, all the blood pools in the belly cavity and it causes spoilage. It starts immediately."
Gutting
Gut the fish as soon as possible. It will help prevent spoilage and will keep parasites from migrating into the flesh.
Ice
Always keep crushed ice available in a cooler. Pack the gut cavity with ice, and put the fish in a cooler.
"Make sure you keep the fish out of direct sun," Hanson said. "Some people just toss their fish in a garbage bag and let it sit there in the sun all day. You open the bag and you've got a half-baked salmon."
Processing
Fillet the fish as soon as possible, but not at the fishing location. Cut the fillets in a usable portion size. A whole fish in the freezer often doesn't get used up.
"It's best if you don't try to fillet the fish right there on the riverbanks," Hanson said. "Fillets get sandy. Sometimes the sand even gets ground into the fish.
"It's best to wait until later to fillet. If you cut the fillet up right there, you expose all that meat to the bacteria that's in the water or on the ground."
Freezing
Freeze the fish as soon as possible. Hanson said fish processors use freezers that reach minus 40 degrees. Most home freezers don't get that cold. If an angler is going to freeze fish at home, Hanson suggests not putting all the fish in one freezer at the same time.
"If you put more than 10 pounds of raw fish in a freezer it will warm the freezer up," she said. "If you put 40 or 50 pounds in the freezer, it can take days to freeze. The fish might actually spoil before it freezes."
She said to spread fish out in the freezer so air circulates around them. Also, put some of the catch in a friend's freezer to lighten the load on one freezer. Once the fish is in the freezer don't open the freezer to check on it. Cold air will escape.
