Fish of coarse

[Les Marshall]

Our ancestors used to eat course fish, they would make them more pallatable by the use of herbs growing wild.

 

[mojofilter]

Perch is the best tasting coarse fish, just gut it, head it, tail it and scale it
(not necessarily in that order). To cook it just bung it under the grill or over a fire. They are dead easy to catch with spinners (had one take a home made lure 1/2 inch shorter than its self) or with bait, big old lob worms (nightcrawlers to our friends in the U.S of A)out of your garden are the number one, nip the end of the tail off when you hook it up. The best spinner to use is a silver Ondex number 5.

I remember seeing on a site somewhere, I think it was called "trolling the scottish lochs" or something similar, that the guy who wrote it said perch was his favourite freshwater fish to eat, preferable to sea trout, salmon and brown trout. I find this hard to believe, but will eat the next one of any decent size that I catch. As far as I am concerned nothing can beat a wee brownie on taste.

stuart

 

[Lithril]

So you can pretty much eat any of the british fish, but what about gutting techniques. Never had to do it myself yet but isn't botulism a factor to take into account (I know it definately is with salmon.) Botulism lives in the mud and the fish consume this when feeding, the toxin is one of the most deadly known to man and there have definately been some reports of people dying (again from Salmon) where the stomachs been cut whilst gutting.

 

[slyfox]

The Russians eat carp and chub, they think were mad putting them back in after a fishing session.

 

[the naughty boy]

perch??? lol ,far too many bones. for a real treat try pike. one under 4 pounds weight. lovely big flakes of meat like cod.

in my club waters [ fly fishing ] there are a lot of jack pike caught.all are killed as its a dedicated and stocked trout lake.the owner told me that after you,ve tasted pike - you,ll wonder why your eating trout! apparently theres a large female in the water about 35 pounds weight.thats one large mutha!

 

[the naughty boy]

over the last few weeks i have been back at the flyfishing, funny how sick you can get of eating trout! big 2.5 pounders of lean fish.thankfully im a member and it only costs me 1.50 per pound of fish and after the first one i can catch and release all day :-D

there are a lot of jack pike in the lake and people are asked to knock them on the head if caught ,so ive asked the owner to put them in the fridge for me ,looking forward to a nice bar,b,q of pike fillets soon.at least theyre not going to waste

 

[BorderReiver]

I tried a zander over the christmas break. The meat looked fantastic, quite like cod. Sadly when cooked it was rather chewy and had a definite muddy taste, even though I'd soaked the fillets for a day, changing the water frequently.

Dave

Ate zander on a frozen lake in Finland Dave.Delicious.

Catch,kill,fillet,cook and eat.Don't hang about,it goes off quickly.

BTW,it is a good idea to make a fish soup if you don't like the taste.You can pile in all sorts of stuff to suit your taste buds

 

[slyfox]

You can eat Chub, it just tastes smokey (probably **** cooking)
but tastes alright not muddy, caught on small bit ov luncheon meat
(princes blue luncheon meat) as its harder than the mince crap.and nice to munch on while your waiting.
I always fish with a clip on braid hair rigs, that way you have a little selection of hook ups with out messing around with your main line (and im lazy)
Sly.

 

[Dave Barker]

So you can pretty much eat any of the british fish, but what about gutting techniques. Never had to do it myself yet but isn't botulism a factor to take into account (I know it definately is with salmon.) Botulism lives in the mud and the fish consume this when feeding, the toxin is one of the most deadly known to man and there have definately been some reports of people dying (again from Salmon) where the stomachs been cut whilst gutting.

Fish meat is totally sterile until the gut is opened.

You can do something called roundcleaning of you are unsure, kill, and bleed the fish, then remove the head and tke the head and gut out through the neck.

This way you are sure the gut isn't punctured, ans after the stomack is out yo can split the gut as normal and give it a good clean inside.

The gall bladder ( which is green) is something you do not want to puncture tho, it adds a really bad tast to the meat!

 

[Tantalus]

botulism salmonella e.coli

scary stuff ? nah i dont think so really, they are all naturally ocurring bacteria

fish (or other animal for that matter) can live happily enough with these bacteria in their systems

problem arises when the fish in this case, is dead. The bacteria attack the flesh and poison it with toxic wastes.

This takes time

simple solution then is to catch your supper fresh, clean it well and cook it as soon as possible.

dangers arise when stuff is not fresh, poorly cleaned , and poorly cooked

as far as i know there are no poisonous fish in the uk

so sticking to simple common sense hygene ya can enjoy whatever ya can catch

Tant

 

[Tantalus]

oops forgot the most important, as i take it for granted

:tw: Tant

only eat healthy specimens

fish with visible disease or abnormal growths inside or out should be discarded

what is normal? look for deep red gills, and deep red liver with no spots or blotches. skin colour on a fresh fish is bright and vivid. and lastly check the eyes

fresh fish the eyes are fully inflated and crystal clear
they slowly deflate after death. after approx 2 days they will be concave and cloudy

Tant

 

[Realgar]

Go easy on the eels - stocks are at a critical low. I regularly eat crucian carp, as long as it's from reasonable water it's pretty good and not too bony it also dries and smokes well. Roach taste fine but have loads of small bones. Gudgeon are excellent done like whitebait and you can have minnows prepared the same way. Signal crayfish are now so prolific that I've got fifty or so in an hour simply by tying a small piece of meat to my landing net and resting it on the river bottom. Just make sure you leave the native crayfish alone.

Anyone know if swan and zebra mussels are even remotely safe to eat?
Realgar

 

[jakunen]

Just to add my ha'penth.

Anything that grubs in the bottom for food will generally taste muddy, where as predators - pike, eel, zander, perch, chub, grayling, will taste better.

Even small fish such as minnow, gudgeon and bleak can be eaten. In the middle ages they were all eaten as 'whitebait'. Just dust in flour, fry and eat the whole thing. Had gudgeon. Wasn't too bad washed down with a pitn of real ale...

The only poisonous fish I can think of in British waters is the Weaver fish but that is coastal (poisonous spines in dorsal fine like tropical stone fish).

Not sure about the mussels, but would be cautious as they live in silt and may contain high levels of botulism(sp?)

 

[masongary44]

Guys, I was wondering, there is a lot of talk about the type of lure to use, and lots of personal preferences....

Is there any guidence as to the ideal line strength for use in UK inland waters, in-particularly for yuse with the old "tin can for a real" method??. I expect that this works best for Spinners than most other lures.

Are there any good tried and tested methods for fishing using passive systems i.e. auto striking systems. I have seen images of snare type traps that trigger when a fish pulls the line... do they work??

Gary :super:

 

[Ed]

in-particularly for yuse with the old "tin can for a real" method??.

If you are talking about a handline then don't in the UK. All water is owned and fishing rites are so jealously guarded. To fish you need a rod license in the UK which means using a rod. In many areas using a handline is classed as poaching and they will get you in a great deal of trouble.... even for a first offence.

Ed

 

[Ed]

I have seen images of snare type traps that trigger when a fish pulls the line... do they work??

You mean like a speedhook?
http://thetradingpost.co.uk/
Yes they work, but again in the UK, only use them on the end of a normal rod and line. Some areas may not let you use them at all so check with the relevant authoratoy.... though most have probably never heard of them :-( and WONT give you an answer one way or another......


Ed

 

[Adi007]

Both hand lines and Speedhooks are, however, perfectly legal for sea use.

 

[masongary44]

Geez, hows a man supposed to survive in our wilderness.... Its a wonder that people are able to learn the skills they have over here....

I suppose it all comes down to money in the end...

I will just have to keep packing that tin of spam and beef jerky

G:

 

[Burnt Ash]

Ed the cotton wool and worms is for EELS!

It's not cotton wool, but wool wool that was used for eel 'babbing' (and preferably, nice hairy Worsted!)

Incidentally, the only British freshwater fish that I've heard of as being toxic are parts of the barbel during the breeding season. Chub is pretty uninspiring. Small gudgeon, bleak and minnows can be treated like whitebait: battered and deep fried. Grayling, perch and pike are excellent. Of the salmonids (okay, grayling are related), wild Hebridean brown trout rolled in oats and fried in bacon fat take some beating. Fresh run 'spring' Atlantic salmon, sea trout and Arctic char are all at the gourmet end of the market. Eels are eaten in huge quantities in continental Europe (paling, in Holland) and were -I understand- held in the highest esteem as food by the ancient Greeks.

Burnt Ash

 

[BorderReiver]

I tried a zander over the christmas break. The meat looked fantastic, quite like cod. Sadly when cooked it was rather chewy and had a definite muddy taste, even though I'd soaked the fillets for a day, changing the water frequently.

Dave

Had zander in Finland in February.Caught,cleaned,cooked and eaten all within half an hour.Delicious.
IMO fish taste the best when at their freshest.