What Do You Do With Your Catch ?

[Out Fishing]

I know this may seem like a really stupid question, especially to some of you seasoned anglers, but what do you do when you finally land that big one??

I just got back into fishing last year....surf fishing off the Jersey shore.  On two separate occasions I landed a nice striper,
but I didn't know what to do to keep it until I was done fishing for the day, so I just released them  (didn't even have my cell phone with me take snap a picture of them to show off).

Do you guys bring a cooler to keep your catch in....filled with seawater...ice?  How soon after you catch them do you have to butcher them?  Needless to say I don't know the first thing about gutting/cleaning/fileting a fish.  I was going to bring it to the local bait and tackle shop and have them butcher them and then bring them home....eat some and freeze the rest.

[Out Fishing]

Good question Rich.

When I'm fishing I will only take a fish under certain conditions.

In the past I was always complete catch and release, unless the fish was hooked somewhere and was bleeding from the gills. If I feel the fish isn't going to make it for any number of reasons and it's legal sized I'd snap a picture of it and take it home.

Every other fish gets a picture snapped if I have a camera (and more than not I don't) and released. I like to give a fish a nice one over. I enjoy inspecting the size of their jaws and colors. I will more often than not swim a big fish for a few minutes and you'll know when she's ready to go by the broad tail slap in the face of water

Come back again sweetie

In the past few years though I will take 1-2 legal fish per year if they meet my criteria. Clean of myco, 30-38" slot and healthy looking. Them is good friggin eatin fish man. My family does enjoy every bit of it. We get several meals out of a good fish and doesn't go to waste. I'm not the best fileter but I learned from my bigcat the wizard some tricks on how to do the stuff.

Now if you take a fish how long before you gut it.. Experts will tell you as soon as possible. Obviously you don't want the fish to get warm, it's going to spoil. Then again you see people in 3rd world countries catching stuff, leaving it out in the boat all day then bringing it to market the next day...and these people eat all of this. yick.

Soda bottle enema on the boat for a tuna, those are bled immediately on catch. Stick it in a cooler with a slurry of seawater. All fish will stay wicked cold that way.  On the beach that's hard to do unless you got a truck out there. If you walk out there then most will bury a bass in the sand somewhere and it will stay out of the sun/stay cool. Just make sure you mark the place

You can't legally filet a fish on the beach and walk off with the filets. You should leave the fish intact and it's ok to when you get home. If you can wrap it in something that's even better.

There's got to be a bazillion videos on utube that shows how to filet a bass. Those are not hard. Rapala makes a decent cheap filet knife with a included sharpener. My sawzall makes a mean tuna steak   Keep your knife pisser sharp.  Descale it outside on your lawn them frickin things go everywhere

[Out Fishing]

I release all stripers, blues, and false albacore, regardless of size. (I don't like to eat them, but I'd probably release them even if I did) About every five years or so I might keep a bonito or two for the table. I'll keep legal flounder when I'm after them, which isn't often. I don't know if I like redfish or not, so I might keep one or two this summer just to try them. (there's a slot limit on reds where I'm going, and the population is in pretty good shape, so I wouldn't have a problem with it) Like Salty said, the sooner you get the stomach and gills out of a fish, the better, since they're the parts that will decompose first and taint the meat. Rinse in SALT water and get them on ice as soon as possible. Overall though, there are a lot more valid reasons to release a fish than there are to keep it. There's absolutely no way to justify killing a big striped bass. They're lousy eating and they're the breeding stock for the species. IMO, the only way stripers are going to bounce back is to restore forage species, ban commercial exploitation, and institute a slot limit for recreational fishing. Sounds like a rant? You betcha it is.

[Out Fishing]

yea richie.....i take a pic of the fish and toss em back in the ocean............i catch and release all my fish......i just have fun catching them

[Out Fishing]

Thanks for all the input guys....much appreciated.