The Outdoor Line Forum

When you catch more than you know what to do with, what's your go to method to store it? What keeps it fresh as the day you caught it?

I got a vacuum sealer. I also like to smoke my fish, but that certainly isn't the way I pulled it out of the water so doesn't count lol

For fresh salmon, I like to vacuum seal the whole fish fillets, meat side touching each other in a large vacuum sealed bag. I'll put them in my large chest freezer that is rarely opened. This seems to last the longest. If it looks like I won't get to them for a while, I'll take 4 fish out at a time and, fillet the skin off then can them with jalapenos in 8oz jars after they have been brined in salt/apple juice then lightly smoked. The jar's make an easy quick snack so I tend to go through them quick.

For my deer this year, I just took it to a butcher and got back Jerky, summer sausage, steaks, and ground venison all packaged by the butcher. Much easier then doing it myself.

What reason do you do meat sides touching one another for salmon?

My experience is that it freezer burns from the outside in. I don't eat the skin so I use the skin as a extra layer of protection to ward off the fish from getting freezer burn. Plus I don't like the outside of the skin touching parts of the meat I eat. This is more important to me when the fish is from a river. When your catching silvers in October on an odd year, the banks are lined with rotting humpies and the river starts to get pretty nasty. Last thing I want is a crome silver to taste like a rotting humpy or whatever was last in the fish box.

Ok, that makes sense. I wouldn't want it tasting of rotting gross fish either. It is a simple and easy precaution to take.

Though vacuum sealing prevents freezer burn. Is it also in case the bag is punctured?