Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss eagle lake adventure

phil, u r correct, i dont know how to use a damn ziplock bag. i tried again last night with some nice trout i recently caught here at lake pardee (one was a 2 pounder)...leaked all over the freezer. i ended up using brian's method of saran wrap and ziploc bags just to get the dern things in the freezer. i went to college too!

cecil, out here in norcal reservoirs, i've noticed how if stocked hatchery fish raised on pellets (white meat) can survive at least a year in the reservoirs w/out getting caught, their meat eventually starts to turn pink, however i think some species are more pre-disposed to having pink or red meat. i've done a lot of fishing this week (following the eagle lake trip) and day before yesterday i caught a kokanee salmon, and yesterday i caught a landlocked king salmon both relatively young fish, but with deeply colored (pink/red) meat, whereas the half dozen rainbows i've caught this week leaned towards whiter meat even though they have been in these lakes a while. the eagle lake trout had the reddest meat of any trout i have ever seen.

interesting side note, we were fishing for bass at one point this week and i hooked a 24-inch sacramento squaw fish.....sorry i didnt get a pic. i didnt know much about squaw fish but apparently they are the largest of the minnow family in north america.

Don't be so quick to condemn your own abilities, DIED. Maybe the great state of California limits ziplock bags to the seal-proof variety. To prevent the possibility of a tragic hermetically sealed accident. For the sake of the children.

yup those are the ones i get. and phil thought i couldnt use a ziplock bag, ha.

george says we dont post enough fishin stories here, so here's another one from el dorado:
an interesting fish i caught the other day in folsom lake. the lake used to be (in)famous for its landlocked salmon, but it hasnt been managed for those in decades. apparently some have spawned and survived, and i caught one!!

its relatively small for a salmon (~19", 2.25lb), but it sure was fun to fight and catch, has a meat color like the eagle lake trout, and was fantastic to eat!!

The goal when freezing food is to keep the moisture in and the O2 out. Surrounding the fillet with ice is an acceptable "quick and dirty" way to do this, but a vacuum seal pouch is better. The longer it takes to freeze the fillet, the larger the ice crystals that will develop. The larger ice crystals do more damage to the cells of the fillet, that's why commercial freezing is done at super low temps (flash freezing). By surrounding the fillet with water you increase freezing time and therefore increase damage to the cell walls.

Another disadvantage of freezing in an ice block is the increased time to thaw the fillets. Besides being less convenient, the longer thaw time will keep the fillet in contact with water longer. The freezing process makes the fillet more permeable so soaking in water will leach out more flavor. Imitation crabmeat is produced by submerging fish fillets in very cold water because this process slowly removes the fishes inherent flavor.

Vacuum packaging is the best way to store refrigerated or frozen flesh, but it requires expensive equipment. If you're not too fussy about taste/texture then traditional techniques are fine. If you want to go completely over the top you can vacuum pack your fillets and flash freeze them with dry ice!

I'm not certain about all of the above statements, but there you go.


Fish freezing links:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/freeze/fish.html

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fnw615.htm

http://www.uaf.edu/ces/publications/freepubs/FNH-00222.html

http://www.continentalcarbonic.com/dryice/freezingfish.php

thanks gw.
based on yer original post here and the number of fish we've been lucky enough to catch recently, got to thinkin, a foodsaver vacuum sealer thingy is on the christmas list.

i forgot to ask my question above...........for any salmonid experts here.........is that fish a coho or a king?

my wife says its a coho
i say its a king

I think the sealers are common on charter fishing boats. Besides being good for freezing, the vacuum bags are an excellent way to keep fish iced down with minimal damage.

bruce, regarding the freeze branding of eagle lake trout, i am attempting to get a couple pics of the operation, but i learned that the nitrogen freeze branding is done with a real homegrown system....its a modified 5-gallon metal bucket with a steel bolt sticking out the bottom. they fill the container w/ nitrogen which supercools the bolt. after the fish are anesthesized, they hold each fish up to the bolt for 5 seconds or so freezing the skin. sometimes the skin at the contact point comes off but it apparently does not hurt the flesh or the fish and it eventually heals up. the fish then go into a antibiotic rich bath to revive before being released.

"cecil, out here in norcal reservoirs, i've noticed how if stocked hatchery fish raised on pellets (white meat) can survive at least a year in the reservoirs w/out getting caught, their meat eventually starts to turn pink, however i think some species are more pre-disposed to having pink or red meat."

I've seen that too in the trout I used to catch out east and here in Indiana. Again it's the carotene they are getting in their natural diet vs. the pellets they were fed at the hatchery. Zooplankton and other crustaceans are rich in carotene.

once again, all i can say is WOW!

from 10/15 to 10/22 we had the best weather, best company, best fishing in years. limits for the boat every day except one, fish from 1.5 to 5 pounds averaging 3 pounds. can you imagine consistently releasing 2 to 3 pound fish becuase you are catching so many? every method worked, man i love this place.

the guy who owns the castle reportedly invented road reflectors (which you guys up nort dont have because of snow).



















fish on......

NICE.....!!!!!

Makes me jealous

thanks george and mike.
george, there's one spot on the lake where the fly guys were amazing to watch. these guys were using heavier rods and doing double and triple hauls into the wind, getting over a 100 feet out and nailing fish (i trolled flys w/ my fly rod behind the boat

mike, it makes me jealous too.......the 358 days a year i am not up there.

we cooked up a couple fish last night w/ an unusual recipe i think i mentioned here before. soak fillets in lowry's teriyaki marinade, cook in oven, put on plate, dribble maple syrup on fish.....dang....yum yum...i think even JWHAP would like them.

My stomach is just groaning thinking about those tasty fish.

Wow, beautiful photos Dave!

How big was the fish in your right hand?

What no bacon????

Dang that recipe does sound good though.

the two i'm holding went 4 and 4.5 pounds. the average fish caught was 2 to 3 pounds. over the week about three 5+ pounders were taken by other guys in our group. its an incredible fishery.

Billy Gibbons from ZZTop

Kenny Chesney

The Edge from U2

Honestly. Bruce, #1 looks more like Keenan Wynn portraying Billy Gibbons.

i figured you'd like those.....
in the spirit, here's another shot of mabro......

He seems to bear a little more Santa Clause than you D.I.E.D.

Dang, I missed the boat (no pun intended) on the ZZ Top reference.

Fishing vest, sunblock hat,
I dont worry coz my wallets fat.
No shades, No gloves,
Lookin sharp and lookin for love.
They come swimming just as fast as they can
Coz every fish crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

a friend sent some pics he took. he managed more and better fish pics than i did, but (since i caught the most beautiful fish of the entire week if i do say so myself ) thought i'd share a few more, they are worth it. my bro caught some nice ones too.

an awesome ~4.5 lb red phase buck:

What makes a fish go into "red phase"?

It's a gorgeous fish. Will ZZ Top be opening for you guys?

After reviewing the above photos I have the following comments:

1. Beautiful fish.

2. Dave you need a more stylish hat.

3. Your jacket is so bright I think I just burned my retinas.

4. Beautiful fish.

The easiest way I tell them apart in the Great Lakes is:
King - black gums, black mouth
Coho - white gums, black mouth
Steelies (Rainbow Trout on Steroids) - white gums, white mouth

Based on your pics of what I can see, looks to be a Chinook.