Geoff Thomas: Noisy craft make fishing hard

As soon as you have dispatched your fish get it on to ice. Photo / Geoff Thomas

That is the common story at many holiday spots at the moment. The reason, as mentioned before in the Herald fishing column, is the invasion of boats and other noisy craft like jet skis.

"No wonder there are no fish around," said diving mate Peter as he surfaced with a catch bag of scallops at Opito Bay, on the Coromandel Peninsula, the other day. Pete had gone down without his dive hood and the sound of boats buzzing overhead was deafening. Sound carries under water far more efficiently than it does in the air, and fish are definitely affected by it. Except for kingfish, which are not concerned and even display a certain curiosity when they approach a boat or a diver.

So what should we do with the fish we do catch?

There is a saying that every hour out of water reduces the fridge life of fish by one day.

That is unless the fish has been dispatched quickly and put on to ice. With snapper, it is a question of inserting a spike or knife point into the brain and twisting it to deliver instant death. We prefer a short, solid knife rather than a slim point as the brain is easily missed. A broad knife point twisted quickly will destroy the area above and behind the eye.

Avoid using a fillet knife as the thin blade may snap.

Other fish, such as kahawai and trevally, can be iki-ied (the Japanese term for spiking the brain), or can be rapped on the head. Some people like to bleed their kahawai by slitting the throat and holding it over the side to drain. Kingfish can also be bled by slicing the membrane adjacent to the gills, securing with a rope through the mouth and tying to the duck board or hanging over the side to keep blood out of the boat.

Whatever the method of dispatching your fish, the most important thing is to get them on ice as soon as possible.

Serious anglers will adopt the commercial fishing approach and put fish into a bin with salt ice and seawater. This thick slurry lowers the body temperature quickly and ensures the best quality fillets.

Some fish, such as tuna and dogfish, should first be trunked by removing the head and guts. Tuna like albacore and skipjack or yellowfin can be bled by inserting a knife into the lateral line as far as the backbone, from the side, two fingers' width behind the pectoral fin. This severs a main artery and they bleed profusely.

So you get your valuable catch home and what happens next? Or a friendly neighbour drops off some fresh-caught fish or fillets if you are lucky.

Small fish like kahawai and school snapper can be quickly cleaned by inserting two fingers into the mouth and tearing the lower jaw, gills, pectoral fins and guts out all in one movement.

But we prefer to keep whole fish in the fridge overnight for the flesh to set. This gives better quality fillets than fish which are filleted immediately. We wrap fish like snapper in newspaper, which absorbs blood and slime.

But avoid plastic. Fish and plastic are a bad combination. Your fish or fillets will sweat and fridge life is reduced.

Fillets should be kept dry, not put away wet. It is not necessary to wash freshly cut fillets. What are you removing? A little blood, or slime or scales; which are all part of the fish anyway. Fillets will keep twice as long if kept dry. They can always be washed prior to cooking. If living by the sea or on a boat, any washing should always be done in seawater, not fresh tap water.

So you want to keep your fillets in the fridge for a day or two? No problem. Just put them in a bowl with something on the bottom like an upturned saucer or crossed forks and spoons.

This will hold your fish above any juices which leak down and this is the stuff that will eventually send your fillets off if they are lying in it. Then seal with cling film.

Freezing fish is avoided in our household, but some may wish to keep extra fish and firm-fleshed species such as kingfish or hapuka can be frozen for a short time. It is best to keep the fish in large chunks rather than slices, and the fish should be dry and well wrapped in cling film with any air squeezed out of the parcel. Air and water cause freezer burn.

Or, you can always try the American approach where they put whole trout into cardboard milk container and fill it with water. This seals the fish in ice to keep it in good condition. Of course, this system requires very small fish, which is the case with trout in the US where they are the size of pilchards, or seriously large milk containers. But you get the picture.