What You Need to Clean a Fish When Camping

If you’ve caught a fish, and you’re not going to cook it immediately, then at least bleed it while waiting to catch more for dinner. You can do this by cutting the main artery leading to the gills so the “blood” drains out and doesn’t get into the meat. It’s safe to keep UN-cleaned fish on a stringer in a cool river for a short time, but avoid putting already-gutted fish back into the water to prevent the meat’s contamination.

Where to Clean Your Fish

When you are at last ready to clean your fish it is best, for sanitary purposes, to clean fish at designated fish cleaning stations. But if there are no designated cleaning stations around, then make sure when cleaning fish that you are doing this activity away from your campsite and away from neighboring campsites as well; this is to keep wildlife—like forest animals (e.g. birds, skunks, raccoons, bears, etc.) and insects (e.g. flies, mosquitoes, and other pesky bugs)—from disturbing your camp and those of your neighbors. Note that it may be preferable to clean fish while still at the lake so that the leavings (i.e. the fish remains) can be returned into the lake to be recycled by Mother Nature’s other creatures. Besides, if the feel of fish scales, slime, or entrails is too unpleasant for you during the process, then it may be best to indeed clean your fish near the water you caught it in. However, if there are laws against cleaning fish on the lake or if there are laws against dumping fish remains back into the lake, then make sure to abide by the laws, and dispose of the fish remains in appropriate containers after you’ve cleaned.

What You Need to Clean Your Fish

To begin, gather the materials needed to start the process of cleaning fish. Here is what you should have on hand:

• A fish scalier or a dull knife to scrape off the scales
• A fillet knife that is sharp
• A pair of pliers to pull out the dorsal fin
• Bottles of fresh water to rinse off the fillets (avoid cleaning fish with lake or stream water because they may have substances that will contaminate the edible parts you feed on)
• Cooking salt to place on fish to mask fishy smell
• Lemons to squeeze lemon juice onto the fish to mask the fishy smell after you’ve rinsed off the cooking salt
• A covered container to hold the cleaned fillets
• A bucket to gather water from the lake to rinse the cleaning area clean, a rag to wipe off your hands after handling the fish
• Half a lemon to eliminate fish odors from your hands when the activity is done

Now that you’re all ready and prepared read part two “How to Clean a Fish When Camping“.

Author: Mariecor Agravante

Edited By: CampTrip.com