The Fishing Website : Discussion Forums : Mushy blue cod https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/ Sun, 02 Aug 2026 16:09:27 +0000 Fri, 22 Dec 2017 11:01:12 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.01 360 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=126599 <![CDATA[The Fishing Website : Discussion Forums]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_images/web_wiz_forums.png https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/ <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : Apex Predator wrote:I’m not...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711852&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711852 Author: OuttaHere
Subject: 126599
Posted: 22 Dec 2017 at 11:01am

Originally posted by Apex Predator Apex Predator wrote:

I’m not travelling far at all at the moment Steps. Round trip usually around 15, sometimes 20 nm. Fish your feet first. Save the gas for Jan-April trips out wide.

As an aside, 15-20nm round trip is fishing your feet? My last trip out was right on 1nm for the entire day's fishing :)
]]> Fri, 22 Dec 2017 11:01:12 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711852&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711852 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : We find square 1.5 ltr plastic...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711849&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711849 Author: bazza
Subject: 126599
Posted: 22 Dec 2017 at 10:27am

We find square 1.5 ltr plastic bottles the type coconut water come in are just the right size to make a bottom layer of a frozen base & fill them with sea water which freezes to a lower temp than fresh water & lasts much longer.
Adding a bucket of sea water seems for some reason to lower the temp inside the bin more than the bottles alone without the fish making contact with any slurry. Once back home can choose whether to clean/fillet fish then or leave it overnight until the next morning ... the latter option being our preference.
 
In any event the bottles go back into the freezer where they freeze ready to use the next time or to thaw & use to submerge live shellfish or suchlike to keep both alive & fresh.
 
We choose to have one of the bottles filled with frozen drinking water should it be required but is essential the sea water filled bottles are identifiable as not a pleasant experience to take a swig of sea water when thirsty.
 
The above works for us plus avoids having to go out to purchase salt
ice not to mention the convenience of always having it on hand &
would not like to guess at the money saved over the years other than it would be substantial. 
]]> Fri, 22 Dec 2017 10:27:52 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711849&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711849 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : We did the frozen bottles before...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711845&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711845 Author: Steps
Subject: 126599
Posted: 22 Dec 2017 at 9:16am

We did the frozen bottles before the frozen containers , triped into the bin.
 Frozen bottles are round, take a up a lot of room per volume in the freezer and in the bin... Put the slower cooling of the fish down to the gaps, throw in your point on water insulation..
Because of that went to square milk bottles.
 Again difficult to get good contact with fish, and the water insulation effect would have been there too.
The ice blocks worked well, just more work.
Hence why now using the varying sized bricks.

 Perfect weather window today ..good tides, an afternoon / evening fish today.
]]> Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:16:13 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711845&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711845 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : Frozen bottles of sea water will...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711813&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711813 Author: Apex Predator
Subject: 126599
Posted: 21 Dec 2017 at 5:59pm

Frozen bottles of sea water will not work as well as direct contact with the ice. The reason is that the ice in the bottle quickly becomes insulated from the water you are trying to cool and you are effectively trying to chill the water in your bin with cold water in your bottles.

I’m not travelling far at all at the moment Steps. Round trip usually around 15, sometimes 20 nm. Fish your feet first. Save the gas for Jan-April trips out wide. ]]> Thu, 21 Dec 2017 17:59:01 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711813&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711813 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : As to fish storage temps recommended...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711812&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711812 Author: Steps
Subject: 126599
Posted: 21 Dec 2017 at 5:33pm

As to fish storage temps recommended I think from memory its 2 to 5 degs (??) Will check with those regs/ specs later.

Wet fish storage  0 to -2 deg
 can go as 5.9 deg, over that its dumped
Fillets kept at 0 to 4.9 deg
]]> Thu, 21 Dec 2017 17:33:13 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711812&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711812 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : Thanks Cam and Apex.I reckon i&#039;ll...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711777&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711777 Author: Clifftastic
Subject: 126599
Posted: 21 Dec 2017 at 11:01am

Thanks Cam and Apex.

I reckon i'll slurry for an hour after the last fish has hit the bin, then drain all the liquid off and repeat until filleting time. Sounds like the best way to keep fish in good nick alright.
]]> Thu, 21 Dec 2017 11:01:25 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711777&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711777 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : Before going to the ice bricks...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711775&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711775 Author: Steps
Subject: 126599
Posted: 21 Dec 2017 at 10:35am

Before going to the ice bricks we also froze salt water.. in 1 and 2 L and 3L  blocks..
 Comments above on never let fresh water near salt water fish.. be it in the bin or rinsing fully agree..

Blocks this size dont melt anywhere as fast as flake or chips, with far less liquid in the bottom..
but did not cool the fish very fast, espec larger fish.
 It was from this we progressed to gutting , and handling smaller ice bricks to put inside the gut cavity evolved to..
 Also far easier to stack in the bait freezer than a pile of 1 plastic containers of 1 to 3L.. with bait, bags gut frames etc for making future batches of burely and the 2L containers of burley... and extra work filing freezing MT ing etc.
 And yes we had cracked the bottoms of 2 chilly bins dropping frozen blocks ice into them...and maybe when hit a couple big waves , big crash coming down off them.
 AP above.. yep certainly see the reasoning , and agree with his larger blocks
AP goes far wider than us, catches far bigger fish than us, his bins far  bigger than our modest 50/60L chilly bin.
 Cloudy eyes.. thats only a concern for presentation in a retail freezer.. re sale value...not relievent to recs.
 As to fish storage temps recommended I think from memory its 2 to 5 degs (??) Will check with those regs/ specs later.
 And there was something about salt water fish dont freeze like meat at 0 degs.. if they did there would be a lot floating (not due to comms) fish in the cooled parts of the oceans.

]]> Thu, 21 Dec 2017 10:35:16 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711775&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711775 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : I disagree that you should not...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711771&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711771 Author: Apex Predator
Subject: 126599
Posted: 21 Dec 2017 at 10:01am

I disagree that you should not let dead fish sit in water but if you do the water should be as cold as possible.  This is because very cold water will chill the fish quicker than flaked ice on its own will and is why Coms use a slurry.

I freeze 8-9l of seawater in a 10l bucket.  I have fabricated plastic dividers so that I get 4 big solid blocks of frozen sea water (I found that one 10kg block slides around and can split the inside liner of a plastic fish bin). I put this in my ice bin with around 10l of seawater.  This lasts all day and the water in the bin chills to around -1 or -2 degrees, so cold that you cannot hold your hands in it.  It stays clean and I will only change the water if I get a bleeder in there.

I don't iki any fish I keep.  The water is cold enough to stun them.  When the eyes start going cloudy this means the fish are starting to freeze but they don't freeze solid and if you thaw them from this state they still look alive.  They are really easy to fillet straight out of the bin and there is no mess, no blood contamination and no detrimental affect on the fillets.  Another rule I have is to not ever let fresh water touch the fish as it seems to make it go off a lot quicker.  This includes fresh water ice and even melted salt ice (which is virtually fresh water anyway) 

That's what works for me, it's cheap and effective, I only ever buy salt ice when I am heading away for several days.


]]> Thu, 21 Dec 2017 10:01:07 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711771&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711771 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : What this means for recceys is.best...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711754&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711754 Author: Steps
Subject: 126599
Posted: 21 Dec 2017 at 8:45am

What this means for recceys is.
best to cool fish as quickly as possible but not let sit in water.
Flaky salt ice spread threw the fish with the bung out of your chilly bin is the best option, if you do this to the best of your abillity even post spawn snapper comming out of 20degc+ water will be firm and fresh and the muscle will glisten with rainbow colours when filleted up to 10 hours later just like if you filleted the moment you got it on board.

 Therefore where we have 'evolved' our rec handling of our fish.. noticing changes and improvements in the 'pan'
 Gutting out, then throw in the bin, stacking the ice bricks inside the gut and lifting them up thru the  fish as the bin fills amounts to the same thing.
We have several sizes of bricks in the bin.
 Gutting means far less bulk needs to be cooled down, and therefore cools faster/ easier.
Without any issue of messy slurry being drained out of the bottom of the bin.

We also have a set of kitchen shearers, these chop off the top 1/2  to  2/3 rds of the top and bottom sharp spines.
Certainly make the final filleting/ scaling/ processing lot faster as dont worry about getting spiked.
And the lemon juice to kill the fish odors when wash down.. doesnt sting.
( A cool trick  picked up from Bazza)
]]> Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:45:35 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711754&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711754 <![CDATA[Mushy blue cod : thanks Cam...that makes a lot...]]> https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711720&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711720 Author: Uncle
Subject: 126599
Posted: 20 Dec 2017 at 9:58pm

thanks Cam...that makes a lot of sense.]]> Wed, 20 Dec 2017 21:58:49 +0000 https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126599&PID=1711720&title=mushy-blue-cod#1711720