Freezing fish, dumb newbie question.

Ok I read on here to cook bream whole. I did and they were great. I also read that some of you leave the fins on. Sounds good to me. I caught a mess and froze them in plastics bags with water. When I checked one of my bags had leaked in the freezer. Investigation revealed fin had punctured bag. I caught a second batch and tried again ( I know Dummy!), this bag punctured also. This time I had enough foresight to place the bag in a bowl so spill was contained. I assume the logical fix is to remove the fins, but those of you that don't how do you freeze them?

You folks are my heroes. I will do anything you say, so don't lead me astray. I am already on kitchen probation....except dishes.

Well it has been years since I froze any in water with the fins on since my wife prefers the boneless skinless fillets. When I did freeze as you mentioned it was in some sort of container other than plastic zip lock type bags. Country Crock butter tubs and the large Cool Whip bowls were used by my grandmother and of course re-purposed to freeze fish with fins. Not sure of your quantity or size that you are freezing but any plastic container that will fit your catch should work and be sure to leave headspace for the expansion of the water. Any containers you use will hopefully be able to be re-used. There are all kinds of Tupperware type containers out there now, and with Discount stores like Ollies and Big Lots in our area something plastic with a decent lid shouldn't be hard to find and hopefully will even be stackable.

Only leave tails on ,not spines . Scale then fillet is my deal . Attachment 430033

When I freeze them in water I use the plastic ziploc storage containers.

I can remember freezing them in milk cartons growing up

Thanks to all. I fillet the crappie, but scale, remove head, gut the bluegill and shell cracker. I had thought about cutting the tops out of 1/2 gallon milk jugs. Stackable tubs sounds good. Thanks.

they must be laid VERY gently in the bags when you bag them with fins on , nestle them carefully and place them in the freezer very gently like you handle a newborn is the word . any slightly rough stuff will result in a penetration in lots of cases .
also use "freezer" bags as they are typically slightly thicker grade bags .
NEVER drop them in tail first in the bag ,super big no no .....just saying

We use gallon milk or water jugs. Cut just enough of the top out to be able to get the fish in without having to force it in. Wash rinse freeze repeat [emoji106]

I don’t freeze many with fins , but when I do it’s like suggested above ^ , extra care , thick bags and I put them in a pan or bowl till frozen solid in case they leak.


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