Been running a experiment on freezing fish.

Used to I'd fillet em, rinse rinse rinse then put them in a bag of clean water, close, and freeze. Noticed mushy crappie way to often. Lately I've been filleting them and as I do I put the fillet in a bowl of ice water, not rinsing at all, when I'm done cleaning they go straight to a zip lock bag filled with water to freeze. Firmer fillet. When I'm ready to cook I thaw then rinse.

Maybe rinsing them and trying to "clean" it up too much was putting too much water or removing too much protection from cell damage from the freezing process... :???

Keeping them cold from start (catchin) to finish (freeze'n) could help . I always try to put fillets in ice water when cleaning. Then after rinsing , place in ziplock, add a little ice water , squeeze out air and most of water with out crushing fillets, then freeze as usual. I never have any complaints.
Some folks keep Crappie on ice too long or let die in livewells and they will turn mushy fast.

Could be... I always felt that freezing in water was the culprit. When water freezes it expands, if your soft fillets are in that water when you freeze it, seems logical to me that the pressure from the expanding water/ice would crush the fillets making them mushy. If freezing water can make potholes in asphalt roads, it's got to be tough on fish.

I vacuum pack with no water, they come out firm and fresh everytime.

Actually the freezing water is probably not creating that much pressure. It is in a bag that allows for expansion. Yep, the individual water particles could do some cell damage, but I doubt that is the issue. Too many people for too long have been storing fish in frozen water. I remember as a kid my dad's friend giving him frozen crappie in used milk cartons. Then the friend graduated to plastic bags filled with water, twisted and twist tied shut. We traded him honey since we had a honey farm.

After reading several posts on how to take care of fish, I have for the first time this spring had fish that I had frozen after thawed and fried and were as fresh as day I put them in. I used to pack in water and freeze but this past winter I dried all water I could get off fish and vacuumed the fillets and this seems to be much better in my opinion.

I would imagine vacu-sealed with no water would be best.

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Originally Posted by DrNip

I would imagine vacu-sealed with no water would be best.

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x2 - pat dry before vaccum packing

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Originally Posted by EnonEye

x2 - pat dry before vaccum packing

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x3

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

Keeping them cold from start (catchin) to finish (freeze'n) could help . I always try to put fillets in ice water when cleaning. Then after rinsing , place in ziplock, add a little ice water , squeeze out air and most of water with out crushing fillets, then freeze as usual. I never have any complaints.
Some folks keep Crappie on ice too long or let die in livewells and they will turn mushy fast.

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The most important first step is just what is said above. Clean your fish as soon as possible and keep them alive and active right up to that point. Then we fillet directly into cold water - that sets and stabilizes the meat as well as cooling it down - then wash them to get out any remaining blood. If you fillet fish that have been dead too long, you will almost certainly get mushy meat and you can feel it when you do the filleting. On ice is not anywhere near as good as butchering live fish. If you do not cool the meat immediately it will actually heat up warm enough to feel and then you also get unnecessary deterioration. The best next step though is the vacuum sealer. Those bags are heavier - lighter bags breathe too much - and there is nothing surrounding the fillets in vacuum bags to burn in the freezer either. Just be sure they are dried as carefully as possible or you will be sucking juice with your sealer and that may interfer with the seal. A quick freeze flat like on a layer of wax paper on a cookie sheet and then vacuum sealing works real well for us. They don't have to be frozen hard, just enough so there is no loose juice to get sucked into the sealer.

Awesome man thanks for the info! I normally will flash freeze if wholes

Keep fish cold from the time you catch them till you freeze them !! Use Ice in the summer dont let them die in the livewell !!! Dry filets off and vac-pack smaller quanties works best for me. 10 - 12 filets per bag I like to blacken crappie and it wont work well with a mushy filet.

I much prefer to butcher live crappies. Dead ones go mushy so quickly. We also wash the finished fillet immediately in cold water, which sets the meat and allows us to get out the last of the blood. Ice water is perfect as was already mentioned. Those fillets stay firmer longer than if not washed and thoroughly cooled as soon as possible.

We have long used a fish basket hung back in the lake to keep the catch lively, but then we never used to have livewells, and generally still don't. I prefer the fabric net ones over the wireones for crappies and bluegills, but don't use them for channel cats, since the serrated catfish spines will inevitably catch in them, shortening fish life and being a real headache to unload. I haven't used a stringer for years and don't intend to ever put a fish on one again.

No question in my mind that the vacuum sealer is the way to go. Here in Minnesota the limit for both possession and daily is ten and that includes frozen fillets as in possession; five fish or 10 fillets works well, but I normally use quart bags and that means fewer fish per bag if they are true slabs. Be sure to label the bags with date and number, too, since they keep a real long time when vacuumed.

There is less mess to clean out of the vacuum sealer if one at least stiffens the fillets on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper in the freezer. It only takes a little while and the quality of the fillets does not suffer at all, unless you forget them there. You also get the flattest possible finished bag which is then easier to store and keep track of in the freezer.

After I clean em I rinse them good then soak em in salt water for about 20 minutes then Take em out of the salt water and freez em. works great for me and they last for months in the freezer.My dad has done it this way way before I came along too so its not something new.

I also use a vacuum sealer. I lay the fillets out on a towel and roll it up tight to remove the water. No mess in the sealer .

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sound like a great idea, dose it change tasty and do you then put in water or just a bag.

All the answers are good, but I'll share a secret that an old friend (since deceased) gave me many years ago. Mr Lenord was a commerical fisherman all his life and probably tried every possible way to preserve fish. He said it was very important to keep the fish cold from water to freezer and after you have washed your fillets and placed in the freezer bag add just enough lemon juice to cloud the water. This keeps the fillets fresh and firm until you cook them. I have done this for all my frozen fish both salt water and fresh and it works great. Try a bag and see for yourself.

I've always froze them in baggies, in water, but always added a little salt. I can't say I'd ever noticed any mushy fillets though. I do have a Food Saver, and plan to try the dry method.

I recently stumbled across this method on youtube... seems interesting.

The Best Way To Freeze Fresh Fish Fillets - YouTube

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Originally Posted by NeonMoon

I've always froze them in baggies, in water, but always added a little salt. I can't say I'd ever noticed any mushy fillets though. I do have a Food Saver, and plan to try the dry method.

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You will like the outcome. We have never gone back once we tried the Food Saver.

I also definitely agree with the previous post about cold water washing. We fillet directly into cold water to remove "body heat" which builds up in a pile of fillets that are not immediately cooled. That really is the same process that vegetable harvest uses to remove the "field heat" in produce, which you either do or you get immediate deterioration in vegetables, too. That in my mind is the most common cause of mushy preserved fillets. When all fillets are taken we then wash them good in cold water. They are then ready for either immediate cooking or freezing. We have never felt the need to add salt or anything else when freezing either, and we don't have a lump that either has to be thawed out completely or that you have to pry fillets off before cooking.

For convenience sake to get the flattest packages we then firm them up in flat layers on a cookie sheet over wax paper in the freezer before we pack them into the Food Saver bags. That also reduces the juice in fresh fillets that can cause a mess in the Food Saver itself. You end up with fillets protected from freezer burn for easily over a year, well sealed in a heavier bag than regular freezer bags, and a much more convenient form for packing either at home or for transporting. And you don't have to carry all the extra water with you either.

You can either use all of a package or open one for a part of its contents and then reseal a portion right back into the package and return it to the freezer with no deterioration of the remnant, thawing only what you will then immediately cook.

We have been doing this pair of techniques for years now and have yet to find any mushy or freezer burned fillet once you get a good suck and a good seal in place at the beginning. You simply write the date taken and the contents on the top margin with a magic marker or laundry pen.

Additionally if you get stopped by a warden on the road he can easily and quickly count your take and you get back on the road a whole lot quicker and with less messing around at the stop. Both you and the warden come away with better moods...

FWIW our experience is that wardens are much more likely to stop vehicles with out of state plates; so if you are transporting from an out of state fishing trip or are fishing out of state, it pays to be aware that you are more likely to get stopped and searched than local fishermen are, unless they are specifically targeting some local that they suspect of breaking limits regularly. Up here the limits are small, we get ten crappies total and twenty sunfish total; daily and possession limits are the same here and count together. Those are also the most common poaching arrests. So eat up or restrict your take. There is also a trick question involved: shore lunch. The fish you eat there technically count against your daily possession limit in a lot of places, including here in Minnesota; so be careful how you answer that question, if they ask you. American fishermen in Canada and on our walleye waters get tripped up by that one every once in a while. In Minnesota you can generally beat that in court, but not in Canada, especially if you are an American fishing across the border, but even if you do beat it, you will need to make the court appearance which is generally not something you planned for in your itinerary, and you do not want that on your Canadian record, if you plan to go back and fish there again.

All in all putting the two parts together at the beginning, the rapid cooling at butcher and the Food Saver flat packaging, does an excellent job of preserving the quality in fillets and let you manage the possession limits you take and keep frozen a whole lot easier than any other method we have used over the decades. Just be sure to label the packages with content and date taken, allowing a first in first out sort of "inventory" management.

Let me know how your experiment goes. Be sure to try the lemond juice. I swear by it. I have never tried the dry method but when you think about it all the fish you see in supermarkets is frozen dry. I will see how you do before I get a food saver. LOL I went fishing Thursday and boy was it cold (29 Degrees). I have to run about 3 miles to get to the creek I like to fish. I did get a good mess but not as productive as I had hoped. I did get 1 Weighting 1 lb 13 oz and one weighting 1 lb 9 oz. Have a great new year and happy fishing..
Chet

I like this idea. I might give it a try. Thanks for the info.
Chet

I think you will be pleased.. I plan on going fishing in the morning with my son-in-law. He is in the military and his opportunities are far and few between. He has had 2 deployments to IraQ. The weather is not suppose to be good, but we are going anyway.LOL I will send pics of our catch. The U-tube video on freezing fish was very interesting. If you haven't watched it, please do. The guy prepares his fillets with his favorite mixture and the freezes it. Very simple. I'll send pics tomorrow I hope.
Chet

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Originally Posted by chet

Let me know how your experiment goes. Be sure to try the lemond juice. I swear by it. I have never tried the dry method but when you think about it all the fish you see in supermarkets is frozen dry. I will see how you do before I get a food saver. LOL I went fishing Thursday and boy was it cold (29 Degrees). I have to run about 3 miles to get to the creek I like to fish. I did get a good mess but not as productive as I had hoped. I did get 1 Weighting 1 lb 13 oz and one weighting 1 lb 9 oz. Have a great new year and happy fishing..
Chet

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My family has always frozen our fillets dry going back decades, with very satisfactory results even before we all switched to vacuum sealing, with no salt or lemon juice ever added.

My mother originally did not like fish, but still, after more than 6 decades since changing her mind, demands fillets that have not degraded. So do I. I will not eat any fish less than fresh. You can keep your lemon juice, too, I do not like lemon in the first place. :twocents

One thing that should not be missed here is that how one handles the fillets before freezing is very important, probably the most important. The faster one gets the job done, and IMO best while the fish are still alive, and then how quickly one cools the fillets will make the most difference. After that how well they are protected from air invading the containers and getting to the fillets is nearly as important. The quicker one gets air temperature out of the fillet once it is taken off the carcass, the less deterioration that fillet will have. Icing it immediately after cutting it off produces a firm fillet to start out with. The washing keeps it that way and removes most if not all of the live blood and loose surface proteins from the fillet. We always wash until the water comes off clear, but that doesn't take much. A firm white, fresh crappie fillet is what I want to go in the pan whether immediately after the catch or out of the freezer. It has been years, since we have had any that weren't. BTW I will fillet in the middle of the day between outings even to get that. Generally the first stop after coming off the water is to grab the knife and the pan on the way to the butcher station. Up here fillets and live crappies all count the same toward daily and possession limits anyway.

See Nimrod's posting about immediately putting his fillets in ice water and washing them before packaging from earlier in this thread. That produces clean and firm fillets in the freshest condition, no matter how you freeze them after that. All I would add is that keeping one's catch alive to the knife is important to us. You can feel the fillets already starting to deteriorate, when they come to the butcher table dead. The longer dead the worse the deterioration, which is what I think he is also saying, and I agree completely.

Thrown in a pile at the end of the cleaning table, the pile of fillets will actually heat up, since deterioration begins immediately. That is not so much an issue this time of year, which is part of the reason why fish caught on the ice taste so much fresher. That immediate cooling happens far more naturally in winter.

One of the real advantages of the vacuum sealing is how heavy the bags are. Even without sucking all the air out, the heavier the bag the less freezer burn there will be and the less deterioration. Air penetrates lightweight bags surprisingly well and passes moisture out while allowing air in to feed the decay organisms. An airtight, heavy bag seal, tight against the actual fillet is what makes vacuum sealing so effective, but the fillet also has to be handled carefully before that step. Else you may simply get garbage in, garbage out, no matter how you freeze them.

I use the freeze in water method and believe vacuum method probably works great also. For the water freeze guys I think the thaw period is just as important, make sure fillets are in ice cold water after ice melts away from fillets. Warm water can make them fillets mushey on the fresh along with the thaw.

Here is the best thing I have ever tried. After catching the fish and going to the fish cleaning station, I get a bucket of clean water and as soon as I get a fillet cut off I put it in the water until I have filleted all the fish. As I begin to cut the rib meat out I'll have another clean bucket of water to put them in until I get them all done. Then I'll bag them all up. The first time I tried this it was about 100 degrees out and the flies were thick and I tried this just to keep them off. Well it ended up that those was the cleanest, best tasting fish I ever eat so just give it a try I believe it is the best way to clean and cool the fillets down.

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Originally Posted by Swampthing6400

After I clean em I rinse them good then soak em in salt water for about 20 minutes then Take em out of the salt water and freez em. works great for me and they last for months in the freezer.My dad has done it this way way before I came along too so its not something new.

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This is the method I use. I learned it from my father and it has always worked. The salt firms the meat but does not give it a salty taste. I use good quality freezer bags with no water an I get firm fillets every time.

Quick rinse tip I picked up from a MO Boy was to put fillets in a plastic coffee can with water put on the lid and shake fairly vigorously. Clean as a whistle.
Tips above
Clean Live
Cool Quickly
Vacuum Sealer

:HandsClapping

Them Mo boys are darn good old boys, mostly from the Windsor area....... north of us is the outlaws........

I do the same, but I use ice water each time.

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Originally Posted by bowhunter012463

Here is the best thing I have ever tried. After catching the fish and going to the fish cleaning station, I get a bucket of clean water and as soon as I get a fillet cut off I put it in the water until I have filleted all the fish. As I begin to cut the rib meat out I'll have another clean bucket of water to put them in until I get them all done. Then I'll bag them all up. The first time I tried this it was about 100 degrees out and the flies were thick and I tried this just to keep them off. Well it ended up that those was the cleanest, best tasting fish I ever eat so just give it a try I believe it is the best way to clean and cool the fillets down.

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From now on I will use the bucket of water when I filet my fish

I've never used a vacuum bagger, but I imagine it works well. I've always rinsed them in cold water and froze them as soon as possible. Whether freezing them in baggies or milk jugs, as long as they are immersed in water, the outcome is the same. The real culprit that allows degredation during freezing is air. Regardless of how you freeze the flesh, if you allow air to touch it, it dries out (aka "freezer burn"). As far as post-catch treatment, the absolute best is to keep them alive as they were in the wild - fresh water - until they meet the fillet knife. Keep them alive in fresh water at the temp that they have been acclimated to. Crappie thrive in frigid water to hot - 33F to 90+F. But if they have to be stored or transported, ice them while they're still alive. Allow the melt water to drain away from the fish - never keep them in water. If they die, they start to decay. Icing only slows the process. I've got fillets in the freezer that I dated in 2010. They're still grade A

If you ever get a chance, watch a TV program on how the commercial fishermen freeze fish. They flash freeze it. For instance, they will take a whole salmon and put it in the flash freezer which is A LOT colder than a normal freezer. Then they will pull the fish out after a short period of time, dip it in water to form a nice protective layer of ice, then back into the deep freeze.

So what's the point of this method you ask? Well, the faster you freeze water, the smaller the ice crystals are. Smaller ice crystals don't puncture the cell walls of the meat, so the meat stays firm. Ice cream is similar, the colder the ice cream maker, the smaller the ice crystals and the smoother the ice cream.