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You’ve had your great day out fishing and are on your way home with your bag full of fish. The day’s not over yet, you’ve got work to do. You’re chomping at the bit to eat those fresh caught fish but first you need to prepare them. Cleaning fish is probably not the most delightful chore, but it goes along with the deal, and you need to do it as soon as possible.

Initially you’ll want to make a point to use clean water from a tap, not from the lake or stream. If you really need to, you can use it to clean fish, but you’ll have to wash them well after you get them home.

The most common and simplest manner to go about cleaning your fish is the way dads and granddads have taught their sons and grandsons for years. To approach it, place the fish on its side. Then, take an adequately sharp knife and make a cut from the gills through to the back bone. Then you can take the head and snap it and pull, and the bowels will come out with it. Then you make an additional cut out of the fish’s stomach from the gills to the vent, the tiny hole close to the fish’s tail. Put in your thumb and scrape away the blood vein from the inside of the spine. Then, make certain that you give the fish a careful rinsing with cold, clean water.

Now you can cook the fish, leaving the skin on. When the skin starts to crackle and flake off, you can pull it off the meat. The dorsal fin, on the fish’s back, will strip away even as well. If you choose you can eat some fishes’ skin, but this is a thing of preference.

That is the easiest and most effortless method to contend with your catch. Yet, for a few species it’s not the best way. If you have a fish with rugged, dense scaling, then you could need to use the alternate process which is defined below.

A different style to clean a fish, which is a little more complex, is to initially wash it in cold water and descale it. To descale a fish, lay the fish flat on its side and then take a dull knife, or the backside of a knife, holding it at a ninety degree slant to the fish’s torso, and scrape it from head to tail. If the scales that pull off are large and flat then you have to descale the fish in that way. Continue scraping the fish until all the scales on this side are gone then turn it over and do the other side. Don’t forget that if you figure on skinning a fish prior to cooking it, then there’s no need to descale it first. All you have to do is skin it.

After you are finished descaling the fish, take a sharp knife and make a slit on the stomach from the belly to the vent. Move out all the entrails from the fish through this cut, using your fingers so you don’t injure them. After this, as with the other process, you have to scratch along the backbone to remove the blood vein. Then, rinse the fish again in frigid water. You’re finished providing you do not want to cook the fish whole, in which event you had better get rid of the fin on the fish’s back, the dorsal fin. This is elementary enough. Cut on both sides of it, and then jerk it out, and then rinse off the fish yet again.

To make certain that you don’t puncture yourself, be mindful as you clean your fish. To ensure that your fish doesn’t become unsanitary, make a point to store it at a cold enough temperature. When stashing away in ice, don’t let it sit down in the water of liquified ice. Likewise, store the fish with the bodily cavity facing down, so that water doesn’t accumulate inside of it. That can be unhygienic.

Since fish can go bad easily it is best to be risk-free than regretful. If you’ve let your catch get too warm, discard it. Or if it’s been sitting in water, discard it. Or if there is a funny odor coming out of it, discard it. As a matter of fact, if there are some uncertainties, discard it.

Certainly, cleaning fish is not the most fun part of the outing, but it pays off once you sit down to those delicious fresh fish. Besides, once you get it down, you’ll be able to do a fish in no time at all. You could use one of the powered fish cleaning knives available at your sporting goods store and make the job even easier.

The Beauty of Bowfishing

Bowfishing is an ancient form of hunting that has been used to gather food since prehistory, and still is a great way to harvest game, enjoy the outdoors, and help control invasive species of fish.  It is becoming one of the fastest growing facets of archery and requires both hunting and fishing skills as well.  Bowfishing is the act of fishing with a bow and arrow versus a traditional rod and reel, and for many reasons is considered by a lot of people to be even more difficult than bowhunting. 

Bowfishing, which is classified as fishing and not hunting, is can be enjoyed by the whole family, and is an excellent way to introduce women and children to bow shooting. The whole family can practice and participate together.  It is widely accepted in almost all states, and legal in almost any body of water where rod and reel fishing is allowed.

The Bowfishing Bow

Bowfishing encompasses the full spectrum of tackle uses, from the basic recurve bow with wind-on reel to specialty bows and tournament specific line retrieval reels.  Bowfishing bows normally have lower draw weights than conventional hunting bows (less than 40 pounds).  One that has previously been retired from deer hunting and replaced with newer equipment would make a good bow for fishing.  Compound bows, traditional bows, and crossbows can all be used, along with specially designed bowfishing reels and line. 

The Bowfishing Reel

The reel is the most important part of bowfishing.  Wind-on reels are adequate and work, but they can be very frustrating and slow to use for the beginner.  Wind-on reels (or, hand wrap reels) require the line to be wound on the spool by hand after every shot.  When the arrow is fired from the bow, the line feeds out of a bowfishing reel, and then reeled back in - hopefully with a fish on it.  These are good for the beginning bowfisherman, but you will likely soon outgrow it.  Large spinning reels and mounts are more convenient and you can get one for around $60.

The Bowfishing Arrow

A bowfishing arrow is different than a bowhunting arrow.  The arrow needs to be rigged specially for fish, and this means adding some holes to the arrow attached to fishing line, otherwise you’ll lose not only your catch, but your arrow as well.  A fiberglass arrow would be a good choice.  They are cheap ($15 or less), durable, and effective and are used by over 90% of all bowfishermen.  The arrows need to be straight and centershot should be corrected for the arrow to come off the bow as straight as possible.  Bowfishing arrows have barbs that go into the fish on the shot and hang on to the fish upon retrieval.  Then, anglers loosen the fish point on the arrow by folding the small arms back and sliding the arrow out of the fish.    

Where To Go Bowfishing

One neat thing about bowfishing is its availability.  Bowfishing can be done from the bank of the smallest river to the world’s largest oceans.  Saltwater bowfishing is very popular.  Anywhere there are carp, buffalo fish, gar, and other similar species, bowfishing is possible, and in most places these fish and many other invasive or exotic species are legal for bowfishing.  Avoid choppy water and fish along shores where the water is shallow and these fish hang out.  Be careful and avoid being seen or making noice.  If they spook, they leave in a hurry and will offer you only a split second to make your shot.