Freezing whole spring salmon?

[Carpe piscis]

I have tried vacum sealing spring salmon fillets and it does not seem to hold up well for very long ie. more than 2 months. Has anyone ever tried freezing a whole fish? If so how did it work? Did you gut it first?

[zueth]

I vacuum seal my fish and it lasts over a year...how exaclty are you vacuum selaing your fish? :whazzup: :whazzup: :whazzup:

[SKP]

I froze a whole gutted fish springer, just wrapped in a plastic garbage bag a couple years ago. I caught it about May, and took it out in August. It was just as good as if I just caught it in my opinion, because the skin and gut skin kept out the freezer burn.

SKP

[Day Late]

I'm still eating reds I got in Alaska last summer that I fileted and vaccum packed. If you're not getting a good seal then perhaps air is getting in the bag and that will definitly do a job on the fish. Good luck! :smile:

Day Late

[Day Late]

[ 03-17-2004, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: Day Late ]

[Lured In]

Freeze springer!?! I thought you were supposed to eat it? Ours never lasts more than a week, so a freezer burn is rarely a concern.

One thing I have learned, is that I 'double seal' both ends. Use the same method for making a bag from rolls of material. So the end product has two seals at both ends. I have found this cuts down on seal failures and the results are great. :grin:

[Fshklr]

When I vac pac any fish with bones still in it I tear off a length of wax paper the size of my catch and double it over(fold) and place it over the length of the flesh side of the fish...that way during the vacing the bones will not poke holes in the bag..this also aids in being shuffled around in freezer so the bones don't poke holes in bag ruining your seal and your catch :grin:
I have taken out fillets from up to a yr with no problems and the results are awesome!!

[Sky-Guy]

The very best way to freeze whole fish is to gut/clean, then use the Glazing process.

Here's how to do it-
Get a tub of icewater large enough to wet down your fish. Freeze the fish for two hours, then dip in the icewater, put back in freezer for 15 minutes or so until the coating of water has frozen. Repeat the process about 3-6 times until you have a nice ice coating over the entire fish. Then just freeze as is.

The fish will last a long time and be as fresh as the day you caught it once de-thawed.

This is one way the commercials have been freezing fish for years.

[ 03-17-2004, 06:28 PM: Message edited by: Sky-Guy ]

[Fish Hawg]

All of mie last over a year unless I eat it or give it away :grin:

[BentMetal]

Just a thought, but it could be the type of freezer you are using . . . fish may not last as long if your putting them in the freezer above your fridge (which are usually frost free), or a frost free full size freezer.

[Jooky]

Ya frost free freezers are horrible designs. Every so often the unit raises the temp to above freezing to melt the frost....this also screws up all your food.
I would rather spend 1 day a year defrosting my freezer manually than wasting food all year long.

[gottafish]

Try the quick freeze method, take 12 soup cans and fill them with tparts water and one part rock salt put them in the freezer for a week then when you finaley get the springer bag it up and put it in the middle of these cans the fish will freese extremly fast this was taker out of the salmon steelheader mag. it works great.

[Chrome Bumper]

Pressure can it if you want to save it a long time. I will try some sweet smoked fish this year. A couple of years ago I made some real good stuff.