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so norwest marine in pawcatuck, ct. is removing their fish cleaning station!! If I still dock there dare I fillet my catch at sea? I have heard many differences on this subject. Party, charter, and a good amount of private boats filet their fish enroute back to port. I have thrown my anchor and filleted at the end of the river. One time a dep boat even measured my remaining fish but said nothing of this law??

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fishing machine

Bob & Mag

I believe it depends on what specie you're talking about.
i.e. for fluke you can but the filet must be at least the legal minimum length for the fish itself.

Post this in the Encon forum and get an answer from the horse's mouth.

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spikehorn

Or you can keep the rack.

74Formula233

Not a problem in RI, except for, obviously, pelagics, as federal law governs them.

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JackC

You need to check the laws of the state your in. In CT, you need to retain the "rack" of fluke and bass until you hit the dock. I wait until the fillets have hit the truck until I get rid of the racks. I have been checked by the DEP in my slip (happy I had the racks).

Everything else in CT can be tossed overboard. Scup racks make good chum.

Jack

Special K

we often do the filleting chores at sea. often too hot or too buggy at the marina.
while slicing & dicing i'll let the crew target fluke on a liesurely drift @ the mouth of the river....or if the tide is right we anchor on a rip-line to chunk up a bass or two. fillet remains work well as chum.
not too hard to keep fluke racks in a bucket should the wardens check you. nothing un-ethical about it!
imho............cap'n mick

Scup

Since I fish commercially, I have given up filleting fish at sea or even gutting them. The last time I gutted a blue (which one should do) the wholesaler would not accept it because he claimed the Asians want the whole fish. I am not sure if he was pulling my leg, but now I make up a slurry of salt water and ice and keep whatever I catch in that. This mixture gets so cold that I hate to even put my hand in it. I get rid of my racks in my lobster pots. In addition, I have several seagull acquaintances that are more than happy to help me get rid of unwanted racks. Lastly, I own a large powered meat grinder. Whatever is left over, goes into the grinder with its very course blade. Even lobster remains, excluding very hard shelled claws, go into the grinder. What comes out goes into a fine mesh bait bag and then the freezer. As someone else said, it does make a very decent low cost chum and fine scup pot bait.
There is one other item that has to be mentioned here. Even the fish market professional will not attempt to fillet a fresh warm fish unless they are in a bind. They always cool the fish down before putting the knife to it. If you try to fillet a fresh fluke, its meat is kinda rubbery and the fillets come out looking ragged. The same fish if placed in a ice slurry first, fillets beautifully. You fillet knife will just glide through the fish. I watched the professionals fillet cold fluke and they make a single diagonal cut behind the head, and off comes the fillet with the second stroke of the knife. It takes them less than 45 seconds to do a fish, and after examining the rack, I did not see any missed meat. Give them a fresh fluke to fillet, and it will screw them up.

74Formula233

Good point, Scup!

I also rarely fillet a warm fish. I've been bleeding them in a slurry of water and ice, which accomplishes BOTH bleeding AND chilling in one step.

While I usually do fillet most fish on the way in, they also are usually ice cold by then And I do agree, an ice-cold fish fillets much nicer!

There have been occasions where I haven't felt like filleting them right away, and I leave 'em on ice overnight and get 'em in the AM. They fillet beautifully

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Bob & Mag

Excellent point about the cold meat cutting better.

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