Something different.
 

Something different this time.


1-What is it used for?
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Nostalgia:
While I was doing some organizing I came across this jem.

2-I bought this book in 1973 plus/minus for $1.25 plus tax as it indicates.
http://www.photos.inherentlydifferen...e845ec7-la.jpg

Years later when I found it in between my stuff, it was falling apart, so I was able to find a later print of it for $6.95 plus tax. It has a lot of great information about fishing. I found an original one in good shape and 1987 print. On order.


3-some pages from the old book.
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http://www.photos.inherentlydifferen...4a54b69-la.jpg

http://www.photos.inherentlydifferen...e990d4d-la.jpg

http://www.photos.inherentlydifferen...f16b23f-la.jpg

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Debie, debie, debi, thats all folkx

It's an Ike jime 池締め needle, and shinkei nuki　神経抜き wire combo. I use the same set for anything from corvinas to yellows.


The needle is used to dispatch the fish, you can pierce the brain either from the front (upper lip), the top (forehead aiming for lateral line), or from the side, coming from the lateral line and aiming for the eyes. Closing the fish with the needle should be done before bleeding, as soon as the fish is landed.


The wire is for breaking up the nervous tissue in the spine, you can enter from the hole you made in the front if you went through the upper lip, if you do, the needle is used as a "coring tool" and will have a piece of bone that needs to be removed before it can be used as a guide. You could enter through the nasal duct, or you can enter tailside, if you cut the tail off you use the top hole (easiest for a beginner).


Shinkei Nuki in particular can be pretty graphic, and is hard to get used to if you have trouble convincing yourself the fish was already dispatched when you used the needle and that the movements are all involuntary.


The wire should be used after dispatch, but before bleeding.


After you pass the wire down the spine a couple times and the fish no longer twitches, you can bleed the fish.


Doing all of this will allow you to keep a raw fish shelf stable for days-weeks potentially, depending on post dispatch handling.


Don't allow contact with fresh water (ice or condensation) lest bacteria grow, and don't let the fish get too warm or too cool. Aim for 2-5*C.


Doing all of this and you can age the fish meat to allow for premium quality, and your sashimi can reach its full potential.


Lumica sales reps are really friendly, if you send me pictures of your catch that has benefited from the use of their product, I can forward them.

Interesting
 

Thanks for explaining. What is the reasoning for doing this prior to bleeding as opposed to at the at the same time? Is there a best brand of these tools? And where is the best place to buy them?

The tuna I dispatch by wacking over the head tend to have transparent meat, while others will have a solid semi cooked appearance with a metallic sheen. It can make a huge difference in the quality. I would like to try these tools.

I bought the item from Lumica. Check out YouTube.

As I understand, after the wire is inserted the fish will move as if it is alive.
Then when the gills are cut, the heart will keep pumping the blood out of the fish.

Thus the meat has less blood in it. On TV, I saw they put the fish in ice water right away, so I don’t get the fresh water issue. Their water maybe saltwater, but I doubt if the ice was salt water.
The language was in Japanese, so I did not understand anything they said.
In Alaska the catch is held in bilge cavity, with salty cold water in it.

No problem.


The heart muscle keeps pumping away long after the fish is killed, but the stress the fish endures during the handling process will cause undue damage to the flesh. If the fish is dispatched sooner, and the nerves destroyed sooner, there will be more compounds which break down into umami left behind (they are utilized during the thrashing and twitching). The other side is that the less stressed the fish is during the process, the less lactic acid builds up in the meat (how the fish is fought is also a large factor) and lactic acid causes the meat to spoil sooner. With less lactic acid, the meat can ripen longer to its full potential.


As the enzymes in the fish break down the meat, connective tissue softens and proteins break down into aminos. A fresh yellowtail may be rich in oils at certain times of the year, but it will be lacking in umami, and be quite tough to chew. A well ripened yellowtail will be rich in umami, and tender to the bite. How many days to ripen is a matter of preference, I prefer the longer times that people in Tokyo prefer, I know some prefer it less ripe as they do in Kyushu.


I got my tool from Totos at Japanese Anglers Secrets, but if you're in Japan, you can pick them up anywhere. The Lumica is a really nice tool set.


If you need to improvise, the top E string will work.

The ice they use there is pretty special, and is the reason our seafood over here has strong odor. They pump the water for it from deep underwater offshore where there is less plankton. The salt in it and the high purity both inhibit bacterial growth.


If we had that here our fish quality would improve substantially.



This is all pretty interesting stuff, but I had a much easier time learning about this than how they make panko bread crumbs.

Thanks for the information.

I happen to use Panko bread crumbs as chum for opaleye at the Mole in Avalon.