I'm gonna call this one fish cleaning hell. We call it that because that's exactly what it is. After getting up really early in the morning to go fishing, commuting to wherever we plan to fish, unloading/setting up, fishing until the afternoon, breaking down loading up and then making the commute back home. If we are
lucky enough...and I'm not even sure if that's even the right word...We will have some fish to clean at the end of an exhausting day.
Recently I have been "
lucky" enough to catch some halibut. It's always nice to be able to target find and catch halibut in the "off" season. Generally it's tough finding them in their usual summertime haunts as those areas seem to be void of any signs of halibut activity. After putting in hours and hours of endless drifting in several different areas many different depths, hours and hours of Greg's video surveillance. We were able to focus our efforts in a specific depth and area. Only to finally reach our destination of,
FISH CLEANING HELL!
Starting out the day with my co-captain my dog Coco.
Success! Halibut 1 down! Halibut 2 down! Returning to base! Hey Coco make sure no pelicans try to steal our catch!
Back at home base...it's the start of the much dreaded fish cleaning hell....When I process my fish I always take my time to do the best possible job I can, because when I'm bringing home such a premium product as fresh halibut, I want to keep it that way as much as I can. So I will go above and beyond when I'm processing my fish. It all starts with labeling my bags....
Damn...I got some work to do...
Ok, time to choose my weapon of choice...Hmmmm let me see the 6" dexter russell carbon steel knife. Excellent! Perfect size and shape to break these suckers down easily, quickly and cleanly.
Halibut Slabbed out.
Don't forget to cut out the Halibut cheeks! Some of the best meat go'in on a halibut!
Another Dexter Russell product...the Cleaver! Makes quick work of breaking the carcass down for making the most amazing fish stock or for easy disposal...your choice of course.
Both halibut slabbed out!
Extra bonus! Halibut Cheeks!
Halibut skinned and portioned...I'm really tired....I'm getting sleepy. I gotta get this done!
Time to fire up the Vacmaster and get sealing....
And the final result of the day's effort...a whole lot of halibut fillets, ready to make into yani's latest recipie...or what ever I can come up with.
Fish Cleaning Hell is now officially over.
OH WAIT A MINUTE!!!! It's not over...now I gotta clean up all this mess, and put away all my equipment!!!! DDDAAAAMMMNNN YOU FISH CLEANING HELL!!!!!!!!!
Fast Forward to the next week....
I got a ton of halibut, it's cold...and I'm hungry. Ok it's time to check out Yani's website...
Hmmm....Yani's Halibut Chowder ayyyy?!
POOF!
Halibut sandwich with fries and onion rings ayyyy?!...
POOF!
Yeeeeaaaahhhh!!!!
Well if anybody needs some pointers on taking their own trip to fish cleaning hell...come on down to the Fred Hall show in long beach next week to the Team Sewer seminar! I'm sure Greg will have a nice halibut video package all ready for you guys. To all you new kayak anglers looking to catch that first halibut off your kayak, or to the guys that have some experience and want to get a few pointers that will help you along your way...you guys might want to join us for awhile.
SEE YOU GUYS THERE!