Freezing white fish

[fuzzy3955]

Does any one know of a good way for freezing white fish

thanks fuzzy

[watchdog56]

I would say put in big ziploc and fill with water. Get as much air out as you can. I do it that way for my walleyes and they do not get freezer burnt.

[pmmpete]

I freeze fish like pike, trout, lake trout, and whitefish in bags with water.  The advantage of freezing fish in water is that it prevents freezer burn, and the fish last a long time.

To freeze fillets, I fold them in halves or thirds, slide them into a small ziplock freezer bag, and fill the bag with water.  Then to get all the air bubbles out of the bag, I fill up a deep pot or bowl with water, sink the water-filled bag in the water, let all the air bubbles escape, seal the bag most of the way, squeeze out the excess water, and then seal the bag the rest of the way while it's underwater.  To freeze the bags with as few wrinkles as possible, I lay the bags in a cooking pan, and prop the pan in the freezer at an angle, with the ziplock seals pointing up.  Here is an example:



The problem with freezing whole fish in a ziplock bag is that if the fish is longer than the width of the bag, you have to lay it in the bag at a diagonal, and you end up with a lot of excess water in the bag, and/or a lot of folds in the bag.  And you can't get a headless and tailless fish longer than about a foot into a gallon ziplock bag.  To freeze whole fish, I use long narrow fish shipping bags which you can buy on the internet from aquarium supply stores.  I slide the fish in the bag, fill the bag to the top with water, and then wrap a rubber band loosely around the bag a couple of times right above the fish.  If you do this properly, there won't be any air bubbles in the water.  Then I squeeze out the excess water, and wrap the rubber band around the bag as many times as I can.  This provides a secure seal - aquarium supply companies use this method to ship live fish all the time.  Then I freeze the bag.  Here is an example:



You can buy long narrow bags which are good for freezing whole fish at Jehmco, http://www.jehmco.com/html/plastic_bags.html , Ken's Fish Shipping Supplies, http://www.kensfish.com/shippingsupplie.html , or Angels Plus, http://www.angelsplus.com/SuppliesShipping.htm .  You can also get them at Aquatic Eco-Systems, Inc., http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/1118/Live-Fish-Shipping-Bags , although they don't have as many long skinny bags.  I like bags in the 4" x 18" and 6" x 20" range.  A business sized envelope is about 4 inches wide; open one on the end to get an idea of how big a 4 inch wide bag is.  I think a 3 inch wide bag is only big enough for one pretty small fish.  The bags generally are available in 2 mil and 3 mil thickness.  The 2 mil bags should be plenty thick.  It isn't critical if a bag leaks; after all, the fish is dead already. 

Update January 29, 2020: Wow, I was surprised when somebody responded to this old post. I've been vacuum packing all my fish for many years, which is way better than freezing them in water. You can buy a satisfactory suction type of vacuum packer and rolls for sealing up bags of any length at any big box store. I after using a suction vacuum packer for some time, I upgraded to a chamber type of vacuum packer for packing at home, and bring the suction vacuum packer on fishing road trips.

[Kyle2019]

Maaaan, pls don't eat it. I try not in it fish at all, because there are a lot of different not very good things in it, like vermin, bacteria, which cause diseases. I have even read, that one man found it the fish, that was cooked in the restaurant the bobbit worm, which live in other side of earth. Nobody knows what it would be with him, if he ate this fish then. How do you think, is it normal that I am afraid of eating seafood?

[GusRobin]

No it is not normal