Dispatching Fish and Transporting It During the Dive

Article by Eric Keener

There is no end to the knowledge that we can gain from the ocean. You can go down major rabbit holes on how to freedive, how to cook seafood, the gear needed for hunting fish, ocean conditions, marine biology, eco systems and much, much more. We probably will be going down those rabbit holes and blogging about what we learn along the way, but let’s start off on the less technical side of things. One very important, but often overlooked aspect of spearfishing is how to best care for your fish. Did you know that the majority of fish you buy at the store is killed via suffocation? It is too time consuming and expensive for commercial fishermen to properly bleed and brain their fish so the fish gets caught, thrown on ice and left to suffocate. Leaving the blood in the fish makes it spoil significantly faster and alters the taste of the meat for the worse. So what is the best way to ensure that the fish you shoot stays fresh and tasty? Read on, friends!

The Shot

Here at Fin + Forage, we encourage you to enjoy the adventure of spearfishing, respect the marine environment, and harvest fish for the purpose of food (not just doin’ it for the gram). So let’s talk about how to take a fish and ensure that when you’re ready to cook it, it is still in top quality shape for eating! The more you practice, the better you will get at finding the fish you’re looking for. Once you see the prime fish you’re hunting, it’s all about trying to take a well-aimed shot. There are a few reasons to ensure you are placing a good shot: First, you don’t want to puncture the stomach cavity, as getting guts, bacteria and blood into part of the fillet will spoil it faster—it also puts a hole in the fillet. Second, a fish that isn’t “stoned” tends to thrash and fight, releasing adrenaline, lactic acid and stress hormones into the meat. Lactic acid causes issues at a cellular level, speeding up the breakdown of muscle and fat. It makes the fish rot quickly and develop that familiar, unpleasant fishy smell. The bullseye on most fish is right where the lateral line meets the gill plate. For an example of this bulls eye, watch the first 30 seconds of this video. We call this a stone shot because the shaft severs the nerves (or hits the brain) and the fish can no longer thrash or potentially rip off of the shaft or shooting line.  So now that you have your fish, what’s next?

Bleed, Brain and Scale

The brain location of most fish is seen in this image.

Not bleeding the fish when you catch it will ensure that the meat gets funky! We don’t want you to be eating no funky meat. You want to not only quickly and humanely dispatch the fish, but you also want to bleed it out. As soon as you secure the fish, take your knife and insert it into the brain of the fish. It’s important to have a sharp knife with a fine point on the end (not a flat, blunt or tanto - head) so it easily inserts into the brain. You will feel the fish quiver as the fins flair and shake if you are in the right spot, and often times the mouth opens wide. At this point it is brain dead and can’t experience stress. Brain first then bleed? Yes! This is scientifically proven to reduce the amount of stress in the muscles and significantly improves the quality of meat (source). Immediately after, you want to bleed the fish. Use the sharp edge of your knife to make cuts through the soft tissue behind the gill rakers, and one cut at the base of the tail, ensuring you cut through the spine but don’t cut the tail off. Your fish may still wiggle, but if you hit the brain, you can be assured it is brain dead and it’s just nerves making the fish move.

The reason we do this is to ensure that the fish stays fresh longer. If you do not do this, your fish will begin to rot almost immediately. The FDA recommends eating fish that have not been bled out within 1 to 2 days. That’s hardly even long enough to let your fish start to age and develop flavor (Learn about aging fish here).

This is where you cut the tail.

Now, you have several options depending on how you’re planning on cooking the fish. If you’re going to make Crispy Skin fish, like in this recipe, then it is a good time to scale the fish in the water and avoid a mess in the kitchen (Note: that for fish with size or weight restrictions, you can’t scale them until you’re back on land , for identification purposes). Take the back of your knife and repeatedly scrape from the tail toward the head until all of the scales are off the fish. Get ready for a fish show while you do this. Other fish are majorly attracted to all the floating scales. While you could gut the fish right now, I’d recommend waiting till you get back to the shore, or better yet, once you’re home to have less chance of the meat getting dirty or touching fresh water from your cooler, which causes it to spoil faster.

The Stringer

There are several ways to keep the fish now: belt stringer, stringer on a dive float, in a dive bag, on your gun’s shooting line, back on your kayak/boat in a cooler, etc. Of all these options, putting it in a bag and then onto ice is best. The second best option is placing it in a mesh dive bag and letting it hang from your dive board in the water to stay cold. If you do any of the other options, the fish is exposed and fair game for hungry sea lions. I’ve had friends who have been hip checked by a huge sea lion and the fish ripped off their belt. Talk about dangerous and scary!

The goal for the dive is to obtain a fish that you will prepare in a tasty meal at home. Following the above guidelines will ensure that the fish is at peak quality for significantly longer. To learn how to care for the fish at home and what to do with it, take a look at this article.