In order to maintain the delicate flavour of a newly caught freshwater fish or a saltwater fish the fish needs to be handled with care in order to avoid spoilage. Not even to mention preserving your fish to keep a pleasing odour. There are different ways in order to make sure that you have prepared and maintained the quality of the fish just after catching a fish in order to make it into a delicious meal. The following fish techniques should help out.

1. The instant the fish lands make sure it avoids any contact with hard surfaces for the purpose of preventing bruising. It needs to be washed at once by either hosing or bucket rinsing the fish in order to remove any slime on the fish or any possible bacteria that causes spoilage of your fish. To make sure that your fish would get properly cleaned use potable (drinking) water instead of water from close proximity marinas, municipal or industrial discharges.

2. In order to maintain your fish you must chill the fish to prevent deterioration in less than an hour. All this takes is a little advanced planning with the use of some relatively cheap equipment in order to proper ice the fish. To do this you can store your fish in coolers and it should be welled chilled. It should be around 3" deep in order to cover a pound of fish with a pound of ice. For the final rinsing use chlorinated water per quart of water.

3. As soon as possible you must clean the fish. The tissues of the fish are sterile but not the scales of the fish which contains many different types of bacteria. When you are cleaning your fish make sure to avoid any rough treatment because any wounds caused in the flesh can allow the spread of bacteria in the fish. When you gut the fish it does not have to take too much time. When cutting in the fish it is wise to cut the belly as this will leave no blood or viscera in the body. After this is done make sure not to soak already cleaned fish fillets for a prolonged time in freshwater as this may reduce the meat texture and flavour of the fish.

4. If the fish is properly cleaned the eating quality and nutritional value of the fish can be maintained for up to five days. Make sure though if you ever have to touch the fish wash your hands. The golden rule to be followed in any cooking technique when cooking fish is to cook exactly ten minutes for every inch measured of the fish. If the fish is enclosed in foil or sauce baked fifteen minutes should be allotted and double the time if the fish is frozen.

You will need to allow extra time if the fish will be baked while in an aluminium foil as you need to allow for extra time for the penetration of the heat into the foil. This should be around five minutes for fresh fish and around 10 minutes for frozen fish. When you thaw out frozen fish, you can slowly thaw in a fridge for around 24 hours or alternatively let the fish run under cold water not the same as room temperature. Do not though thaw a fish that is frozen just before cooking as this may make it mushy and dry.