Right Way to Keep Fish Fresh 



they use their own methods of taking care of the 

 fish, usually placing them carefully at the bottom 

 of the canoe and covering them over from the 

 sun's rays. It is often a difficult problem to trans- 

 port large fish, like trout, pike, or salmon. Half a 

 dozen ten-pound fish are quite enough for a tired 

 angler to lug, even a short distance. If nothing 

 better can be done, a good, stout, heavy stick may 

 be slung across the shoulders, with the fish hung 

 up by the gills and balanced front and back evenly. 

 Many anglers often land a big fish some days 

 before they desire to return home, and they want 

 to save such a trophy for a city friend. I often pick 

 out of the day's catch a brace of trout to keep 

 for my return home. I do not believe fish keep 

 better after being "gutted" or opened and the in- 

 sides taken out. The best way to preserve salmon, 

 trout, pike, and bass (the two latter fish keep 

 longer fresh) is to take the best care not to bruise 

 or handle them, and not even wash them, but 

 simply take them from the creel, handling them 

 "gingerly," only by the gill covers. They should 



then be placed on a large cake of 

 Icing Fish fT . 



ice, in the ice-house, so situated 



that ice will be above as well as below them. I 

 usually ask to have a block taken right out, leaving 

 a space ample for the fish I expect to keep, and then 

 fill up the space entirely with sawdust, which can 

 be removed every time additional fish are put there. 

 The fish are better if not put together; that is, have 

 sawdust divide the fish, for the reason that each 

 fish will have cold all over it. If an ice-house is not 

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