Your Catch

After you’ve finished catching fish, you need to get them from your fishing site back to your vehicle. If you took a charter, the charter company will help you manage your fish back to the road. If you’re on your own, you might have some work cut out for you!

Five or fewer fish is a reasonable number for most people to carry back to their wheels. Some people clean or even fillet their fish before carrying them to their wheels, especially if it’s a long or difficult carry. A backpack lined with trash sack can ease the carrying process.

Cleaning

It is essential to properly clean, cool, and process your catch in a timely manner! If you don’t clean/fillet at your fishing site, a popular cleaning area is O’Brien Creek. Bring a table or table-like surface to work on. A piece of plywood works well if you don’t mind squatting down or propping it up on rocks/a tailgate. Commercial cleaning/fillet facilities and services may be available at O’Brien Creek depending how busy the charter company is. Your cleaning area MUST dump fish waste into the mainstream Copper River. Be bear aware - never clean fish on the trails, roads, lakes or other areas where waste cannot be carried away! If you clean fish at your fishing site, make sure to toss all waste into the river and wash the area down when finished. A five gallon bucket is a must here. Cleaning and filleting salmon are beyond this already long tutorial, but numerous videos and tutorials are available online.

Icing

Heat is the enemy of fresh fish! Be sure to sufficiently ice your fish ASAP, particularly if driving more than an hour or two. Ice is usually available in Glennallen, but they have been known to run out at the height of the fishing season. Ice is inexpensive enough and it is worth bringing a supply with you from Fairbanks or Anchorage instead of risking no local availability. Unless you have flake ice, put your fish in coolers and pour ice over the top. If bagged ice cubes are frozen together, break them up to better cover the fish. Processing

Freezing

Many people freeze their fish, but smoking and canning are other options. Most commonly, people use a FoodSaver or other vacuum packing machine to seal fillets in air-tight pouches before freezing. Chamber type vacuum machines may not have the capacity to seal a full-length fillet - but don’t despair - simply cut the fillet in half, fold the two halves flesh-side together, bag and seal. Always clean the mouth of the bag or pouch before sealing to ensure a good seal.

Be sure to spread your fresh fish around the freezer. A big, thick mass of fish could take several days or longer to freeze. Spread your fish out in the freezer so they freeze more quickly. Afterwards, rearrange the fish for storage.

Canning & Smoking

Canning is a time-honored way to preserve your catch. Canning fish is more time consuming than freezing, but you don’t need a freezer, or even power, to keep your fish edible for up to two years. Canning in jars or cans is not difficult, but does require some special equipment. It is also essential to follow USDA and State guidelines to safely preserve your food. See the links below for more information.

The fish smoking techniques most people use are more for flavor and texture than for long-term preservation of the catch. Smoked fish can be frozen or canned for long-term preservation.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service has a number of publications to help you with canning and smoking your catch. CDA president Chuck Derrick has a smoked canned salmon recipe that’s pretty tasty. Other Resources

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has an excellent four part video series on the basics of dipnetting.

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