Grill bound kokes

[ReelMasta]

Trying something new. Froze these bad boys from the Gorge. SLAMMED them straight into the freezer with out dressing them knowing they were going to be Nov blues smoked gems. Any one ever done this before? Kinda curious how they're going to filet out.
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[wiperhunter2]

I've never heard of anyone doing that but let me get this straight, you did not even gut them?
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[ReelMasta]

Correct, we put them in the cooler on ice immediately. Cold packed for 2 hours, and straight to the freezer in the coach. We were off the water that day by 8:30 and back to camp by 9:00, limited out on a mess of nice fish.
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[wiperhunter2]

Please let us know how they turn out. I've heard tell there are toxins in some fish's gut and might be harmful if not removed. Maybe TubeDude can shed some light on this but hopefully the fact that you iced them and froze them quickly will make a difference.
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[ReelMasta]

EAST CANYON BOWS ALONG WITH THE KOKES. ... SO FAR SO GOOD.
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[wiperhunter2]

Wow, those Gorge kokes dwarf the EC bows. Did you catch the bows today?
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]There is a process called "autolysis" in which a dead or dying fish begins to digest its own flesh with its own enzymes (look it up). Bleeding and gutting will reduce that process and freezing should also retard it. But it would be a good idea in the future to clean the fish before freezing.

Some commercial fishermen flash freeze their fish whole and the onshore processors thaw and clean the fish later...with little or no noticeable reduction in quality. However, the process of autolysis is more pronounced in oily fishes.
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks Pat, that is some helpful info.
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[ReelMasta]

Bows were caught today
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[Flyfishinglover]

Those are some nice slabs of bows. Wish it wasn't going to be so windy tomorrow.
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[Northman]

I always freeze my fish before I smoke them. I have nothing but my opinion and taste buds to verify this but I belive that freezing them first opens the flesh to let the meat take on the smoke flavor better. And I think that the freezing process kills some of the enzymes so that the end product lasts longer. I always bleed, gut, and clean them before freezing them in a vacumm seal bag. When I thaw them out they fillet out just fine. But I'm a refrigeration guy so my opinion is probrably bias.
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[gmwahl]

I've found that not gutting first tends to make the fillets a little mushier when it comes time to fillet them, especially along the backbone and along the rib meat. I used to try all kinds of experiments with my fish when I was younger to see what helped and did not help the end product at the table and I can say for certain that the end product is best if gutted promptly before freezing whole. The fillets may still taste fine, but from a handling perspective they will tend to be more difficult to fillet without tearing and going soft.
Flash freezing is a bit of a different process from what we think we are doing when we throw them in our freezers (even if we have them set to super cold), they are frozen almost instantly instead of over the course of a few hours and that instant freeze preserves the cellular integrity of the flesh whereas the slower freezing method allows for some breakdown of the flesh. Both methods work, but from a "fresh" tasting perspective the flash frozen fish will seem more like it was just put on your plate strait from the hook.
I am just giving my opinion, but it also comes from years as a chef and restaurant owner (no longer doing that anymore, thank god!).
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[badbob]

I fillet in the summer where legal, in winter the fish are often frozen solid when I get home. If you wait too long the blood line om the backbone can stain the flesh but they still taste fine to me.
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