Care of Your Catch

Freshly caught fish tastes great if it's cared for properly. Store caught fish in a cooler with ice until you get home. To preserve a fresh taste, clean your fish as soon as possible. Filleting, pan dressing, and skinning are three simple ways to clean your catch.

Filleting Fish

Filleting is a very popular technique for cleaning fish because you don’t need to remove the internal organs, head, or fins. The fillets also are boneless. Filleting is easiest when you use a sharp fillet knife with a thin, flexible blade. Wear a fillet glove on your free hand to prevent serious cuts. (A fillet glove helps deflect an errant knife blade.) You also need a flat, firm surface to work on.

1. Place the blade of the knife just behind the pectoral fin and cut through to the backbone.

2. Turn the knife so the blade is against, and nearly parallel to, the backbone. Hold the fish firmly with one hand and use a sawing motion to cut through the ribs toward the tail. Continue to the base of the tail. (Note: Some anglers fillet the meat around the ribs rather than cutting through them.)

3. Place the knife near the tail end of the fillet with the blade next to the skin. Hold the fish at the base of the tail with your fingertips and work the blade forward between the skin and flesh.

4. Place the edge of the knife blade just under the top of the ribs and slice them out of the fillet. Repeat the procedure on the other side of the fish.

How to Fillet Fish Videos
Filleting a Fish, from the Missouri Department of Conservation 

General Fish Filleting (uses a fillet knife) 

General Fish Filleting (uses an electric fillet knife) 

Panfish/Sunfish Filleting 

Cleaning Catfish

Catfish Filleting 

Six Iowa Fish that Put Up the Biggest Fight

Looking for a challenge? Try catching one of these fish that are ready to battle.

Smallmouth bass - this aggressive, scrappy-fighting, aerial acrobat is the hardest fighting freshwater fish (pound per pound); found in free-flowing sections of streams and rivers, many anglers need to travel only a short distance for a chance to fish for this fierce fighter.

Bluegill – ounce to ounce, these quick to bite, slab-sided sunfish are the strongest fighters; they may be small, but they are mighty; they often turn sidewise when you hook them so you are pulling them in with their greatest surface area trying to come sideways through the water.

 

Flathead Catfish – these "big-water" fish grow to enormous size and put up a powerful fight; you are usually fighting the fish along with the current in a river.
 

Hybrid striped bass (wiper) –a cross between a female striped bass and male white bass, they can attain weights over twenty pounds; these strong swimmers are explosive fighters when hooked.

White bass - these fast growing predators are incredible fighters; they are aggressive strong swimmers abundant throughout the Mississippi River and in the lower reaches of its main tributary streams.
 

Common Carp – these large minnows often weigh up to 50 pounds or more and put up a long, strong fight when hooked; you are usually fighting the fish along with the current

Find tips for catching these champion fighters on our How to Fish For website. Sign up for the Iowa DNR weekly fishing report to find out what’s biting where.

State Fish Iowa! Games Target Casting Competition

The State Fish Iowa! Games finals were held June 6 at the Liberty Centre Pond in North Liberty.  Participants competed in one of two classes, Open or Medalist. The Medalist Class was for students who had placed as a medalist in a Fish Iowa! Games casting competition at their school. Over 9,700 Iowa students across the state took part in these competitions. The Open Class was for students who had not competed in a Fish Iowa! Games school casting competition or who participated but did not place first in their class.

All participants received a certificate. Medals were awarded for three age divisions. The first place winner in each division also received a rod and reel.

2015 State Fish Iowa! Games Medalists
Age 8 & Under

Age 8 & younger

Medalist/Open Class

Edward Xu – 1^st Place

Damien Maylone – 2^nd Place

Liam Strabala– 3^rd Place

Age 9-11

Medalist Class

2015 State Fish Iowa! Games Medalists
Age 9-11

Holden Mathis – 1^st Place

RJ Francois – 2^nd Place

Kairi Griffin – 3^rd Place

Open Class

Ben Sirdoreus – 1^st Place

Makayla Asche – 2^nd Place

Avery Van Abbema – 3^rd Place

Age 12 & older

2015 State Fish Iowa! Games Medalists
Age 12 & Older

Medalist Class

Dalton Asche – 1^st Place

Joanna Thury – 2^nd Place

Fish Iowa! Games is a casting competition developed by the Iowa Sports Foundation in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The program is a fun competition where students learn to flip, pitch and cast overhand to a target. Participants receive points based on the accuracy of each casting technique. Often, it is taught as part of an introductory fishing unit. For younger students, it may be their first experience with a rod and reel. 

Free Fishing Weekend: What to Know Before You Head Out

Free Fishing Weekend (June 5, 6 and 7, 2015) is the perfect time to take kids fishing or introduce someone to fishing. DNR staff will be at popular fishing spots across the state to assist with setting up fishing poles and distribute free fishing packets to kids that include tips for fishing, bobbers and right-sized hooks for best catching success.

Follow these simple tips to help your family have a fun and safe free fishing weekend.

Attend a fun, hands-on fishing clinic to learn the basics of fishing. A list of fishing clinics, derbies, and other fun events co-sponsored by the DNR is available on the special events page.

A small hook (size 6 or 8), bobber (size of a nickel and no larger than a quarter) and a worm will get you started. Bring something to get the hook out of any fish that you catch, needle-nose pliers work well.

Learn how to tie at least one basic fishing knot. The uni, palomar, blood and improved clinch knots are strong, reliable and easy to tie. For step-by step instructions and illustrations, check out our Knots Every Anglers Should Know.

Fish in the morning and evening; fish are more active during these times.

Fish like structure so they can hide; fish in or around trees and stumps in the water. If you can see the fish they can see or hear you so try not to let your shadow scare the fish.

Some species of fish have length and bag limits so make sure you know the fishing regulations.

Keep a bottle of sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses, and a hat with a brim in your tackle box to help protect you from the sun. Children fishing around deep or fast-moving water should wear a life jacket. Make sure the life jacket fits your child snugly and won’t ride up around their face.

If you are going to release the fish, handle it as little as possible and with damp hands. For more catch and release tips, see our 6 Tips for Catch and Release Fishing.

 

Commemorate your child’s First Fish with a frameable certificate. Submit your entry online at www.iowadnr.gov/fishing.

 

Find more tips at www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing.