Rules on processing fish?

[Mike Robinson]

I just read another post about a fishing trip to Alaska and it made me wonder about something. (Alaska King salmon fishing trip in Dockside chat)

I used to work in the Sport Fishing Industry In British Columbia and I consider the restrictive rules in Canada on how a person can process their fish before they get it home to be a problem. You can't just cut your fish up into usable pieces before you freeze it so when you get it home you end with huge slabs of frozen flesh. This fish has to be left so that it can be identified by species, measured if applicable, and counted, which I can understand. But I'm sure alot of this fish ends up freezer burnt and thrown away. A real shame!

So I'm wondering what you can and cannot do with you fish before you get it home in the USA?

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Rules on processing fish?

I had asked a CO here (Canada) about the rules for cleaning fish before transport home. He said they can be fully filleted with a 1" patch of skin left to identify the species. The fillet can't be "halved" and needs to be left it's full length so when they measure the fillet they can get a good idea of the length of the fish. They're also supposed to be packaged separately for easy counting.

The lakes I fish are generally only stocked with Perch, Walleye and Jack and there are no slot limits in the lakes I fish so I'd be willing to bet it's different depending on the lake and the species being fished.