ray wings

[jabee]

Salar:

 

Don't feel guilty about keeping a few fish for the pot, most people do. I wonder if the "put 'em back" brigade are vegans? They are condoning plenty of animal deaths if they are not. But lets not go there on this happy forum

Vegan? - not me. I just don't enjoy eating ray enough to justify (to myself) keeping them so I (and a lot of the people I fish with) release those we catch. A few fresh Mackerel though, or a decent cod - now thats a different matter altogether

[Gillies]

If I'm not fishing competition, and I catch Ray - I will keep, as I do enjoy them on a plate - very much. If I did catch a species of fish when not in competition that me or no one I know didnt enjoy on a plate then I put straight back. (ie Coalfish, Scad, Wrasse, Pollack) - thought the Wrasse are hard to return sadly due to swim bladder.

 

I have however over the years seen a number of Thornbacks, and other speices such as Pollack, Cod, Ling returned alive, and due to the deep hooking you just know they have no chance of survival.

 

We are kind of lucky up here, as we have a few guys whom will eat "any fish that swims" - so after a competition the fish are always put to good use.

 

Gillies

[Nobby1]

Gilles,

Whenever any Wrasse are brought up with their swim bladders showing, just pop them with a filleting knife, they will be sore for a few days, but will survive.

[Gillies]

Thanks Nobby - I'm still not 100% certain about popping the swim bladders and it's effectiveness. As the swim bladder is used for the fishes buoyancy - But, yes - I agree that a good percentage of them will recover withing a couple of days after been popped, and is a good idea to give it a go.

 

Deep hooked fish - especially Pollack fished on a slow retrieve, I don't often hold much hope for due to the mess a hook can make at the back of their throat - if it's bleeding heavily and has large rupture where the hook has been, how easily do fish recover from this, and are these wounds easily open to infection etc?

 

Gillies

[Smudge]

I find that with a fish that has "blown" its swim bladder the sharp point from a hook is best as it only leaves a pin hole for the fish to heal not the larger hole that a knife leaves. As for the original subject of eating fish I have no problem eating fish that I catch as I will only take what I know that will be eaten in my household the rest is returned for me to catch the next time. Ray wings are a fantastic meal if done in black butter (butter with capers)

[Leon Roskilly]

er, be careful in operating on fish.

 

Small holes in the swim bladder will self repair within a few hours/days.

 

Often the swim bladder will develop small holes, filling the body cavity, that can be released with minor surgery.

 

The expanding swim bladder can force the stomach to be forced out through the mouth. Mistake that for the swim bladder and pierce it and you have probably killed the fish

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Newt]

Great short piece Here on swim bladders and how to safely vent them.

 

Interesting that this subtopic showed up on a thread about rays though.

[10 brownie points]

Thank you Newt,

I asked for recipes for ray wings and now we are on to swim bladders and unless you can remove them from another fish and stuff them with the ray wing and some onions, grain and a few herbs and cook them like a black pudding or haggis , I don't see how the swim bladder is going to help me eat the ray wings.

[Salar]

Newt:

 

 

Interesting that this subtopic showed up on a thread about rays though.

Particularly as I didn't think cartiligous fish had them?

If shark regurgitate their stomachs (not pushed out by swim bladders presumably), can one stuff them back and would they survive?

[Newt]

Salar - that was exactly my point. Strange to get onto a swim bladder sub-topic when speaking of rays that simply don't possess such a structure.

 

Not sure about all the cartilaginous fish but rays and sharks, at least, lack a swim bladder.