Fish Cleaning Station

[mrsrunningbear]

We have a cleaning station and we haven't been able to remodel it since we bought the place......it needs some repairs and a new counter for sure...and wondering what else is a must have for fishermen....looking for some suggestions and what you think will hold up the best for a counter

 

[maddogg]

Don't know about the counter tops - stainless maybe. Or something that could be replace easily. I suggestion would be to have a rain gutter with a catch on it so all of the cleaning "leftovers" don't go down the drain and clog it up.

 

[ubee]

butcher supply sells white plastic cutting board material,also menards sells smaller same material cutting boards , put 2 or 3 together.. easy clean up,easy on knives and doesnt stink and get soft like wood! not very good advertising for a resort to say fish house never touched ! lmao! wonder how long before nash smells out knivfes, knifes, knives.

 

[frnash]

… wonder how long before nash smells out knivfes, knifes, knives.

Smells fishy to me!

 

[mrsrunningbear]

butcher supply sells white plastic cutting board material,also menards sells smaller same material cutting boards , put 2 or 3 together.. easy clean up,easy on knives and doesnt stink and get soft like wood! not very good advertising for a resort to say fish house never touched ! lmao! wonder how long before nash smells out knivfes, knifes, knives.

thanks ubee.. I guess I have to think about how I say things .....its been used a lot thats the problem its worn out. The cabins were first on the list and this year its the cleaning house. Its got good light, double stainless sinks, good counter space, but the counter is wood and been cut on way to many times. Counter material has been our biggest question. And was hoping for some of those special things found on travels....so we could really surprise the guys this spring with a first class fish house. And guts what do you all do with them...their a pain in the a**!! always up for "fresh" ideas when it comes to guts

 

[racerx]

Definitely try to go with a stainless table/top but have cutting boards either wood or preferably the white plastic which I believe is HDPE (High-density polyethylene . My dad was a butcher and this is the best way we always did it. My Aunt has a place on the Waupaca chain which we fished a lot and also always fished the white bass runs on the Wolf River (which we would have hundreds of fish to process daily). What he did was acquire a stainless table that we bought up there and used the plastic boards. Clean-up was easy with a simple wash-down of the stainless table and boards, sometimes we would place the board in the dish washer. the SS table has lasted decades and when the cuttings boards wore out we just replaced them which did not cost much. The SS table is costly up front (unless you find one in a auction or a business getting rid of one) but gives a great base that lasts for ever.

Just did a wiki search and found this what is below. Even with the blurb about plastic and "possible" sanitary issue we still found plastic to be have more pros than cons and I think I can say my dad was a pro with his experience and allways saw him work with plastic.

..from WIKI...
In choosing a cutting surface, there are pros and cons to each depending on application.

Wood

Wood has some advantages over plastic in that it is somewhat self healing; shallow cuts in the wood will close up on their own. Wood also has natural anti-septic properties.
Hardwoods with tightly grained wood and small pores are best for wooden cutting boards. Good hardness and tight grain helps reduce scoring of the cutting surface and absorption of liquid and dirt into the surface. Red oak for example, even though a hardwood, has large pores so it retains dirt, even after washing, making it a poor choice for cutting board material.
Wood boards need to be cared-for with mineral oil to avoid warping, and should not be left in puddles of liquid.
Care must be taken when selecting wood, especially tropical hardwood, for use as a cutting board as some species contain toxins or allergens.
Although technically a grass, laminated strips of bamboo also make an attractive and durable cutting board material.

Plastic
While plastic is theoretically a more sanitary material than wood for cutting boards, testing has shown this may not be the case. The softer surface of plastic boards is scored by knives, and the resulting grooves and cuts in the surface harbour bacteria even after being well washed. However, unlike wood, plastic boards do allow rinsing with harsher cleaning chemicals such as bleach and other disinfectants without damage to the board or retention of the chemicals to later contaminate food.
Plastic boards are usually called PE Cutting boards, PE being a shorthand for polyethylene the material which the boards are made of.
Semi-disposable thin flexible cutting boards also ease transferring their contents to a cooking or storage vessel.

Rubber
A recent trend has seen thick solid rubber pads used as cutting boards in the Sani-Tuff line popular in restaurant kitchens. They are about as expensive as well-made wood boards, they can take chemical disinfectants, and they are very heavy for their size, so they tend not to slip. Proponents claim remarkable self-healing properties, the same knife protection as good plastic or wood boards, and an inability to harbor significant amounts of moisture or bacteria.

 

[racerx]

..oh I forgot about the guts...

We used to to dig holes, well I dug them as I was the "youngster in the group" since I was in my teens and you know me that had to be some time ago. I dug them in areas close to vegetation to use as fertilizer "so to speak" and it seem to work. Of course the area they are in is pretty populated and did not have to worry about critters so this may not work up by you but it is something to think about.

just a side note of something I remember from years back which made me believe my dad was a pro, he could fillet a fish and it would "kind of" still swim, well at least still breath since it was not gutted, just the fillet removed. Seriously, I saw it, we put one back in the water one time and it was still fully alive and breathing but the meat gone so it couldn't flip the tail but you could see the fish trying, I was shocked. Hard to explain but I'm sure you know what I mean. Sounds mean but I have seen others whack the fish before cutting it up but I hated seeing that so my dad would cut it up live and the fish would hardly move while he did it. I know, cut it up dead or cut it up live what is the difference, heck I was "young and impressionable". Sorry for the long reply, just thought I would share...got no snow stuff to talk about....

 

[jrnelson122]

And guts what do you all do with them...their a pain in the a**!! always up for "fresh" ideas when it comes to guts

A resort we went to when I was a kid, had a hole cut near the rear of the counter, with a 5 gallon bucket lined with a garbage bag, sitting on a shelf underneath it. You would just push the guts down the hole. When you were done cleaning fish, the bag just got tied up and tossed in a large trash can, which the resort emptied each week.

 

[mrsrunningbear]

Thanks guys.....we're on the hunt for a used stainless counter might have a lead already we'll see if it pans out.

 

[lenny]

if the wood is not rotted you could sand er down, doesn't need to be pretty, and put like 5 coats of clear, It's cheep and good for another 5 years

 

[lenny]

here's my cutting table, poor mans set up but I keep a bucket by the side and throw the junk in da bucket, hose it off and dump the guts in a hand dug hole with a bucket in it with no bottom, stuff rots fast, put the lid back on cover back up with loose dirt and good till next time almost always empty. Few extra fish pics

 

[ubee]

Works good to freeze the guts in old freezer in hot weather if you cant get rid of them daily! Fish guts get real ripe in a few hrs in the summer! if fish house stinks the guests will start cleaning them in the cabin, not good!

 

[mrsrunningbear]

We've done the bag thing, had them fill the lined bucket, tie the bag and then in the dumpster....made for a smelly dumpster.....the guests fill a bucket pretty easy so we need a pretty large area to dump...(good fishing around here) I think we're gonna dig a big trench this year....then have guys/gals put the guts in the buckets then Bear will dump it in the trench, cover up what we dump at the end of each day..... and hope the bears won't be a problem. Might think about the freezer thing...if we have bear problems.......nice pictures

 

[attack_06]

lenny nice northern and musky mrs bear r u on water in canada we put guts in pail run boat few hundred yards out in lake and dump em no hole digging no smelly mess

 

[twrentals]

I bought a used freezer out of the paper for $50 and put in the fish house. Have a drawer full of plastic bags. Have them put remains in plastic bag tied shut and place in freezer. On garbage day empty the freezer in dumpster. Works great and no more smelly dumpster or fishhouse. At our other resort we just used an old refrigerator that we replaced in one of the cabins.

 

[favoritos]

Might want to get started on the cleaning.

http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/515882.html?nav=5015

 

[mrsrunningbear]

lenny nice northern and musky mrs bear r u on water in canada we put guts in pail run boat few hundred yards out in lake and dump em no hole digging no smelly mess

no we're not on water....so we're gonna try the trench this year, we have alot of fishermen which means a lot of guts and the bears could be a problem ....we do have an extra fridge we took out of one of the cabins, so maybe we'll end up using the freezer. The guys were real good last year with bagging the guts so that might work good

 

[yamarage07]

Here's what I do with my fish guts after i get done cleaning.If I am up north at our cabin I hop on the atv and haul them outand dump them in the woods.I am guessing about a 1/2 mile or better away from any of the other cabins.the next day they are mostly gone maybe just a few skins left.I am sure its either bear,raccoons,skunks,or some other critter getting a free meal

 

[nitroman]

UHMW can order any size and thickness makes a great cleaning counter surface!