Islander 11/11 - 11/13 Yellow Fever

Quick question on the YT..

 The filets were frozen by the Islander and given to use mostly frozen.

I drove home with them packed in ice and that is how they are now,

 can I still freeze them or do I have to find a way to eat it all now?

and how long will this fish keep on ice?.. Thanks

Help!!!!,

 Does anyone have a answer to this????

Danglin

You can freeze them or completely thaw and eat. If your preference is sashimi, I would thaw and eat in the next 2 days.

Scott

I'm freezing my yellowtail...Can't tell you authoritatively why this is the best way to go...but logistically, it's just what I'm doing, ya know.

Cooked a bit of it last night, great but needs some good sauce or seasoning...I'll be researching recipes soon for a fish grilling evening on Tuesday.

Best,

Paul

Cooked a bit of it last night, great but needs some good sauce or seasoning...I'll be researching recipes soon for a fish grilling evening on Tuesday.

Best,

Paul

Yellowtail Teriyaki

INGREDIENTS:
4 small fillets yellowtail (1 serving size each about 1 inch thick)
2 tbsps sake rice wine
1 tbsp soy sauce
For teriyaki sauce: 2 tsps sugar, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsps mirin
PREPARATION:
Mix sake and soy sauce in a bowl and marinate fish in the sauce for 5-10 minutes. Wipe the liquid from the fish and set aside. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry fish until browned. Mix teriyaki sauce ingredients to make teriyaki sauce. Wipe some excess oil in the frying pan with a pager towel. Pour teriyaki sauce over fish in the pan. Simmer the fish for 10 minutes over low heat.

Hey Guys and Gals... Awesome report! 

I'm so happy to see that many of you scored some yellowtail love. 

Sounds like a very memorable trip... as expected given the organizers and participants.  I wish I could have been there and hope to get in on the action in a future trip! 

Danglin... glad you got the gaff bloody... thanks for sharing the pic. 

I'll be expecting to see more of your ugly mug in WON, Fishsniffer, In Fisherman, Pacific Coast Sportfishing, Field and Stream, Boy's Life, Maxim, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Sixteen, and Better Housekeeping.

EK

Danglin... glad you got the gaff bloody... thanks for sharing the pic. 

I'll be expecting to see more of your ugly mug in WON, Fishsniffer, In Fisherman, Pacific Coast Sportfishing, Field and Stream, Boy's Life, Maxim, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Sixteen, and Better Housekeeping.

Hey,

 @ My age, ya take'm where ya can get them ....

  Thanks for the tips on freezing....

 My question is they have thawed on the way home on ice,

 so I am wondering if it is ok to " ReFreeze " the fish....

 Thanks Again, don't mean to jack the thread, but I don't want to screw up a great fish.... Danglin

Refreezing fish is never good, I would let it thaw SLOWLY in the fidge for best quality and give the gift of meat...it is the holidays! 

YT is great marinated in Soy Vey's Island Teriaki.  Just don't cook it to death, remember that it is great as sashimi too.

Thanks to the NorCal group for letting me join the party.  Could not imagine a better group to have out there.  Even though I got no love on the yellows despite doing the yoyo (note to self - buy butterfly/knife jigs!) for hours it was a phenomenal trip.

Crew couold not be beat, especially the divemaster that rescued my homewrapped Graphite USA from 105 feet of water (another note to self - don't try to reach around & drain bait tank if ya don't have to).  Food pics speak for themselves.  And the schwag from Promar, Okuma, andPAL - thanks for the year of WON!- was just a bonus.

Hope to make it up there to harass some fish NorCal style.

Shawn (Hunters Pa)

  Thanks for the tips on freezing....

 My question is they have thawed on the way home on ice,

 so I am wondering if it is ok to " ReFreeze " the fish....

 Thanks Again, don't mean to jack the thread, but I don't want to screw up a great fish.... Danglin

Danglin -

If your intent to cook the fish, then it is probably safe to refreeze IMO. Geez it was swimming around 2 days ago. For sashimi thaw and eat today. Below are the official guidelines from the University of Minnesota...

Occasionally, frozen foods are partially or completely thawed because of delays in getting them into the freezer, a power outage, or a change of plans for cooking the food.

The basis for safety in refreezing foods is the temperature at which you held thawed foods, and how long you held them after thawing. Look closely at frozen foods you thawed partially to determine if they can be safety refrozen. Completely thawed meats must be cooked before refreezing.

Foods may be safely refrozen if they still contain ice crystals. Put the packages in the coldest part of the freezer, mark them and use them within two or three months.

If a food is completely thawed, but still cold, and refrigerator temperature (34 - 40 degrees F.), move to the refrigerator and use it within two days. Do not refreeze.

Thanks GB

  That answers it...

 Now I can get to work ...... Danglin

Quick question on the YT..

 The filets were frozen by the Islander and given to use mostly frozen.

I drove home with them packed in ice and that is how they are now,

 can I still freeze them or do I have to find a way to eat it all now?

and how long will this fish keep on ice?.. Thanks

Help!!!!,

 Does anyone have a answer to this????

Put them in your freezer, Don. If they were frozen befor eyou put them in ice, the filets will have thawed very little, if any, by the time you reached home. On my annual long range trip, the fish are kept in water just above freezeing. As soon as I reach land, I pack them in ice. And the ice keeps them nice and cold for almost 3 days, in case I don't cut, wrap, and freeze them right away.

Howard

First off, My thanks to Paul, Sean and Rick plus the entire crew of the Islander for one of the best times of my life.

Thanks also to every one there for contributing to it, we simply had a great group.

I still have sea legs and occasionally feel like the room is rocking but I am also swamped with work.  I will download some photos and my memories in the next few posting.  I can not wait to get back out there.

I know I missed out bigtime on the Islander fun, but through GB2's generosity, my wife and I will be eating good tonight.  He stopped by today and gave me a nice chunk of his yellow tail.  Scott, thank you so much! 

I just sampled a piece of sashimi and it's delicious!

Wow.  The smiles in all the pictures say it all.  Thanks to everyone for documenting the adventure through pictures so I could live vicariously through you all.  Hopefully the star will align and I will be able to make the next trip.  Way to go you guys!

Thanks also to every one there for contributing to it, we simply had a great group.

Sackyak has that right in my opinion. The trip/adventure was a lot of planning, $, dreaming, and sleepless nights when the brain just would not shut down with the excitement of the time coming. If the fish are there it almost guarantees happy faces, but on this trip by the end of the second day the fishing had been somewhat less than what we all had hoped for. None the less,  the "group" was going with what had been dealt, keeping it up beat, and making it fun. On the third day when it got exciting it was all the better and over the top we went with happy faces.
Favorite moments: Listening to Zilla on the radio declaring a large fish had just cruised under his kayak and then the change of tennor to his voice when he realized this was not a fish he wanted to hook up with. God, that was hysterical.

Watching the surreal scene of the hoop netting night with all the light stick illuminated floats and kayaks bobbing in the dark. Wondering what the military was thinking was going on out there in the dark.

The look on Paul the cook's face while watching the kayak fishing video, you know the one, the look on his face said it all "these guys are all dorks!" Truly a priceless moment

And, what can I say about how cool it was to watch Walker finesse a big yellowtail into his kayak on a 15lb test rig. His first non rockfish and worked like a master. Now, of course, I won't mention how he lost a second one in true rookie fashion since I didn't bag one myself... he out fished me on this trip and that's just fine with this dad.

My thanks also to Rick for his generosity and the $ it will cost me Christmas shopping.
Sean and Paul, you made it happen! Does Paul ever stop? Man, he just never slowed down seeing that everyone had what ever was needed.
The Islander crew of course, and a special one to Shane for all the tips on what and how to target the spot we were at, I learned a bunch.
To those of you who made Walker feel part of the NorCal family, he had spot of worry being the only "kid" on the trip and came away with nothing but great feelings (and he got all his homework done). Thanks!

A final thanks to the "GROUP" for making it what it was!
Steve (rocketman)

Just in case you want to see even more pix of this fabulous trip, please visit my photo website at:

http://jamas.smugmug.com/gallery/3835644#221848022

Janice aka Big J