Category: cleaning fish

Hi Italo, I have been watching your shows for years. The one thing that you might address is different fileting knife options depending on the fish caught . Top brand knives don’t always last when going through bones and some flex too much. Please give me some suggestions.

Posted on December 2nd, 2021

Hi Roy, Glad you are enjoying out TV shows. You are absolutely right, for anglers that want to keep, clean and enjoy their catch the right knife for the job is critical. I still use the original Rapala balsa-wood fillet knives in the 4″ (for panfish) to the 7″ for larger fish. The blade is made of a quality metal and really keeps it’s edge.  When the blade gets a little dull from going thorough larger bones I just use a “steel” to hone the edge back. If I’m cleaning really big fish I use the Bubba knife which also keeps a great edge and has a “hand-friendly” grip that enables you to hold the knife even when your hands gets slippery from fish slime.

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Hi italo I was just watching the episode you did on sucker fishing. I have a cottage on kawagama lake which feeds lake of bays. It is a clean deep water lake and on of couple occasions Ive caught 45lb white suckers. I didnt think they were good eating fish until I saw you frying them up on ur show. Would you suggest I try to eat a white sucker if I catch one again

Posted on February 1st, 2015

Hi Simon….Definitely! Those waters are clean and cold, and the suckers will taste excellent. Just follow the cleaning/fish preparation instruction & deep frying instructions I went over in the show to make sure those small “Y” bones get crystalized…God bless you, Italo

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I have noticed something of great concern in fish that I have caught in Eastern Ontario over the years particularly the Pembroke and surrounding area. Embedded in their flesh a several 14 inch white parasitic worms. I have my suspicions as to their origin…cattle farms in this region. These worms I have heard are in the intestines of cattle to aid in digestion. When the eggs from these worms are excreted in manure and washed into the water system after ever rain they infest a new host fish. Subsequently they end up killing the fish. Have you heard of this phenomenon If so what can be done about this so called invasive species

Posted on December 13th, 2014

Hi Calvin…Actually, you have nothing to be concerned about. All fish have parasites. I will try and give you some technical info. so that you are aware of some of the types of parasites that are commonly found in our freshwater fish. There are several “symbiotic” parasites that are common in many of our warm-water fish. One of the most common is the tapeworm (Cestodes). The tapeworms for example we find commonly in walleye and bass are the adult stage of the parasite. The parasites are passed on from fish to fish when their eggs are excreted, and than eaten by a family of plankton knows as “copepods”. When they are eaten by the copepods the eggs develop into a larvae. The copepod must then be eaten by larger fish for the parasites life cycle to continue. When a small fish eats the infected copepod, the tapeworm larvae normally embeds itself either in the muscle tissue or internal organs. The small fish than has to be eaten by a larger fish such as a walleye or bass to complete the tapeworms life cycle. When the larger fish ingests the smaller fish with the larvae, the larvae lives in the intestinal tract of the larger fish where it completes it’s life cycle and than starts again. It’s common if larger fish that are kept for eating die, and are kept in a plastic bag or cooler, to see the tapeworms that have come out of it’s host. It is safe to eat fish that have these parasites as long as you properly cook the fish. Freshwater fish should never be eaten raw as “sushi”. Here are a list of other common parasites that you can detect in certain freshwater fish:

Black Spot – Small round spots under skin or in flesh. Caused by larval flukes that develop in fish and are eaten by birds to continue life cycle.

Dermal Sarcoma – Infects walleye, appear as “warts” on surface of skin.

Yellow & White Grub- Fluke that looks like a yellow spot (tiny ball the size of a kernel of rice), usually in the flesh. Caused by a larval fluke. Birds needed to continue life cycle.

All freshwater fish that have the above parasites are fine to eat, in some cases you can remove the cysts from the flesh when you are cleaning them. The important thing is to cook the fish properly….God bless you, Italo

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Hey Italo! I really want to organize a youth fishing tournament in the summer and what some ideas on how and if any companys can sponsor it

Posted on February 27th, 2013

Hi Tommy…I would encourage you to send a proposal to most of the fishing tackle manufacturers to solicit their support. The proposal should include what kind of exposure the sponsors would get in return for their support; things like on-site signage, posters in the community, newspaper columns covering the event, etc. The more exposure you can offer potential sponsors, the more sponsors you whould be able to obtain…God bless you, Italo

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Do you have a video on how to take y bones out of pike

Posted on April 24th, 2012

Hi Tom…We do. One of the best pike cleaning tip was done by our guide, Bob Bagnel when we were at Marmac Lodge, ON last year. Here is the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izD-2llMYdI , the tip starts at the 2:56 minute mark…God bless you, Italo

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italo where did you learn to filet walleyes by making to cuts along the lat line and separating never seen that before

Posted on November 15th, 2009

Hi Ken….I learned the “zippering”, (the lateral line), from my friends Pat Pagano and Mike Atkins who are walleye experts on the Detroit River and Lake Erie out of La Salle/Windsor, ON….God bless you, Italo

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Hello again, Italo. I don\’t know if you\’ve ever answered this question before or not but I want to ask if you eat some of the channel catfish you catch and if so, do you ever bleed it out before you clean it? I never do but if it improves the taste I might consider doing it. Thanks. God Bless!

Posted on April 20th, 2008

Hi Steve….It\’s been a long time since I have eaten channel catfish. All of the ones we have caught over the last few years have been released. I have been told that if fishe are to be kept for eating, cleaned and than frozen, that it\’s best to “bleed-them” as soon as they are caught so that they keep better for longer periods of time. If fish are cleaned and eating right away (shorelunch), I don\’t think that has to be done…God bless you and your family also, Italo

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Just saw your Cuba tarpon show .. just loved Barb\’s fishing shirt and pants! I\’m just about the same size as Barb and can\’t find fishing clothes that fit comfortably. Can you please tell me where she gets her fishing clothing? I\’d also like to know where she got the breathable waders I saw her wearing on a past show. She looks great!!

Posted on April 19th, 2008

Hi Deb…Thank you for your kind words. The cloths she was wearing is made by Tarponwear. You can Google and see where you can get this line of clothing. One site is, http://www.sunclothingetc.com/acatalog/Online_Catalog_Tarponwear_Imperial_Long_Sleeve_Shirt_102.html . This clothing line is very light, comfortable (especially in hot weather), dries very quickly and is ultraviolet-ray prtotective. The waders she wears are the light-weight “portables”, make by http://www.hodgman.com/?session_key=umd2zR5wzWJFkR3ng8sqJ4T5j3IfMU9X ….God bless you, Italo

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how do you clean rainbow trout

Posted on October 24th, 2007

Hi Greg…If they are small (under 16″), you can gut-and-gill them and fry them or bake them whole. If they are larger, you can steak them, or fillet them…God bless you, Italo

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