Filleting your fish
 

Some seem to think the laws require that you bring the fish intact "home" before filleting. I am of the belief that I am entitled to clean my fish at the dock, if boat caught, or if locally from the surf, I take it to a waterfront ramp or dock to fillet, as well as discarding the rack/frame back into the sea. What is your take? I have pasted the following from Mass laws CMR 322;

(7) Prohibitions. It shall be unlawful for:
(a) a recreational fisherman to retain more than two striped bass per day;
(b) a recreational fisherman to possess more than two striped bass at any one time;
(c) a recreational fisherman to sell, barter or exchange or offer to sell, barter or exchange any striped bass;
(d) a recreational fisherman to take or possess any striped bass less than 28" in total length;
(e) a recreational fisherman to mutilate any striped bass in such a way as to interfere with or affect a proper and adequate measurement of the fish; such mutilation shall be prima facie evidence of a violation of this section;
(f) a recreational fishermen to discard dead striped bass that are 28" or greater in total length.
(g) a recreational fisherman to "high-grade" striped bass or to keep striped bass alive in the water by attaching a line or chain to the fish or placing the fish in a live-well or holding car.

multilate literally means "to cut up or alter radically so as to make imperfect"

filleting qualifies.

to me, if a fish is borderline (say 28-32 inches) i'd keep it whole until i got home. anything over that it should be pretty easy to judge by the fillet that the fish was legal.

As long as your fillets are 28 + inches you're all set......:hee:


My belief is you can bleed em, or you can gut em if you're not going to fillet em'.....other than that head & tail must be intact for accurate measuring and not guess-timating, technicalities over-rule a 24 fillet that obviously came from a keeper size fish..... if push comes to shove, I think you'd lose.

Looking at rule 7b...looks like you can't fill your freezer over the course of the season either.

Fillet the fish, bag it, stick it in a cooler. If anybody asks where you got it tell them Stop & Shop, then telll them to f-off. The tired argument about the size of your fillets is a non-issue in the real world - but it's a nice divisive fight starter for internet message boards.

Assuming it isn't being weighed for a tourney...
Bleed them right away, gut them. rinse em out. pack them in ice. fillet the next day... huge difference in meat quality!

I had an EPO watch me fillet a 30" on the boat while docked and his only comments were: 1) did I know it was required to bring the fish in whole (not clear from his comment whether this includes bleeding and gutting), and 2) it was illegal to dump the carcass back into the water (inferred at the dock).

You'll be o.k. as long as you don't take your full freezer everywhere with you and as long as you don't invite the EPO to your house for popsicles.

Wasn't Sweatin it.....Just that there are lot there that are subject to different interpretations

I think the general idea here is:

• You should be able to prove to a law enforcement officer that the fish you took was of legal size
• you don't senselessly kill a bass without harvesting the meat

I could't agree more, save more meat and 10x easier to fillet the next day, and as stated bleed em right away.


A trick I learned this year was to not completely remove the fillet from the first side you cut, leave it there, to give better leverage for filleting the other side.

I had a very positive phone call with a captain of the EPO. I have made him aware of the site, and the discussion regarding the interpretation of regulations. When he gets a clearance from their public relations, I would not be surprised to see him, or someone else from DMF, to weigh in here.

I'd like to hear from some of the charter guys out there. What do you do when your charter passengers want to take fish home. I'm assuming you fillet them at the dock rather than a) sending them home with whole fish or b) driving to your house and filleting them there.

How does this work?

I have always seen it as don't clean fish out at sea. This is because people could catch thier limit,clean them, hide them, and continue catching more fish. Cleaning fish at the dock has never....never...never been a problem. I have 6 other charter boats next to me and we all have cutting tables and clean our fish at the dock just like every other charter outfit I know. I have had conversations with the Green police when cleaning fish tons of times and thier boat is located about 30 feet from mine. It's cleaning fish while you are still at sea that you need to worry about. I have always considered the dock back at home and fishing is considered done.

I would never clean a fish at sea, the green police have enough power to take your boat and all your gear if they decide too.

For shore fisherman I would see it much the same way. I wouldn't have a cleaned fish in the cooler next to me while I'm still casting for more fish. If your rods & tackle were back in the truck and it was obvious you were cleaning your fish before going home, I think you would be much better off. However I would clean them back at home.

they link to the law that Ross posted here, but here is the write-up from the Mass DMF site, not that it specifically singles out charter captains cleaning fish for clients:

Bass must be kept whole, with head, tail and body intact - no mutilation permitted (other than evisceration). The discard of dead, legal size striped bass is prohibited. To prohibit the practice of high-grading, recreational fishermen may not retain legal-sized striped bass and release said fish in favor of another larger legal-sized striped bass captured subsequently. It shall be unlawful to keep striped bass alive in the water by attaching a line or chain to the fish or placing the fish in a live well or holding car. Striped bass are measured from the tip of the snout or jaw (mouth closed) to the farthest extremity of the tail. Note: Permitted party/charter vessel operators may fillet striped bass for their customers. See 322 CMR 6.07 (4)(g) for details.

I totally agree with what Rerockhound said. Bleeding out the fish, icing it for at least a few hours before filleting makes for an easier job and the fillets are firm.

Does this cleaning apply to just stripers or does it encompass fish like fluke and tautog?
I never really gave this much thought but we usually go to the boat for the weekend staying Saturday night, any fish we catch on Saturday are cleaned at the end of the day and the fillets are packaged and stored in the food cooler. When we fish on Sunday this cooler obviously stays on the boat.
Sounds like if I was checked by the EPO on Sunday with whole fish in the box and filleted fish in the cooler I would have some explaining to do.

Yes. You would.

Ok, I can see the issue, but if I left a cooler at the dock with Saturdays fish in it and on Sunday added that days catch and the total added up to more than than 1 days limit am I then in violation? I guess what I am looking for is there a possession limit that is different from the daily limit, like for waterfowl?

Nope...its 2 a day in your posession....doesn't matter whether you caught 2 yesterday and 2 today...if you have more than 2 you are guilty

Whether I catch fish on the beach or rocks, I always take them down to the local boat ramp, clean them and toss the carcass into the river ... my rods and stuff are usually at home or put away ... and I am with a cooler, I have never been bothered and have to believe this will continue to be okay ... don't want to have to deal with the fish at my house ...

Yep, nothing worse than a couple heads and carcasses in the trash can on saturday, waiting for that wednesday pick up. Always best to clean at the docks for me too.

I am probably a little off track here, I get the 2 a day with bass, not an issue cause usually there is 5 of us on the boat, but with bass if I keep any I only keep what we would eat within the week. 1, 2 fish at the most. The issue for me would be a possession limit of fluke / tautog .

I may be off topic here?

Cleaning fish by the boat ramp and tossing the carcass is a gateway crime.
I've seen it before.
It starts with filleting fish, next thing you know you're selling crack at a playground, tragic.

Seems pretty clear to me. The bass must be transported with the head and tail intact to your place of domicile, where you can then fillet it. The fillets in your freezer are not "striped bass" within the meaning of the possession law. It is illegal to possess more than two intact striped bass at any one time--the law says nothing about how many fillets you can have in your refrigerator or freezer.

What's fascinating is that in this thread alone there is over 100 years of striped bass fishing experience represented by the people making posts and there is still a lack of clarity on the regulations.

Question for MikeP though. If I fillet fish at my domicile, but have the fillets in my cooler when I hit the beach the next day...how is that enforced both in terms of the "possession of mutilated fish" and the number of fish I can keep? I'm sure the answer is "leave the fillets at home" but is there no provision in the law for being in position of fillets for the purpose of consumption in an area one is catching fish?

Good call,I can see that point 100%.If one decides to bring food to the grill for cooking/gathering.Or how about this,what if you had brought lobsters with you.....who's to say that you didn't buy them & you cought them there in the water right?
Must you carry a recipt for the lobsters,and for bass say hey I caught these yesturday or what ever the case maybe?


I have learned that when I fillet a fish at location and rinse it off in the salt water it taste 100% better than brinning it home and cleansing it under tap water,not to mention I can release the carcus in the water for the crabs and smaller fish to feast on,kinda like the circle of life recycling.

You are running the risk of getting cited if you fillet the fish at home, and then bring them with you when fishing the next day. Common sense alone should tell you that it's a bad idea.

The lobster analogy isn't a good one, IMO. So few people lobster recreationally to start with, and lobsters don't swim off sandy beaches. Unless you had a vehicle full of lobster traps, a push pole, and buckets of lobster bait, no one is going to think that you caught the lobsters.

FWIW none of that applies in RI where it is perfectly legal to filet your catch anywhere you want.

If you bring a cooler with yesterday's fillets to the beach today, and you proceed to catch fish today, the problem is the impression you are presenting.
It "appears" that you caught fish, filleted them, put them in you cooler and are trying to get more.
Think in terms of the investigating officer: He asks you (or a possible poacher) "What's in the cooler?" and the reply is "Fish, but I caught them YESTERDAY."
How many times have EPO officers had people/poachers lie to them to cover similar indescretions?
As I said, it's all about the impression that you may have taken those fillets from fish today, not a prior day.

Of course if you don't have filleting knives or utensils with you at the time, you might be OK.