# Do whiting freeze ok?



## scooter79 (Jul 15, 2010)

I live in the DFW area and going to Galveston with the family. We always have some fun catching what ever will eat some shrimp in the surf on light tackle. As much fun as they are to catch we always throw everything back. I thought maybe this time I would keep a few fish to eat. Seems like the whiting have thin filets even on the bigger ones, thought about just scaling and gutting them. Any advice on what to keep and what will keep best so it isn't a disappointment when we get back to DFW.

Thanks,
Scooter


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## Bearwolf34 (Sep 8, 2005)

I just fillet em like you would a crappie...then toss em in a ziplock filled with enough water to cover em. They last and stay fresh enough to me for awhile. 12" is about the min I keep, too much hassle otherwise.


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## fishingcacher (Mar 29, 2008)

Scale, cut head and tail, and gut. Yes they do freeze.


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## poco jim (Jun 28, 2010)

Filet and vacuum seal them, they last about 6 months. After that they start to get mushy when thawed.
Great eating fish, enjoy. Cornmeal, hot grease and let's eat!


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## matagordamudskipper (Feb 18, 2006)

I rinse all my saltwater fillets with saltwater then vacuum seal.


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## surfguy (May 17, 2011)

I don't eat whiting but I will throw a few whole ones in the freezer for sharkbait or cut bait next time out.


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## monkeyman1 (Dec 30, 2007)

It seems to me the fillets get mushy after frozen.


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## fultonswimmer (Jul 3, 2008)

Freeze em. Good eating, especially fried. Just as good as most other white fleshed critters.


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## spicyitalian (Jan 18, 2012)

If I have some particularly old whiting, I will cut them up into hunks and add them to my gumbo for some added flavor and texture. If you add them late enough they tend to hold together pretty well. My favorite way to cook them otherwise is deep fried like crappie or catfish. They always fall apart on me when I bake or pan fry them in butter.


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## rootpuma (Jul 30, 2012)

Whiting are great to eat.....I don't see why so many people flat out refuse to eat them? Right up there with reds, trout, and flounder IMO...sometimes the meat can get a little soft depending on how they were prepped but that goes for a lot of others too! But if I have the Texas slam and some whiting and cook it all up you can not tell the difference...well okay whiting is a little more tender/soft but so is trout compared to the other two. Reds just have a denser meat....

Yes they will keep for a while...I cut in behind the head as close as I can get cause this is where the meat is the thickest on them. Fillet them and wrap them in wax paper then into a ziplock. 

I usually coat them in cornmeal and bake them within two weeks and they come out just as fresh as when they went in.


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## CoachSalty (May 27, 2013)

Fresh or frozen both make a really good smoked fish dip!:texasflag


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## troutless (Feb 17, 2006)

I think they should make good fish tacos. I just usually use them for baiting my long rods in the winter. So, the next bunch I catch will go into some taco.


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## Instigator (Jul 6, 2004)

Typical low fat white fish freezer behavior. More like trout than redfish. I found some year old ones that got buried in the chest freezer and grilled them with normal frozen fish results. If vacuum sealed I think that quality is more dependent on what you do with them before they hit the freezer than after, up to a point.

From the science end of this there are a couple things to consider. Air and fresh water are not your friends. Frozen meat in contact with air (fillets tossed into a zip bag) will have sublimation issues, AKA freezer burn. That is the water in the fish going directly from the solid to gas phase. Our very helpful frost free freezers pull the moisture out of the air in the freezer making freezer maintenance way easier but creating a large difference in the concentration of water in the fish and atmosphere accelerates sublimation rate. That's why the vacuum sealing method gives you a longer freezer shelf life.

Surrounding your fish with water and freezing slows down sublimation but if you use fresh water you invite another villain to the party. Plasmolysis (cells busting due to osmotic pressure) becomes a serious issue especially for fillets. If you use tap water for this then you also have your fish soaking and then encased in all that nasty tasting residual chlorine (now even worse, chloramine) that makes you not want to drink the tap water. The way around this is to use bottled water (or R/O) that has had about 1 tablespoon of sea salt per quart of water added. That eliminates the chemical problems and equalizes the osmotic pressure so no burst cell to leak fluids and cause dry fried fish.


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## scooter79 (Jul 15, 2010)

Sounds like I need to keep a few this trip. I will be down Wednesday to Sunday. Since I have never kept any fish, I am sure that I won't catch anything worth keeping now...LOL! That's how it typically goes when I plan to keep fish!


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## Bernard (Nov 7, 2013)

Were one to target these fish specifically, what and where would one go? These are close cousins of the Corbina which I have fished for in California and are fantastic eating. The "beans" in CA are a bit larger and we target them on flies. I think it would be interesting to try to target whiting. I hope no one minds my asking - not my intention to hijack the thread.
Thanks,
B


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## Instigator (Jul 6, 2004)

Bernard, one of the reasons that whiting are not usually target fish here is because they are so abundant. That and their generally less than 2 pound size. Pretty much anytime of the year in nearly any surf condition if you put some sort of small crustacean or mollusk bait just off either side of the first bar you will catch more than you want to clean.

Upper coast water clarity isn't good enough on most days to make flies effective but I have done that down south with some success. Although I did cheat and stick a little strip of fish bite on my crab fly.


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## Bernard (Nov 7, 2013)

Instigator said:


> Bernard, one of the reasons that whiting are not usually target fish here is because they are so abundant. That and their generally less than 2 pound size. Pretty much anytime of the year in nearly any surf condition if you put some sort of small crustacean or mollusk bait just off either side of the first bar you will catch more than you want to clean.
> 
> Upper coast water clarity isn't good enough on most days to make flies effective but I have done that down south with some success. Although I did cheat and stick a little strip of fish bite on my crab fly.


Much appreciated Instigator,

With my limited Gulf angling experience I have picked them up by accident and admit that I wasn't ready to become a Whiting-only kinda guy but I sometimes indulge myself in quirky pursuits. I'll post a fresh thread should I eventually try this out. Meanwhile, I am way more interested in the reds, trout and flounder on fly or any other gear for that matter.

B.


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