Catching And Gutting A Fish ~ by WoodlandsTV

Transcript

Angus: What sort of trout are they?

Alex McKenzie: What sort of?

Angus: Of trout are they?

Alex: They are Rainbow Trout.

Angus: Rainbow Trout. But, there are other sorts, aren't there?

Alex: Brown Trout is here as well.

Angus: How do you know those are the rainbow ones?

Alex: If you look at the colors when we take it out, you see it on there.

Angus: What happened to the brown ones there?

Alex: The brown ones are around, but they hide, they don't come out the same...

Angus: They're not so extrovert.

Alex: No. [pause]

Alex: I'm doing the head first, you don't want to see this. That's it, I'm done.

OK, Angus, we're going to cut the Rainbow Trout now. Place a knife in the base of the tail, just draw the knife straight through, right to the neck. As far up as it can go, right to the bone. Turn it over, place your hand underneath, right up you can feel the cord at the top of his neck. See him there? Here's a cord.

Angus: Oh, yes.

Alex: Just cut the cord in there. Pull it out, straight away. That's all there is. As you see, that is a blood vein running through there. Cut down the middle, just like that. One streak. He hasn't got the water yet, is he? He's getting the water. Meanwhile, while we're waiting for him to come back with the water, what we do is check the stomach contents. Now, in the stomach, if you were out fishing and you want to check what the actual trout is eating, so when you're using flies for fly-fishing, you can find the right fly.

What we'll do is take the stomach, open it up, like so; then inside it will tell you exactly what he's been eating.

Angus: Grass.

Alex: Even in there, there's a bit of pine needle.

Angus: Pine...

Alex: He's accidentally taken something and ate the pine needle as well.

Angus: There seems to be a lot of wings of flies.

Alex: There's a grass, there's a fly.

Angus: This looks like a dragonfly.

Alex: It is a small dragonfly, you are right. There, if you look, you can still see the wings that's on there of a gnat.

Angus: Oh, yes.

Alex: On the water.

Angus: So, the fish was doing a good job keeping the fly population down.

Alex: That's right. But in May, you'd have the mayfly, as it's coming into May as it goes on, the flies change all the way. So does the fish's eating habits. All right, we'll get some water.

Angus: What are those two orange bits?

Alex: That's the eggs. These rainbow won't breed in this captivity here, the same as the brown trout. These won't breed in there because they're stock fish. They're not natural to this country. Originally they're from America. All right, water. Take the fish, put it in the water. Where you've cut that vein, you run your finger straight down, like so. All the blood coming off? Like so. Just wash him, make sure you drain all the blood off and remains. There's a little bit there, look. Get all of that. If left too long, it will taint the fish slightly.

Now, Angus, there's your supper.

Angus: Wonderful. Fantastic Fish. I'm looking forward to that.

Alex: Job done.

Angus: Now I'm getting my bag, putting it in