Handling prawns after catch

[Eastmon]

I want to spend a bit of time this winter setting some prawn traps, how are you guys handling the prawns from the trap to your house?

Whats the best way to keep them alive for a few hours?

 

[fishin solo]

I pop heads off asap then bag them and throw them on ice... don't know anyway to keep them live for transport except in livewell

 

[eaglemaniac]

I put them in a appropriately sized pail in water and let them soak for a bit. Then drain the water and add new salt water on my way in . They can be muddy for sure. Then behead as needed. Sweet. eman

 

[Eastmon]

I was thinking a bucket of sea water and regularly squirt with the wash down hose to keep oxygen. Same sort of thing i do with crabs.

Just wasnt sure if they lasted long doing that since they have come from deeper water..

 

[Cuba Libre]

No problem. If you want to keep them alive, the occasional shot with the washdown pump will keep them alive for several hours. But personally.I prefer my fishing partner to de-head them on the run in. Saves time later. If you want a fantastic fertilizer for the veggie garden, save the heads.

 

[fogged in]

We generally sort out the small ones and take the big ones home in a baby bath.
If it's summer and warm, put in some ice, but certainly not necessary in the winter.
Occasionally we will take off the heads on the spot, but no problem if you want to leave it for an hour or two.

 

[Teja]

I de-head them as soon as possible because spot prawns have an enzyme in their brain that can permeate through their tail and turn the meat mushy when they die. Really want some fresh prawns right about now.

 

[Eastmon]

I de-head them as soon as possible because spot prawns have an enzyme in their brain that can permeate through their tail and turn the meat mushy when they die. Really want some fresh prawns right about now.

Tell me about it. I gots a hankering.

Love to be bringing home some nice prawns if the winter spring fishing is slow.

 

[trophywife]

we ***** them often to wash out bait and mud, then stop on the way in to head off them unless we need to use their heads for bait.. rinse them some more because they ink/jelly out a bit. salt water rinse only! then frozen in a container of lightly salted water at home..i can stuff 60-80 in a 4l plastic milk jug. lasts for quite a while like this in the freezer.

 

[ziggy]

Only think I would add ( maybe assumed) is that as soon as I have the heads off I bag then and put them on ice for the trip home.

 

[hambone]

Like others have said, I like to keep them in a bucket of water for a while. They will spit out most of the food they've been eating. I have a plastic perforated tray and will dump them into the tray so I can get a fresh new pail of water and usually do this about 3 times.

In the winter you can keep them alive for a long time if you give them new water but you don't have all day when prawning in warmer weather.

Wherever you decide to take the heads off, I think it's crucial to give them a good rinse after and hopefully freeze or on ice shortly after that.

 

[DuroBoat]

We went prawning in saanich today, just off the airport. Two traps empty, one trap full of squat lobsters (I bet there will be a fishery for those in a few years and one trap had 60 prawns! Also landed some HUGE crabs outside of cowichan bay. We kept the prawn traps a bit shallower, around 200'.

 

[Sculpin]

We don't keep them alive at all. As soon as they hit the table they are sorted quickly (females with eggs go back within 2 minutes due to light). After sorting they have their heads ripped off, put in a container, rinsed, and put in zip locks with the air sucked out of them, one layer thick, and put on ice immediately.

 

[sly_karma]

I find freezing them in sea water is the closest thing to eating them fresh. Noticeably better than freezing them dry.

 

[CIVANO]

X2 on sea water freezing. They are much firmer - rarely mushy.

 

[ZENYO]

No problem. If you want to keep them alive, the occasional shot with the washdown pump will keep them alive for several hours. But personally.I prefer my fishing partner to de-head them on the run in. Saves time later. If you want a fantastic fertilizer for the veggie garden, save the heads.

What do you do with them before you put them in the garden? Do you let them rot in a bucket and add water or just turn them in your soil as is?

 

[Cuba Libre]

What do you do with them before you put them in the garden? Do you let them rot in a bucket and add water or just turn them in your soil as is?

Just turn them in and cover the area to keep coons and cats from digging up.

 

[Bait&Sea]

On the boat they get a couple cycles of sea water in a bucket, twist off heads, pac in big ziplock on ice. At home I freeze tails in a yogurt container with sea water

 

[Pippen]

As others have said about rinsing in seawater in a bucket for a few cycles it works great at cleaning them out. A buddy got this advice from an old commercial fisherman and we started doing it a couple of years ago....makes for a very nice and clean finished product. One only has to look at the colour of the water after 15-20 minutes to know that it DOES in fact work. We usually have heads off within 45 minutes after a couple of fresh soaks.

I don't recall the exact details as to why the puke or crap everything out of their system but has something to do with the surface water (may be salinity...I don't recall) being different than the water they came up from.

 

[Fishin'Zinn]

When you cycle the water in the bucket, on the last fill pour a little beer in there makes them drunk... And really tender

Disclaimer... I don't know if it makes any difference but I've done it before... lol