How to CATCH and Cook Whole Fish on an Open Flame

good morning y'all this is where I slept last night the trunk of my car are you comfortable if I do say so myself got a 4-inch insulator down sleeping bag I can lay flat in there this is you might go to sleeping thing when I'm out traveling and going fishing up north going fishing down south so I don't have to rent a hotel for 100 bucks or pay 50 bucks to stay at a campground sometimes pull off to the side of the road sleep in my car so I can do a good amount of editing in here too all I do is raise up the passenger seat I've got a little table that I could put my laptop on but the main thing is for sleeping so with my sleeping bag in Slater and my pillow I get this all set up before I leave my house and sometimes if I'm not on these like dirt roads these back roads where I could just pull off and sleep easy a lot of times I'm in the city like sometimes I'll be in Monterey or sometimes in San Francisco and if I want to sleep you got to find my little Cuddy spot that's not suspicious so what I do is I go into a residential area where it doesn't have many streetlights how the trees are good and I like to creep on in there when it's kind of late like 11:00 11:30 all the lights are out in the houses and then I pull up into a spot turn off my lights make sure nobody saw me make sure all the interior lights are off climb on back I put up a little blanket right here and come on man I'm in the freakin Toyota Highlander nobody's gonna suspect that I'm sleeping in here so it looks just like regular old passenger car but I'm having the best night's sleep of my life in this little thing so that's my tips if you want to go sleeping in your car save some money on hotel campgrounds you got a little SUV do it like that residential areas that's the go-to when you're out here trying to do it like this forget the Walmart parking lots too many lights security guards from those things residential areas I've never had a problem and I've slept in my car 2030 times never had any encounters so yeah that's enough talking about my sleeping I got this spot you remember the spot with the ladders it was a video from the past the ladder spot baby I'm back here going down I'm gonna give the fish at the ladder spot this is how it starts a little poison oak and a rope and Eve actually called the ropes and ladders spot did I mention poison oak yeah it's a little bit overgrown since the last time I've been here this is two ladders down and we got four more to go to the person who built this I'm sorry I found your spot your secret spot and only a fisherman would make the path like this with four aluminum ladders down a steep cliff I'm with you man and just know your secret's safe with me I'd never let anybody know where this spot is now that we made it to the spot we're gonna move on to a little bit more technical aspect of fishing I know I've answered this many times but I still consistently get asked how to fish for beginners so today I'm going to show you exactly what you need to go rock fishing fishing with bait the easiest way anybody can get started as long as you know how to cast tie some knots you can catch some rock fish this is what I use after looking at the swell the current and the wind I decided on a three ounce weight today also going to need two snap swivel to attach the weight to then you're gonna need two hooks I recommend anything between a two OTT and a five on could be a bait holder it could be octopus when you're rock fishing there are tons of snags hence the name rock fishing so on my spool I've got sixty five pound braid I recommend anything 50-pound and up anything less than that you'll get snagged and when you try to free it it'll just snap but 65 pound you can move a rock you can cut through kelp so 65 pound is good for leader I'd like this to break first before my main line so this is 50 pound fluorocarbon now whether I'm a boat or fishing from rocks they tied my leaves the same way Palomar knot from the braid to the swivel doubled up that line twist it over put it through just like a regular old knot make sure those lines are equal then pull it through give it a little wet little spit then you can just pull one line or both pull that down there your Palomar knot this is super strong knot for attaching anything to braid now the reason why I attached a swivel to my braid is because if I want to change out leaders I can do that easily with the perfection loop so I take the tag end in my right hand double it over once double it over in front take the tag end put it through the middle and then I pull one of the loops through the back loop don't even need any spit there's my perfection loop I can tie I can attach that straight to the snap swivel now about a foot down from the perfection loop gonna make a big twist around your fingers and do four twists make sure that loop is big enough so a hook will fit through one two three four put your fingers through it pull that line on the bottom through the top cinch it down make sure everything stays tight give it a little spit pull it tight there's one dropper loop you're gonna do two of these down another foot do the same thing now with my snap swivel right at the bottom of my leader I'm gonna do a clinch knot so put it through the eye wrap it around four times one two three and four and it's not the improved clinch knot no need for that put it straight back through the hook on the bottom with the tag in pull it up with your teeth and then cinch it down that's not going anywhere that's what you're attaching 2/3 ounce weight to now with the weight on the bottom you under your hook tip up go through the eye with that dropper loop through the eyes of the hook pull it through and thread it over the hook now your hook is ready to fish we got two looks 50-pound floral three ounce weight top hook I'm gonna thread on a piece of squid I like it big and chunky so I'm trying to catch a big fish today so that's going on my for octopus hook you just thread it on back and forth back and forth squid is really tough so it's not very likely to come off the hook before you cast make sure your line is not wrapped around the tip of your rod reel up about a half foot to the swivel get your reel line right up there close make sure your drag is set tight open the Bale and cast out to the deepest spot it looks like wherever it's dark and the waves aren't breaking not even gonna cast out far but right between that channel looks very deep to me hold the line until you feel it hit bottom that way you'll get an idea of how deep it is now reel it in so you get a little tiny bend in your rod that way you're you're feeling the fish you're right on it and then tighten down your drag I suggest holding your rod if you're rock fishing because if you get a fish you want to set the hook and pull them straight up towards you you don't want them to have any chance to swim back down to a rock well my lines been sitting out there for about eight minutes haven't gotten any bites so when I'm ready to reel in gotta make sure my drag is locked down and then I want to do a fast retrieve kind of liking a crab steering you want to lift that thing up quick reel in so you don't get snagged oh if you do get snagged it's ok be patient give it a few pops and the truth of the matter is a lot of times you'll just get snagged and you have to break off even with this heavy line so bring a lot of tackle because you might lose some stuff let's give this another try and a little bit farther out cast to a deeper little zone see how this works [Music] I'm changing it up just a little bit now I've only got one hook one piece of bait I'm just gonna pop it into every little pocket around here come on man I can get one I believe in myself make sure I don't fall backwards into this water come on fishy fishy fishy man it's slow out here so I'm trying something different pops one of these limpets off the rocks we'll see come on man you know I got snagged again I've tried limpets I've tried squid I've tried swim baits now I'm trying mussels throwing everything I can at these fish yeah I almost think that these fish can sense the desperation in my hand through the line so I'm gonna put my rod down it works like this though I promise most of the time oh my god dude seriously all right look as frustrating it is for you that I haven't caught any fish on this video imagine how frustrating it is for me being out here for six hours and not a bite hey y'all I think I got a fish or something heavy what is this a crab or something definitely some weight on there oh my god are you serious got a damn slug damn gumboot whatever you call this thing are you kidding me seriously what are the chances I can't catch a damn fish but a catch of frigging I don't even know what this is slug kind of thing what the hell come on dude oh really really oh man it's 3:40 right now I've been out here since 9 o'clock 12 to 6 hours almost 7 hours I've been fishing not a bite man this place is just kind of dead I tried my best I really did I threw everything I had at it even forged some bait sometimes just doesn't work out in your favor that's fishing [Applause] yesterday I had to retreat with my tail between my legs throw on the white flag go back to the butter mobile and lick my wounds but today is a new day got a new spot same rig we're 50 feet up that's why you got to make sure your line is strong enough to pull these fish straight up to the sheer cliff we're gonna catch them fish today can tell it's windy out here so we're out to wait a little bit smaller sized squid today cast out to the deepest spot I can always good idea to stay at least 3 or 4 feet away from the cliff's edge that's where you can follow the cliff can crumble you're gonna fall to your death straight up so always be careful take safety into account first no fish right here I'm going to cast out again one cast look how much spool comes off the line this is why they call it date and wait see that point over there that's where I was this morning I traveled over here to this point and look how deep it is look how calm it is there's no surge there's no Whitecaps I've got way more area to fish look at all this and on the south side there's a whole nother Cove - and it's all protected and deep so when you come out here with rockfish and sometimes you got to try different spots I mean I haven't caught any fish yet but my hopes have never been higher for this trip oh yeah oh yeah got a fish baby oh it's a good one it's a good one oh come on all get snagged on a rock right there I see him I see it come on baby get out of there he's on there right now I gotta let him swim free oh come on let's try from up here damn dude thought I had him it's real so slowly Bravo should've went faster no oh come on man ah guys I think I'm gonna have to break it but I'm just gonna let it have some slack how's the first bite I've had on this trip that's a good sign though that was within five minutes so I know this is a good spot yeah man I think I'm gonna have to break it guy my first fish gotta break it and recast retie again sucks for me and sucks for the fish let's try that again I'm gonna avoid that big old rock this time it's deep there we're gonna catch fish this time baby guaranteed I'm gonna give it five minutes at most probably one minute poor there's a bite this bite I think I got him on there I think he's on there right now one more little tug there he is yeah I'm about to set the hook on him I think he's sitting there on the bottom with it in his mouth yep got him got him this one's not coming off get up here get to the top of the water yeah baby come on in here the other one looked like it was red this one is also now let's make sure we don't fall off the cliff bit on the squid looks like an undersized Cabazon from here there we go look at that beautiful beautiful color though Wow he's bright red hooked right in the mouth he's almost worth a measure right there look at that bright beautiful color I'll show you guys up-close look at that color man bright red and these are super camouflaged predators they'll sit on top of rocks and they'll be the same color as their surrounding so you know almost certain down there is the same color as this Wow they're meaty too they got no scales look at that lateral line on him just a beautiful beautiful fish right there on the lip too on the squid so how I like to hold these guys I put my two fingers on those fins there and then I can take the hook out and just hold him like a little ball like little football I'm pretty sure he's small but let's measure him anyway just for fun they need to be 15 inches yeah he's 13 inches so I'm gonna let him go that's two fish in about 10 minutes see you later buddy fly oh yeah straight nose in the water swims away easily cheers are so nice no scales no slime really nice I hoping to catch another one of those but a keeper yeah baby skunks off the board for two days now we'll continue see what's find a spot that's good that's deep and calm you can catch fish since he bit on the squid got a whole squid on the bottom kai tech and the squid on top I'm going to cast out to a little bit farther water I got to make sure I don't get too excited and fall off the cliff confidence is high now who just dropped do I feel a bite already whoa-oh-oh-oh there's fish on here but it's snagged on a rock come on get yourself free little man that's the trade-off when you cast farther there's probably more fish but there's more likely to get snagged to come on out of there know what got it free but I lost the fish dang lost the fish though huh the bite is on right now getting bites every cast sometimes it's just like that sometimes you'll have no bites all day literally all day I was out there seven hours yesterday no bites and today five bites in 15 minutes another tip that I like to do when the swell and the surge is going past let your line go with it that way your your your weight doesn't drag you just go with the waves and then when it goes back go with it too sometimes got to go up sometimes got to go down sometimes even got to open your Bale a little bit and let a little line out just to keep that weight in one location well there's a this bite there's a bite oh yeah oh that's good mole seals trying to come get my fish Oh Dan that seal right there this little bait stealer right there looking for my fish there's the fish there's a bite it's nibble man he's not committing to it he's just nibbling at it I don't want to set the hook when it's just like a bite bite if you watch my video from a long time you don't want to set the hook when it's like that you want to set the hook when it's like blah blah blah you don't want to set it when it's like a nibble nibble you got to wait for that a lot then you know he's on the hook swimming around and you know these these pieces of squid are really tough so a nibble like that is not going to get the bait off the hook and almost guarantee there's still bait on both hooks to like both baits are still on just nibble the heck out of no matter how you hook it whether it's one time two times three times four times always make sure that hook tip is exposed [Music] here is yeah baby oh he's a fighter oh yeah oh if I get him out of this rock this is a good fish right here oh come on come on baby he's got some serious pull on him come on man this is the keeper I was looking for oh come on look at that look at that oh come on there's a big fish on here not again look at that he's trying to swim away look at that Oh God oh I got a free gun free hell yeah where you at baby where are you come on over here I got to keep them on this side because there's so many rocks over here oh it's not not nothing too crazy this one looks a little bit bigger he got himself free that's pretty close that's pretty close I got to measure this one look at that right on the zero [Music] fifteen and a half almost 16 well I'm gonna keep this fish so I'm gonna hit him on the head and then I can take the hook out beautiful beautiful fish right between the eyes so that's the problem with bait fishing a lot of the times they'll swallow the hook and I'm really glad this is a keeper because if it wasn't and it was bleeding and gut hook like this we would still have to throw it back it's just barely a keeper but that's enough meat for a meal for me actually if we cut right here we can probably get to his heart let's check this out right where his throat would be you cut right there you'll probably cut right in front of his heart you can still see it beating man this fish saved the trip for me and just for that you already know what's gonna happen happy lawn beating heart thank you buddy you're gonna be my next meal I'm gonna eat this fish hole so I'm gonna gut it right now so I can prep it for the fire so I detach the gills from his mouth now it should all be able to pull it right out all the guts should come right out just like that sure there's some crabs that would want that I'm gonna take off this collar part and cook this separately good bunch of meat on there so that will cook up nice in the fire just to get rid of any bloody flavor when we heat it you can take off this bloodline and there we go that fish is ready to eat no scales so I'm gonna just score the skin so it doesn't curl up and I'm gonna cook it whole so in almost every kind of fish there's also this thin layer of translucent skin on the belly lining I think probably to protect the meat from the stomach acid of the fish and if you could take that off it'll also help stop the curling of the meat so I lit up a bag of coals here just gonna let that heat up meanwhile I'm gonna score the fish about three times on each side skin doesn't curl and it'll be able to cook a little bit more evenly lay that on the side for now temporarily all I have is some salt and some olive oil I'm gonna let whatever fat is in this skin bring out some extra flavor and that's all that I'm gonna use for seasoning and I'm gonna throw the whole fish on the grill spread some salt all over the skin on the outside by the time this charcoal is ready to cook this salt will actually absorb into the meat a little bit and make the entire fish have a salty flavor not just on the outside [Music] since I'm going to cook the fish directly on the fire I don't want to put it straight on the ash straight on the charcoal and get ash all over the fish meat so I collected a bunch of rocks I'm going to throw these on top of the coals and this will keep the heat source directly away from the meat and the skin and it'll stop it from burning and it also will help keep it clean now the best thing I could do is get a flat rock but I don't have any of those around here so the best thing I could do is scavenge a bunch of small ones something to remember though if you're going to do something like this we're right by the ocean so sometimes rocks like this that have a little pocket inside that might have moisture trapped in it if you put a flame over it it'll start steaming it'll start boiling and it could cause a little explosion so you've got to watch out for little rock explosives so I'm going to put this all on here put the fish on there put some butter on both sides and then step away so I don't get bombed and cover my face too just in case something crazy happens all right I'm gonna say that's ready to cook on a little bit of butter baby a little bit more right here how's that look oh yeah all right straight on the rocks here just like that I'm gonna do the same thing with the collar just a little bit of butter right there in the middle and put that right next to it hmm this is looking good smells good already [Music] [Music] take a look at these pieces these are right from the sides right by the belly and these are done the fish probably has another five five minutes or so five or six minutes oh my god the skin for sure gives it extra flavor the meat is so delicate it definitely has a barbecue flavor but there's no ashes on it because of the rocks that I put there can you see the fat from the skin definitely adds enough nice depth to it the secret is really salting it and letting it sit for about 10 to 20 minutes then the entire fish has flavor that's delicious holy moly I think the caller is just about done look at that doesn't that look good oh yeah yep that's done ooh it's kind of like eating a crab you know the inside of a crab you can break it open and there's these joints look at that meat right there man I'm gonna eat this entire thing just like this you see what I mean it has these kind of notches like a crab you just get all that meat right out Wow and I bet these tastes just like chips yep super crunchy delicious man I don't think I can wait I can't wait I just took the tail off because I know that spinner and that's done for sure although this is done you can eat that oh yeah cool yeah oh you know it's really good when I can't help but pick it off while it's still cooking look at the meat and the skin all in one perfectly cooked how think you could add anything to this to make it better it's amazing how it is right now I just can't help myself it's going to be done soon couldn't wait for the whole fish to be finished cooking

Channel: Fisherman's Life

Views: 800,558

Rating: 4.8435397 out of 5

Keywords: fishermans life catch and cook, catch and cook fish, nick fish catch and fry, survival fishing videos cooking catch, catch and cook open fire, how to fish for beginners, how to rockfish without snags, california fishing, washington fishing, catch and eat, eating only fish, best camping fish recipes, catch cook and camp fishermans life

Id: WQrOehodEbg

Length: 27min 19sec (1639 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 13 2019