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supermarket fish selection


adolson

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I haven't ever really bought much fish in my life, but like the actual sport, I've made it more a part of my diet than ever before this year. Especially until the ice is a good 8" thick, I'm gonna want to be picking some up at the store occasionally.

 

So, I have a few questions about the fish filets available at the grocery stores.

 

First, if I have caught and kept my limit of a species, say walleye, can I legally buy another filet at the store? It's not an important issue really, I was just curious how that works. The second question partnered with that is, can I buy more than a catch/possess limit? Not because I want to stack it in my freezer, again, I'm just curious (and hey, if a good sale goes on, I might buy a bit extra).

 

Another question: maybe I don't understand what steelhead is, but I thought it was just a name for rainbow trout (as in, the SAME species) that trek to the ocean and return to freshwater? How can they be selling "farmed steelhead" right beside "farmed rainbow trout"? And why does the the steelhead cost less? Marketing gimmick or am I really missing something here?

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Yes you can buy a fillet at the store if you already have a limit of X species at home in the freezer, and you can buy over your possession limit of fillets at the store. Technically you would need a receipt to show that you bought the extra fillet at the store, but since in practice nobody is going to charge you for reasonable amounts of fish in your freezer it doesn't matter.

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I don't think any of the sport fishing laws apply to store bought fish. You can posses as many store bought fish as you want... limits and season only apply to the fish that you catch yourself.

 

You are correct, rainbow and steelhead are the same species. Steelhead is usually used to refer to migratory fish while rainbow trout refers to non-migratory fish. You would need a pretty big farm to have a migratory farmed fish.

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On the side, I was perusing through Consumer Research the other day, they had a very good article in there about how many fish are sold as say Cod and it's not even remotely close. They mentioned quite a number of other species too.

 

 

CBC Radio had a good report about that two days ago.

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/10/25/a-fish-tale/

 

CO's barely have time to bust ACTUAL poachers, let alone someone how might have a confusing but legal freezer count. No worries buddy. The fishing regs are seperate from the consumer laws. Still, I'd suggest not bagging your purchase in freezer bags labelled "anima-nipissing walleye".

 

Now if i find out you bought ten dozen walleye filets because they were "on sale" I might have some fun and call TIPS on ya. sarcasm.gif

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Is there a limit to how many pork chops you can have in your freezer.... :rofl2:

 

Yes, there is, when you can't close the lid you have reached your limit :whistling:

 

As for the limits of purchased fish; (as long as it is purchased from a licensed distributor) there is no limit but you could be asked to provide proof that it was purchased and not fish that you caught and claim to have purchased. Purchasing fish from Buba down the street, doesn't count.

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You can buy all the fish you like without regard to sport fishing limits or seasons (keep the receipts if you're worried about it). And yes, fish markets come up with all sorts of names to make the fish they sell sound more exotic or appealing. Many of the fish are mis-identified (intentionally or otherwise) so I wouldn't take anything at face value.

 

The trick with buying fish is getting the guy behind the counter to lob it to you after you've made your purchase. Don't pick it up off the counter, but have him toss you a short pass.

 

That way, you can truthfully tell people you caught it.

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haha, Craig. That makes me think of the recent episode of The Office, when that one chick who I forget her name now had a big fish of some kind that she bought at the store, hidden in the lake on the end of her fishing line.

 

Oh yeah, I meant to ask in my original post - why do the steelhead and rainbow trout filets look and taste the same, but the steelhead is cheaper? lol

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Ok I just have to add this... have you seen the price of Walleye per pound at the grocery store lately... and I have never seen a sale!!n So you may not want to rush off to the grocery store tomorrow to fill your freezer with your limit.

 

LMAO Great questions

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Some good questions Dana! And some good answer as well, I learned a few things in this thread thumbsup_anim.gif.

 

Personally, I'd go without. Supermarket fish might turn you off to particular species you otherwise enjoyed.

 

and stay the heck away from Basa (whatever the heck that meat is actually from????)

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No such thing as a farmed steelhead. I think it costs more to raise them rather than net the wild ones so that could explain the price difference. They say wild is better anyways.

 

Uphere between Manitoulin Island and the mainland there is a large fish farm The two main pens contain rainbow trout which I was told by one of the "farmhands" that they were steelhead. They grow up to 20 pounds so I would agree with him.

 

muddler

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