Every Sunday, Bruno Garcia from the Charente-Maritime fishing federation answers questions from listeners of France Bleu la Rochelle; Today Olivier de Taillebourg fishes carp in No-Kill and quite often notices wounds on the fish caught. These wounds are regularly due to the bite of the hook. He would like to know if there is a way to avoid the infections that may result from these wounds.
Bruno Garcia:
There are no-killers and kill and cook supporters. In French, fishermen who do not keep their catch, who release them and fishermen who keep and cook them.
Fishermen in opposition?
There are not too many rivalries between the two. You know in general the fisherman is peaceful and respects the philosophy of the other. I will surprise you but it is, in part, thanks to the mobile phone that fish release has developed. No need to bring the fish home to prove that you have caught a beautiful fish, the photo is enough.
So how do you avoid infections caused by the bite of the hook?
When tagging the fish, we use an antiseptic, the same as the one we put on the sores of children when they fall. You can find it in pharmacies in the form of a spray that you spray on the wound. It is generally very effective since we found zander in great shape that we had tagged four years earlier.
Two, three pschitt and we avoid gangrene or sepsis.
Yes, but be careful! do not inject antiseptic on the mucous membranes, the eyes, the mouth, the nose it would have an aggressive effect which would threaten the zone concerned.
But the hook is often taken at mouth level
Of course, but the origin of the injury can be quite different and that is where it will be necessary to observe the fish in its entirety. We see quite regularly, planted under a scale, a parasite called the argule or more commonly the sea lice. Faced with this situation, the parasite is gently pulled out and disinfected by spraying the antiseptic. For the mouth, the nose, the eyes because it happens that the fish are accidentally stung elsewhere than at the level of the mouth, we bring a very clean cotton that we soak in disinfectant and we delicately dab and precisely the wound, taking care not to overflow.
Do we not take these precautions when we decide to eat it?
I do not see the interest unless you want to associate a little alcohol with the culinary preparation. In this case try to find alcohol at 90 degrees. A precaution all the same to eliminate the argules it is very unpleasant, that crunches under the tooth. Afterwards, if your mother-in-law is at the same table, you can leave them but choose your pieces carefully.
No other disinfection solutions
I don’t know any other. I had seen a few years ago fishermen prepare in a tank filled with water and in which they had mixed a strong dose of disinfectant, use this mixture to soak the whole fish for a few seconds to eliminate any infections. It is especially not to do. In these conditions you will attack the eyes, the mouth and as the carp breathes in the water you will also affect the entire respiratory system and even all the viscera. It is a method which was used for trout in breeding and which today has been abandoned. We called it the flash bath. Simply because it only lasted a few seconds. Along with all this when you decide to release the fish, no handling with a cloth, wet your hands and as little storage as possible in a basket, especially those that are metallic.