There are a few secret little tricks to this process that will make your fish dish all the more scrumptious.

First of all let me state clearly that fish freezing is a last resort for a few reasons. Firstly, you should only take what you need over the next day or two. A friend of mine has a saying: "the best freezer is back down there" (pointing to the water). Not a truer word is spoken!

If you take a feed for your immediate needs keep it chilled (fridge temperature) but not frozen. This way you will get the very best flavour and texture out of your catch. Many fish are spoiled by freezing, but taste good if cooked within a few days (the sooner the better).

This is typical of fish with delicate flesh. Brown and rainbow trout, sea mullet, garfish, and tailor are just a few examples.

Let's say you intend to eat a fish that night but there was a change in plan and for what ever reason the fish you honestly planned to cook will now not be cooked for a week or so. Well then you have to pop it in the freezer.

A few fish species do freeze well with very minimal loss in eating quality.

Snapper, flathead, silver perch and bream are a few examples that spring to mind. The very best fish like this have firm flesh so they handle freezing much better.

Whatever the species, always clean salt water fish in salt water. This helps preserve them and keeps their flesh much firmer and tastier regardless if you are keeping them chilled or frozen.

When cleaning do the usual thing ie take out all the stomach, gills, blood line etc, but decide if you are going to cook the fish whole or filleted before freezing. Things like scaling and filleting after freezing will soften the flesh.

When cleaning is finished, rinse a salt water fish in salt (sea) water put it straight in a proper freezer bag, squeeze out all the air and seal it. Place the fish flat in the freezer in the same shape you intend to cook it.