For serious outdoorsmen, few experiences are more iconic than pan frying freshly caught fish over an open fire. What about cooking your catch?

Be it river trout, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, black sea bass, yellow perch or just plain old perch, the smell of burning wood mixing with the sizzle of fish on cast iron is ubiquitous. You can definitely eat bass fish!

Yet even the most ardent angler may be stymied when asked just how to cook fish over a campfire. What is the best pan for cooking fish outdoors? What seasonings should be use? How to tell if the fish is cooked through?

Step One: Fire

Not all campfires are made for cooking. The best campfires for cooking fish are hot, low-flame fires with lots of coals. This gives an area large enough for a pan or grate, with a stable temperature across the coals that will cook the fish evenly.

The best wood for campfire cooking is hard and dry. While oak might be hard to find, birch is an ideal wood for this as it burns evenly and warmly, even when damp.

Let the fire burn down, continually adding wood, until the campers have a large supply of hot, glowing embers. If using a pan or grate, keep enough wood handy to ensure some good flames.

Caveman Style Cooking

One of the more satisfying, and easiest, ways to cook fish outdoors is known as Caveman Style. Quite simply, take the cleaned fish, cut some slashes along the body, and throw it directly onto the hot coals.

Just make sure the coals are red hot and glowing.

Frying fish directly on coals will cause the charred wood to create a sticky, protective barrier around the fish. This allows the meat to cook through while retaining the tenderness.

Once done, simply peel the charred skin back, add some salt and pepper, and dig in. The best fish for caveman cooking are large enough to easily peel and share.

Large, bony fish like pike are particularly good for this style of cooking as diners can pick around the large bones with ease.

How To Pan Fry Fish

For those seeking a more civilized means of campfire cooking, few things are as ideal as a cast iron pan.

There’s a reason trout, perch, bluegill, bass, crappie, and any number of small fish are referred to as “panfish.” Quite simply, they fit nicely in a standard cast iron pan. Check out the best panfish lures for catching dinner tonight.

While there are many ways to pan fry fish, there are a few consistencies to remember. Cast iron is best used with oil, and while butter will work, vegetable or peanut oils are preferred.

Cooks should ensure their kit includes a spatula or tongs for turning the fish, something with which to wrap the handle of the pan, and if desired a grate or stabilizing legs to prop up the pan.

How to season fish outdoors depends on the camper. Salt and pepper are standards, and some cooks will bring seasoning with them. Other traditional naturalists will use whatever seasonings they can find.

Fennel, rosemary, bay leaves, and mint are common when scavenging for seasoning. For those with bolder palates, blackened fish is a staple.

How to Blacken Fish

Blackening refers to a group of recipes where the fish is dredged through butter and then covered in a thick layer of spices. When placed on a hot cast iron pan, the seasonings brown and blacken as they caramelize.

This not only provides a moist, sweet flavor, but the heavy spices can be used to cover strong flavored fish species such as redfish, snapper, or some trout.

When learning how to fry fish, campers are often taught blackening as an initial skill.

Standard blackening spices include paprika, thyme, cumin, mustard, black pepper, white pepper, and cayenne pepper. The spices should form a thick layer on the fish, so experienced cooks know not to be shy when spicing.

How Long to Fry Fish?

Even experienced anglers can have trouble telling if a pan-seared trout is cooked through, or if that big mouth bass is ready to eat. Most anglers do not carry a meat thermometer with them to test their catch.

Undercooked fish can have salmonella, parasites, and a variety of food-born toxins. On the other hand, overcooked fish is tough, unappetizing, dry, and chewy.

So how long to fry fish is a constant question in the campfire world. Fortunately, the answer is easier than most believe.

Unlike deep frying, when panfrying fish look for the flesh to become flaky and for the skin to peel away. This happens at about 145 degrees Fahrenheit, the sweet spot for fish.

In addition, most raw fish has a translucent appearance. When cooked, that quality disappears and the flesh becomes solid in color, be it light or dark flesh.

A general rule of thumb is to take a fork and stick it in the thickest part of the fish. Twist the fork, and if the flesh pulls away and flakes, the fish is ready to eat.

Best Pans for Cooking Fish

Lodge makes a line of cast iron pans that have stood the test of time. Particularly good for fish are their pre-seasoned pans that are ready to go.

Additionally, Lodge pans come with an easy slip-on silicone grip for moving the pan easily.

Utopia also makes a good pre-seasoned pan that has stood the test of time. Easy to clean and care for, these pans are a staple for campers and anglers alike.

While there are many companies that make modern, non-stick pans, few can match the durability and performance of cast iron. Coated pans must be protected and, if the coating scratches, the pan is useless.

When dealing with fire, it is also best to stick with steel tools. The best tools for campfire cooking need to be strong and durable, which rarely includes plastic or modern silicone tools.

Since cast iron pans are solid, campfire chefs don’t need to worry about scratching a protective coating when using a steel spatula or fork.

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After a day on the lake, river, or ocean, many anglers are ready to eat the rewards of their day. However, for a lot their fishing skills far outweigh their cooking skills. Learning how to cook fish and clean it is equally important.

This can be especially frustrating when dealing with the often-heard phrase, “I like fish, I just don’t like the fishy taste of fish.” This can leave anglers, or their spouses, wondering just how to cook fish.

How to Clean and Gut a Fish

The first step is to prepare the fish for cooking. Fish should be prepared within 2 hours of being removed from the water. Savvy anglers know to keep their catches in water, on a stringer in the water, or on ice to preserve flavor.

While some fish can be broiled or fried whole, many cannot. In addition, many diners prefer a cleaned and prepped fish rather than a whole one on their plate.

Anatomy of a Fish.

Scaling a Fish

When learning how to scale a fish, anglers are taught to start at the tail and work up. Hold the fish firmly by the tail and, using a dull knife, scrape the scales off.

• Make sure to have an open area, as scales often go flying.
• Keep the blade’s edge turned away from the scales. This is scraping, not cutting.
• Pay extra attention to the fins and collar of the fish.
• A knife works as well, if not better, than most expensive fish scalers.

Scaling a Fish.

How to Gut a Fish

• Slip a knife tip into the vent – the small opening on the underside of the fish.
• Keeping your fingers away from the blade, slice upwards towards the head.
• Slice through the area directly under the gills. This can be a tough area to cut, so smart fishers are ready and have a good hold of the fish.
• While a fillet knife works best for this, any sharp knife will do when gutting a fish.
• When prepping a fish for cooking, use fingers to reach into the cut, directly below the head, and scoop the guts out.
• On some fish, the liver and swim bladder are attached to the backbone and need to be cut out.
• Remove the head just below the gills. If keeping the head, remove the gills as these are bitter and can destroy the flavor of the fish.

Gutting a Fish.

How to Make Batter for Fish

One of the more traditional, and favorite, ways to prepare fish is fried in batter. English-style fish and chips are known throughout the world for good reason.

Brought to England by Sephardic Jews in the 1600s, this style of fish preparation was meant to be delicious while allowing the fish to be preserved and portable.

Traditional English fish and chips batter is made from a combination of beer, white flour, baking soda and salt, and deep fried at 428 degrees Fahrenheit. There are many recipes out there, but the most common uses flour, lager or stout, baking soda, and salt and pepper.

The fish should be cut into fillets, although smaller fish can be fried whole. The fillets are then coated in flour and dipped in the batter. The fish is then deep fried for about 4 minutes, until golden brown.

Fish Battered and Fried.

How to Cook Fish in an Air Fryer

As air fryers become a more popular, healthier way of cooking, there has also been a rise in air fryer fish recipes.

Like beer battering, this style of fish calls for fillets that are breaded and seasoned before frying. However, due to how an air fryer handles fish, the fillets should be dipped in eggs first.

This allows the breading to cling better to the fish and creates a lighter coating.

Additionally, since air fryers don’t use oils, fish can be cooked in an air fryer without batter. Simply season to taste, add some salt and pepper, and prepare to eat.

How to Cook Fish – Air Frying Salmon.

How to Bake Fish

When baking fish, the first decision is often whether to bake the fish whole or in filets. The best seafood chefs know that baking a fish whole makes the flesh more tender, juicier, and locks in flavor.

This is also one of the easiest ways to cook fish.

Skip the filet knife and instead stuff the empty gut cavity with garlic, lemon, and dill. Then cut angled slashed along the side of the fish. This will not only increase the flavor but ensure the fish cooks through uniformly.

Sprinkle the slashes with salt, butter, and olive oil. A daring chef can go as far as melting some butter with salt and pepper and using it to baste the baking fish.

The fish should cook until it is 135 degrees Fahrenheit. However, a simple rule of thumb is that to tell if the fish is done cooking, the flesh should flake away from the fish easily.

Serve this with a side of melted butter. Learn more about the best types of fish to eat.

This is a particularly good way of cooking white fishes for those who are not fans of stronger, “fishy,” fish, as the softer flesh will absorb the flavor of whatever spices are being used. These are all the best techniques on how to cook fish, no matter what type of fish is caught.

Baked Fish.

Remove That Fishy Smell

Whenever the topic of cooking fish comes up there is always the age-old question: how to get rid of the fishy smell.

First, and most important, fresh fish rarely smells. If a store-bought fish smells it is a sign the fish is going bad and probably shouldn’t be eaten. However, once cooking, even fresh fish can sometimes leave an odor.

One of the best ways to avoid this is to presoak the fish in either milk or lemon water. This neutralizes the odors before the cooking can start.

Another good method is to use contained cooking methods, like foil-wrapped fish, as this will contain the odor.

If it is too late, and the smell is already out, a standard way of removing the smell is to boil water with a little bit of vinegar. This will neutralize the smell.

Some people will even add rose petals or lavender to the water to make a pleasant, natural, air purifier.

Remove Fish Smell in Lemon Water.

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