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Home > Learn to Fish & Boat > How To Fish > How to Catch Fish > How to Scale a Fish
Before cleaning and cooking your catches, you will want to know how to scale a fish properly. Follow the steps in this section to learn how to remove fish scales so that you can make a tasty meal to enjoy on camping trips or at home.
Once you how to fish and want to start keeping a few fish for dinner, you will have to keep your fish on a stringer in the water or immediately put them in a cooler on ice. Then, when you are done fishing, you can decide if you want to prepare your fish by scaling and cleaning the whole fish, cut the fish into fillets, or store the fish so that you can cook it later.
If you choose to cook your fish whole with the skin on, you will need to know how to remove fish scales. You can use a special scaling fish tool (referred to as a fish scaler), or use the back of a butter knife to scrape the scales off both sides of the fish.
You may want to learn how to remove fish scales fast using a scaling tool if you cook whole fish often. The most common type of fish scaling tool is a scraper-style scaler that is made from stainless steel. These types of scalers generally have a broad head and teeth; they usually look similar to a brush or vegetable peeler.
By following these steps, you can learn how to easily scale a fish and get the preparation process started before cooking your catch.
Now that you know how to remove fish scales, all you have to do is learn how to clean your catch and prepare it for cooking.
The largemouth bass is the most popular freshwater game fish in the U.S. Learn more about how you can identify a largemouth bass, where to catch it and what bait and lures to use.
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