Pointers on Judging Freshness of Fish "Certain varieties of fresh fish are most abundant at certain seasons." We talked about fish before. This March Post was about shopping for fish cuts. We also talked about what fresh fish looks like at the beginning of May. Like canned food, this almanac likes to touch on subjects more than once. I guess just in case you forget not buy fish that is slimey or smelly. I always hear people say that they don't like fish because it smells like fish. Well bravo. You can smell. It's fish. It smells. The smell shouldn't be off putting! Have you been to a lake, river, or ocean? Most fish you catch will have a hint of the water it came from. That really strong fish smell is caused by a bacteria. It is more common to have a "fishy" smell in salt water fish than fresh water. This reason is because fish that live in salt water have to counter their environment by crea...