Seared fish Stuck to Pan

I cooked 2 (speckled) trout filets, well-thawed and room temperature, last night. sprinkled old bay on the side to sear.

I planned to sear one side to get color in a copper fry pan & transferred to poaching liquid off-heat (bottle of clam juice & couple or 3 tablespoons of Pinot Grigio) (turned the burner off after the fluid was hot, not boiling).

Everything was looking good, thought I had the fry pan pretty hot, & I added grapeseed oil to the pan. I let the oil heat up a minute or so, and added the fish. Maybe I left the fish down too long, I don't know. But too much of the fish stuck to the frypan. (Sorry, I'll need help to ever do something like this & do pics also). Poached for maybe 3 minutes.

The fish was excellent, and the crust (such as it was) from the sear was tasty. I just need help w/ the technique on getting color on the fish & welcome anything anyone can suggest.

I only have grilling experience, but I always wiped both the grill and the fish with oil. And gently tested the fish to see when it was ready to release.

Try moving the fish around when you first put it on the heat so it can get a little crust action(sear) going. Think about sauteing veggies, if you just toss them on the heat and leave what happens??? Same thing with the fishy, put on heat and swish around a little at first especially.

I find in cases like this be it fish, beef or what ever protein that the pan isn't hot enough or you tried to move it too fast. Proteins will generally release once seared. Also the pan might of been hot enough but the oil may not have been.

Thanks Joe!

I'll let the oil sit longer next time & maybe I'll just flip the fish & finish it in the pan. It's so tender, irregular & thin so it's easy to overcook.

Pugger, I fried some whole trout the other night using my 12" non stick pan. You still get a great sear on the skin w/o the stick. It's pretty much the only thing I use that pan for besides eggs.

I have used SS and CI for fish, but I had it scorching hot.

it's actually possible you didn't leave it down long enough...

or the pan was not hot enough.