What does the expression 'Do the fish' mean?

I just recently heard this expression and couldn't quite figure out its meaning from the context, unless it means something like "take the bait."

Is this a common expression? Is it perhaps an abbreviation of another expression? Most importantly, if it is a common phrase, what does it mean?

Edit: The basic context in which I heard this expression used was this: one person asked a technical question of a group, to which a member of the group responded, beginning with "I'll do the fish" and then proceeding to the technical explanation.

Solution 1:

Well, I bit the bullet and asked the guy what the heck he meant (imagine that). Turns out he was referring to the oft-quoted teach a man to fish proverb.

He also clarified that this is not a common expression, just an idiosyncratic reference he invented and uttered spontaneously.

Solution 2:

I can think of two possible interpretations.

The first is that it is a variation of "taking the bait", as you surmised. Specifically it reminds me of the expression "I'll bite.", which I've heard used in similar cases.

The second, which I don't think is likely, is that "doing the fish" might be a metaphor for cleaning the fish, a chore that some people find unpleasant. But that doesn't really seem to fit your example and I've never heard anyone say this.

Solution 3:

I think that the speaker here meant 'Do the fish" to mean the same thing as 'take the bait'.

It seems as though he was going for the first part of a longer construction:

I'll do the fish and take the bait.

Wherein 'do the fish' means 'do as a fish does'. Consider the joke

make like a tree and leave.

This is applied as an order for someone to 'go away'. I wonder, would it be as easily understood if the speaker simply said

make like a tree.

I think the same structure is at work in both, with the spoken words implying the longer construction.