We investigated the effects of various washing methods on the quality of semi-dried Pacific saury Cololabis saira, known in Korea as Guamegi. We immersed samples for 5 min in seawater, tap water, chlorinated water (100 mg/kg), ammonia water (100 mg/kg), citric acid (0.1 M), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA, 0.2 g/kg), or sesame oil (5 g/100 g), and then dried them in the sun for 3 days. The moisture and crude lipid contents after drying were 26.62-32.49 g/100 g and 26.40-33.01 g/100 g, respectively. The moisture content significantly decreased while the crude lipid content increased during drying. The different washing methods did not have a significant effect on the acidity, peroxide values, or levels of thiobarbituric acid or biogenic amine in Guamegi. The lightness of Guamegi during drying significantly decreased, but this decrease was not significantly different among washing methods. The degree of acceptance in a sensory evaluation was higher for Guamegi treated with sesame oil. Our results suggest that these washing methods should not be used to inhibit lipid oxidation, biogenic amine formation, or color changes in semi-dried Pacific saury, because effective components are extracted by the lipids during drying.