My brother and I use to fish in Grandma's pond for Bluegills.. if it was enough for A meal they were cleaned and froze in water.. if not they went in the pan of water and frozen solid untill they happen to be found and cleaned with others, 6 months, Year, or more judging by what was around them -- Squirrels, Rabbits were around hunting season. Frozen Bluegill when slowly thawed have a tendency to swim around in the pan but quickly die from lack of oxygen --- Now if you were freezing Shad they were bad then they hit the Box --- why would you eat Bait