Dead Crappie

Was lucky enought to catch a mess today. Some died in the live well. They were dead for about six hours before I got home. I kept "cool" water in the livewell. I disposed of them. What do you think? Would you keep them? What is a "safe" time to keep and eat a dead crappie?

If the gills are still pretty pink I'd clean them. After 6 hours they would be white unless you have very cold water.

That's why I put all my fish in an ice chest with plenty of ice and stopped using my live well...I only use it for bait fish (minnows for crappie fishing and sunfish & bullheads for trotlines).

I have eaten trout, hatchery brood stock that were dead in the water for 6-10 hours and never had a problem. They were in the cold water of the lake of course. Only time I have worried about a fish that has been dead for a long time is if they get mushy. If I feel the meat give/mush at all after it has been out for a while then I won't take a chance.

Is there any way to keep the live well colder? If you keep it at or below 55-60F then they should keep all day dead or alive, at least edible keep anyway.

Of course if it smells bad it is crab bait but I figured that was obvious.

Thanks for the replies folks. Breambuster has a good idea. I did actually think about putting ice in my live well, without turning it on. In other words, turning the live well into an ice chest.

Fillet them and if the meat is still firm and looks ok, I wouldn't be afraid of them.
I have put them on ice and cleaned them the next morning and have had no problem.
Don't make a practice of it.

Isn't there a way to set up a live well so that it take sin fresh lake/river water to keep the temps down and keep them alive longer? Just a thought as I have never used one but figured there had to a way.

My old bass tracker's live well filled from the bottom and had an over flow drain at the top, so I just turned on the pump and it changed the water in it.

In the summer I have put ice in the live well many times.

try using the "release me" powder that BPS sells. I used it all last year and never had to flush livewell with fresh water. Fish held their slime and stayed very lively.

The gills gotta be red and the eyes clear. Anything with pink gills and foggy eyes is spoiled. Crappie can live in a mud hole, one of the toughest fish next to cats, but when temps get high they can spoil inside of a half hour. Ice in the livewell on the way home.

In spring I've had em jump out of a five gallon bucket after a half hour ride in the livewell.