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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.
Just put 'em on ice and don't worry about it. Alls you have to worry about is limiting out. :D
aj
only thing about running the live well to try and keep cold water in it is that the surface water you are pumping is usually warmer than the depth the fish came from and just like minnows a coupkle degrees can make it or brake it lol.
just what i've been told and seen .
Scott
On my 2008 Lowes my 2 livewells have the normal water pump that does a good job. But with them having on board minnow buckets the water pump was only good when I am on the water. I buy my minnows locally and keep a stock tank full in the back yard. And normally I have at least an hour road trip to and from the main lake I fish at. So I use Bait Saver that I get at Bass Pro. Plus for a few dollars I installed a air pump system in my front livewell that got from BP. It don't use much power and I put a time switch on it with a manual switch. Last weekend wife and I went fishing and we got done and I just turned on the manual switch. We ended up driving the long way home we also did some site seeing. It was a good 5 hours from the time we left the water until I pulled into the driveway. All the crappie were still alive along with the catfish that we caught on crappie jigs! I don't like cleaning dead fish! Since I put the air system in I don't even have dead fish even during the hotest summer fishing trips.Quote:
Originally Posted by fish_4_all
In the summer when it's really hot. I put ice in the live wells
and leave the pump off as the water you draw in is surface water
which is too warm. Put ice in the minnow buckets also.
What kind of air pump are you using? Have you got a picture of the setup by any chance?Quote:
Originally Posted by DMW1960
Freeze some water bottles and keep them in the ice chest. When the water temperature starts to get warm place a bottle in the well.
As soon as we catch a fish (crappie, blue gill, redear), my husband throws it on ice. Depending on when we get home, he might clean the next day - do you think there is a problem with eating fish handled this way?
Thanks!
Not if there's plenty of ice. Most of the fish we eat out of the ocean have been iced down several days.
Keeping plenty of ice on them and cleaning them the next day is fine.. It firms up the fillets and they clean better (less blood). I do it a lot.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiemrs
Good advice... I only use the live well when fishing a tourney.. That said, keeping the water cool is not the most important thing.. It's more important to keep the oxygen level up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkie John
If you are determined to keep them alive in the live well, get a bubbler system. They sell them at Academy, and Cabela's. Clips on your battery (or you can wire it in to a switch/remote) and you can run Aquarium tubing to your livewell.. Better yet is to install a "Max Aire" system in your livewell. I have one and love it..
Last but not least, putting the bubbler system in will let you drop a stone in your minnow bucket as well.. You'll see a HUGE difference in your minnows ---- "Lively"
Hope this helps
What's a Max Aire system?
Sorry, I had a typo there. It's Max Air (without the "e"). It's marketed by TH Marine.Quote:
Originally Posted by blairarnold
TH Marine » Products » Max-Air™ Livewell Venturi
I have always been told as long as the gills are pink they are fine. Been going off this for 20 years and never once had a problem. Even if you ice them down right when you catch them they will still turn pink within a day. I say EAT EM...Quote:
Originally Posted by JIG Gene-e
It would depend on how much fish I had in my freezer. No fish in freezer, light pink to stiff you eat.
Thanks for the link.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quicksilver1958
I agree with you guys. Ice right away is best. I'm in Missouri, so I don't have water temps that are real high too much of the year. I just keep an eye on the livewells and hope not to see too many with that "faraway look" in theirs eyes. If they get laying in the bottom of the well for an hour, I just put it in the beer cooler. Kinda makes the top of the can taste a little funky, but I've gotten used to it. I don't like to clean them once they've gotten stiff. Good fishing, guys.
Rule of thumb Red to Pink good, almost white to white no good. During the summer I put my crappie straight to the iced down method, to keep from going bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gansett
If the gills are still red to pink, I clean. If they're white, I toss. However, I keep a cooler with ice in it, and if any in the livewell start getting that faraway look as mentioned or die, I put in the ice chest right then.
I can remember when I was a kid bringing fish back on a stringer in the trunk of the car on newspaper, and imagine the days when people walked a mile or more back from the fishing hole to get their fish home. We did clean them immediately on our return back then.
Live wells are fine in the Winter and Spring. How long would you store your meat and fish at 80 to 85 degrees or higher, that is what you are doing to your fish. Ice those fish man. Use your live well late fall, winter and spring. Good fishing.!
could you just place a bag of ice in the live well to keep fish at least from getting spoiled if they die?
and longer due to uncontrolled circumstances, but they were iced down in water. if the gills are still red/pink eatem'. been the formula for everyone I know.Quote:
Originally Posted by LOWEDE
good fishin'
I might of made a grave miscalculation. I limited out at banner this morning around 2am. All my ice had melted and I didn't think to stop to get some because I thought I would clean and refrigerate them when I got home. But being around 3 am and no garage I was going to clean them out back till the neighborhood yapping dogs started barkin. So I hit the sack and left them in some cold water and here I am with my dilemma 5 hours'ish later, to clean and cook or to toss. Tossing would absolutely make me hate myself, partially for just being a wasteful glutton but mostly for killing so many live animals and doing nothing with them, would probably make me physically ill. Well it was kinda chilly last night and the bucket was out back, no where near iced down but I just checked them and their eyes are super clear so I dunno what to do I think I'll have a little marathon cleaning session and just see what happens. Last night was probably the first night in a long time I've really gotten into some crappie and was unprepared. I expected to strike out like I've done so many times already this year. I always have left over ice for my fish, just didn't expect to fish for oh 10 hours or so, but hey what can you do.
Well they were super clear eyed when I started by the time I finished there were a few iffy ones. Cleaned em anyways. Now that I got all the fillet in some water cleaned feeling around most of them are dry or flaky feeling under the water and just a couple are semi slimy so I'm thinking as they go bad the meat gets slimy? All the fillets visually look perfect as they should. So I dunno. I'm just really glad I didn't waste any fish.
Forget about "clear eyes" .... what you want to see is pink to red gills. White-ish to grey-ish gills and the fish are probably not fit to eat .... but, they'd still make good fertilizer for your tomato plants (bury them UNDER the new plantings). :twocentsQuote:
Originally Posted by eylusion
... cp :kewl
Well all their gills were pink till around the end my last few fish the gills were still pink but I guess how light pink isn't pink anymore ya know :) if I get sick I get sick, it was still worth it.
Not worth takeing a chance.....throw them away and take better care of your fish next time
freeze a few two liter bottles and a sunny d (large ) , take them every outing and put in freezer after each trip . to heck with buying ice . :twocentsQuote:
Originally Posted by eylusion
If you are meat fishing, I see no reason to ever put them in a live well. Bring a large cooler with a couple bags of ice in it and ice them down immediately. Flavor will be better as well, and I personally do not fillet live fish. Much easier and no blood all over the place if they are cold and dead. Live wells are for bait and bass tournaments.
No worries all those fillets turned out beautifully and no one got sick :) it was a surprise to finally get on a whole mess of em that day. Since then I've been tearing it up in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, heading over to Marion and Mason City, Iowa for a week or two. Then up to Appleton Wisconsin. So if Ya'll know of any hot spots up thattaway let a feller know i got a new rod n reel I'm just itchin to get wet!