Do I have to clean them tonight?

ctbdrake

Cadet
Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
7
Gotta question. We've just come home late from the lake and I've got a mess of fish to clean. We caught most of them last night and all of them went immediateley into a cooler of ice and they are now all covered in ice. How long can you wait to clean them when they are iced down like this?
 

jsfinn

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 26, 2003
Messages
1,093
Re: Do I have to clean them tonight?

I'm sure you'll get a lot of different answers here but the whole fish you buy at the fish market or grocery store are a day or two or three old and they are on ice..
 

Barlow

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Joined
Mar 11, 2003
Messages
1,794
Re: Do I have to clean them tonight?

I would've gut and rinsed them at least.<br /><br />...thats me though.
 

jtexas

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Joined
Oct 13, 2003
Messages
8,646
Re: Do I have to clean them tonight?

Welcome to the board, Boomer - saw that fourth quarter Saturday - heck of a game!<br /><br />They'll do just fine overnight on ice - I was taught to not let'em set in icewater, though, don't know why exactly. Maybe it's cause you don't want 'em to freeze & thaw before cleaning them & freezing 'em again. I think it's a flavor issue not a health issue, though. So leave the drain open on the cooler, is my advice. Too late for last night, I know, but there it is.<br /><br />Now you got to tell us, what kind of fish & what you caught 'em on & where. You don't have to give up GPS coordinates just what lake. :) <br /><br />jtw
 

ctbdrake

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Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
7
Re: Do I have to clean them tonight?

Hey, don't care how the Sooners do it, just win baby. We caught 30 or so crappie at West Point Lake in midwest Georgia. We heard of some catching their limit under the bridges though.
 

Capn Mike

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 10, 2001
Messages
561
Re: Do I have to clean them tonight?

I always gut my fish in the boat and throw them on ice immediately. But I'm also smoking or icing them as soon as I get home that day.<br /><br />I've eaten many a fish in Alaska that was sealed in a bag (usually in ice water), thrown into a freezer and not gutted until thawed out a few months later. The claim is that gutting exposes the flesh to air, thus speeding spoilage. And they tasted just fine; it's just that most of us don't have room in our freezers for 10 or 20 30-lb whole salmon.<br /><br />Go down to a good fish shop, and you'll notice none of the fish are gutted as delivered. Halibut, non-farmed salmon, bottom-fish, etc....none have been gutted, but rather put on ice in the boat(often sea water slush), then delivered to port days later, then delivered to market maybe a few days after that. The key to tasty fish is to 1) keep it cold; 2) keep oxygen away from the flesh.<br /><br />And by the way....Oklahoma should be no higher than 3rd or 4th.... :p
 

aspeck

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Staff member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
18,945
Re: Do I have to clean them tonight?

Yeah Boomer, I usually will put 'em in a sealed plastic bag and throw them in the frig till I am ready to clean them. No problem at all.<br /><br />Don't like them setting in water though - tends to make them a little mushy, not as firm, when cleaning or cooking. But that is just my opinion, and usually not worth its weight in salt.
 
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