How long can you keep ungutted fish on ice?

[Jamesconn]

I can't really hunt yet but I fish about 1-2 times a week. I go to school and work more than 40 hours a week I don't always have time to gut them immediately.

This last catfish I got in the cooler smallish size cooler has probably 5lbs maybe a little less of cubed ice with it and I poured probably a half a tablespoon of sea salt on it. Is it still safe to eat if I caught it last night and I'll probably clean it tonight when i get home at midnight.

I usually keep em on a stringer or in a bucket then throw em on ice when we leave.

What's the longest you've kept fish without cleaning?

[Capt Turk]

I always gut fish almost immediately. Never let them set ungutted for more than a couple of hours.

If you are putting them on ice, after guttng them, pack the belly with ice.

I spent almost three years working on a snapper boat in the Gulf of Mexico. By gutting immediately, and packing the bellies full of ice we could keep fish for up to a month, unfrozen, without them going bad

[catlady12]

What Capt Turk said. I frequently fished in Lake Michigan as a kid and we always gutted as soon as we got it on the boat. We kept a 5 gallon bucket for the guts. Uncle would freeze it and use it as chum when he went to Florida shark fishing.

[BCEMommy29]

I recently have left fish in the ice chest overnight un gutted. We fileted them, and then ate them about 30 hours later... Haha we didn't get sick. I'd think it would be fine to eat as long as they were on ice HTH

[swen_out_west]

Fish kept on ice are fine even ungutted.

When I was a charter captain for trout and salmon, the standard procedure for all boats (and still is) is to have a fish cooler ( the big ones too) with ice and through the fish into the cooler. Gutting occurs at the end of the fishing trip. So sometimes up to 10 hours later.


There are a few items regarding this though.

Make sure you have adequate ice.
Hit them with a fish club before you put them in the cooler so that they don't get blood splattered everywhere.

[jimbeaux82]

I live on a lake and fish virtually every day. I try to clean fish every 3-4 days. So long as you keep plenty ice on them, ungutted fish will easily last 3 days without any problems. I sometimes even go 4 days without issue but I check and replentish ice every day

[cook]

Originally Posted by Capt Turk

I spent almost three years working on a snapper boat in the Gulf of Mexico. By gutting immediately, and packing the bellies full of ice we could keep fish for up to a month, unfrozen, without them going bad

WOW...1 month!?Is that how long you stayed out?I wonder what the quality was,and how much ice you carried to last that long.

[LilRedNeckGirl]

Originally Posted by Jamesconn

I can't really hunt yet but I fish about 1-2 times a week. I go to school and work more than 40 hours a week I don't always have time to gut them immediately.
You should allow the time at the end of the day, plan for it.

This last catfish I got in the cooler smallish size cooler has probably 5lbs maybe a little less of cubed ice with it and I poured probably a half a tablespoon of sea salt on it. Is it still safe to eat if I caught it last night and I'll probably clean it tonight when i get home at midnight. you are talking nearly 24 hours, so,,, its probably safe to eat, let your nose tell you for sure, but thats going to depend on how cold it stayed. a fish will beark down, rot, get ripe, fast with room temprature.

I usually keep em on a stringer or in a bucket then throw em on ice when we leave.

What's the longest you've kept fish without cleaning?

we clean ever 3 or 4 hours. thats gut and ice down. we kill the keepers as soon as we bring them out of the water, that prevents them from dying from lack of oxygen and getting blood issues in the flesh, any hunting or fishing, you are taking from the land , food at its finest. It is the good steward that takes the minute or two, and dresses that food in a timely manner to assure that spoilage doesnt occur, and that the end product, on the table, is both safe and the highest quality. its all about respecting what nature provides.

[Capt Turk]

The boats I used to work were snapper/grouper boats. We used Bandit rigs with 6 to 32 hooks per rig. We mostly fished off the Yucatan and were based out of the Tampa Florida area.

We would stay out till the ice hold was full, or we ran out of ice, whichever came first. One of the boats I worked was 65' long. We started out with 400- 300 lb. blocks of ice that was crushed and blown into the hold. Most trips lasted around 30 days. Some as little as two weeks, depending on how good the fishing was, and the area where we fished.

Standard OP was to fish all day, gutting as they were caught, and you had time. Whenever you had a chance during the day, the fish would be throw down into the center of the ice hold. As soon as it got dark you spent however long it took to pack and stack the fish in the bins all around the sides of the hold.

The fish at the end of the trip seemed to be just fine. That was over 40 years ago. Nowdays, almost all the larger boats that stay out for any lenght of time, have flash freezers. The fish/shrimp/seafood are boxed and flash frozen the same day they are caught.

[iyaayas]

The sooner you clean your fish the better, from a quality standpoint.

Long as you keep them iced down I don't think you have much to worry about for a few days, or even longer if your careful.

During ice fishing season I've had days where I got so many perch it would often take me 2 even 3 dAys before getting them all done. The problem I have with this in winter is the slime factor. After the fish freeze solid, common if you hit a bunch early and they sit in a bucket until evening when I leave, is you either have to fillet them frozen, or rinse em under cold water. Do that and man are they slimy.

Flip side is smaller perch are difficult to fillet when frozen. Can't feel the backbone and often cut right through it.

[Dan480man]

I've known people who caught a mess of fish at night, dropped them into an ice chest right away. Wen't home and threw them in the freezer as is.
When they were ready to clean them, and I mean maybe WEEKS later, they'd pull them out soak them in a cold tub, and scale/filet them as they thawed.

I only found this out AFTER about the third fish fry I was invited too, so I have to say, I couldn't tell any difference. Yellow perch, Largemouth, Crappie, best that I recollect.

Still,...I just can't bring myself to do that! Just thought I'd pass on the story.

I'm sure it's all in the speed of freeze.

[ppine]

It depends a lot on how you want them to taste. The sooner the better.

[sinker]

Why not just gut them right then and there. It's not like it takes a lot of time to do it.

[Backwoods Alaskan]

Long enough to get them out of the boat and onto the plywood cutting board.

No reason to keep them on ice any longer than necessary. Same with any other food, you need to process it as soon as possible.

[ppine]

I have always felt that gutting fish the next day, or Heaven forbid 3 days later was a sign of laziness. It also disrespects the fish. Treat them like they have value and appreciate the fact that the fish gave his life for you.

[ajole]

Originally Posted by Jamesconn

This last catfish I got in the cooler smallish size cooler has probably 5lbs

I don't know about your catfish, but our night fishing catfish stay alive in the bed of the truck until the next day, no water required.

I mean seriously...you have to kill them to skin them the next morning.

Originally Posted by ppine

I have always felt that gutting fish the next day, or Heaven forbid 3 days later was a sign of laziness. It also disrespects the fish. Treat them like they have value and appreciate the fact that the fish gave his life for you.

The fish didn't "give" anything.

I TOOK it.

But I still value it, I'd be VERY upset if I wasted it. Trout or walleye and such gets gutted before I leave the water, or as soon as I get home.

[MR_SLOW]

All fish stay in the live well until we can get to the fish house. Most fish are gutted right after we get off the boat.They go right to the freezer or the frying pan.

[OldSapper]

I have kept them overnight in a cooler in my trunk, in the summer. Cleaned them the next evening. Biggest drawback is they tend to get real slimy. Or, if laying on top with no melting washing them, they dry out.

[Huckleberry Finn]

I surf fish and catch different specie. Each poses it's own unique challenges.

For redfish, bluefish and pompano, I like to clip their gills and drop them head first into a bucket of seawater. This allows them to bleed out. When done I use scissors and slice their bellies open and use my fingers to remove guts. Then into the cooler.

If I know ahead of time it will be a day before I can fillet them, I add salt to my ice. This will cause some of it to melt, making for a slurry in the bottom of the cooler. Pitch the fish in and let them sink into that slurry. At the end of the day drain the water and let the ice settle down on top of them. Add ice later if needed.

Fish may not spoil on you, but you can alter the flavors by mishandling.

[Tcounty]

Freshwater scale fish up to two days on ice. Main thing is keep the water off of them. I got a plastic bread tray and cut it to fit my cooler, so that the fish stay off the bottom and I can just leave the plug out to keep water drained. Fish clean easier when they have been on ice all night