What do you do with your fish?

NDwalleyes · Jan 1, 2016

What does everyone do with the fish they are going to keep while ice fishing? I keep mine in a bucket in the house so they don't freeze, stay cold, and are alive when I clean them.

I know a couple guys that let them freeze out on the ice. Do you clean them frozen or wait a day for them to thaw?

DirtyMike · Jan 1, 2016

I like to keep them in a bucket and pliable. I've thought about getting one of them nets you drop down a hole. Either way, they won't go outside to freeze unless it's a snot rocket and I'm going to deliver it to the father in law.

svnmag · Jan 1, 2016

When I icefished, I'd kill and load a black trash bag in a Coleman cooler to prevent freezing with the beer. I'd prefer to bleed but never found an efficient way. Used to kill with an old drumstick. Soaked the blood out back at the dwelling.

guywhofishes · Jan 1, 2016

I will do anything I have to in order to keep them thawed. Cleaning previously frozen fish is not optimal IMO. I use old coolers and put lake water in them - or pack the fish in snow in said coolers. Snow is an insulator - ask the Inuit.

svnmag · Jan 1, 2016

I've always found the Inuit offensive like the Finnish.

guywhofishes · Jan 1, 2016

Umiak kayak upmick tupick.

svnmag · Jan 1, 2016

"When the Eiders Flew"

Find this book; find this story: Understand svnmag "racism". I have a first edition with jacket(used--very much). I believed one could find this article on-line: Nope.

Captain Ahab · Jan 1, 2016

Don't let them freeze, unless you like to make life more difficult on purpose.

Fish whisperer · Jan 1, 2016

DirtyMike said:
I like to keep them in a bucket and pliable. I've thought about getting one of them nets you drop down a hole. Either way, they won't go outside to freeze unless it's a snot rocket and I'm going to deliver it to the father in law.

Net works good short term but don't leave them in the holes overnight...have 2 buddies who had them and they froze into the holes in the permanents.

raider · Jan 1, 2016

an extra hole and a stringer worked great for me...

Kickemup · Jan 1, 2016

I will throw them out the door till dead then into the house on the ice. I've had more than one fish flop back into the hole after being put on the ice.

MSA · Jan 1, 2016

In a bucket with some water, freezing before cleaning makes them taste gross.

5575 · Jan 1, 2016

raider said:
an extra hole and a stringer worked great for me...

Yep I like the old school metal stringers for that.

Captain Ahab · Jan 1, 2016

raider said:
an extra hole and a stringer worked great for me...

I did this with perch one time(just used heavy fishing line) to keep them in good shape because I didn't want to clean them until morning(sleeping in permanent house). In the morning they were gone. Something ripped them off over night(assume it was a northern). Weird deal.

NodakBuckeye · Jan 1, 2016

Cut them and place on ice inside pop up when by myself or in a milk crate, do everything I can to not let them freeze. I would like to gut, scale and gill, or even better just fillet and leave a patch of skin on to i.d. Zip loc for fillets and a trash bag for the carcass amd haul it all home.

dean nelson · Jan 1, 2016

Never done it but thought about punching three holes that over lap but don't go all the way through then punch a forth hole beside them and floor the auger to flood the other three creating a live well of sorts.

KDM · Jan 1, 2016

dean nelson said:
Never done it but thought about punching three holes that over lap but don't go all the way through then punch a forth hole beside them and floor the auger to flood the other three creating a live well of sorts.

Don't do that. The fish will melt the hole bigger as they swim around and they WILL find freedom when the hole gets big enough to melt through the bottom. Don't ask me how I know.

I normally just drop the fish in a bucket in the house. They stay firm and fillet-able and they will stay that way as long as I remember NOT to leave them in the truck bed on the way home.

gr8outdoors · Jan 2, 2016

Fillet them and eat them:;:rockit

gatorbaiter · Jan 2, 2016

I have cut many livewells in the ice, and never had them escape... yet. I drill four holes about a foot deep close together and chip the ice out in between with my chisel. Cut one almost through and pop a little hole in the bottom. If it gushes in your hole is to big. It can be a pain to get the fish out later so I sometimes drill another hole a few inches away and chip a little channel over to fill the livewell. Then just block the channel and bail out the livewell at the end of the day. I've had over twenty northerns in one of these and never lost one yet. Just remember to mark your hole with a branch or something like you would a spear hole. When you have to knock your fish over the head when you fillet them you know you've got some nice, fresh, delicious fillets coming.

Davey Crockett · Jan 3, 2016

I'd hate to drop a wheel in one of those inventions. lol

What do you do with your fish?

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