I'm not much of a fisherman. One of the things that prevents me from wanting to fish more is the fact that I'm not much of a fish cleaner/cooker. But, darn it, I want to learn and teach my daughters!

As far as cutting the meat off the fish, I think I can carve one up as well as any amateur. I've cleaned a few that I bought from the market and while I may not be the most efficient cleaner I think I can get much of the meat off. Pike may be a different story though.

So how long is it okay to keep fish on a stringer before they're cleaned?

I assume that once cleaned, if not being cooked right away, the meat may be stored in a zip-lock until lunch or dinner.

And, finally, what if one catches a fish after dinner?

Thanks for your advice!

-UB

Once I see a fish is starting to fade I pull the gills to bleed it out and clean it. I've kept fillets in zip locks and inside an evaporation bag for up to 24hrs without issue. When I was a kid the only bad memory I have of Q trips was trying to clean fish in the dark(bug city). Now I go in the shoulder seasons and just clean morning or afternoon catches.

If the fish are alive, you can wait as long as you want to. Look out for snapping turtles and other fish thieves, though. If they die, temperature is the biggest factor. If the water is cold and the fish are out of the sun, they'll be OK for a while. If it's hot out, clean 'em up ASAP. We usually let 'em go if a meal is not planned within a couple of hours. If we get into some nice fish, though, we might quickly plan a meal. :)

Again, though, if you can keep them cool you are good for several hours, I would say. The best way is to probably clean them and then keep the fillets cool.

Here is a great way to do pike 5 cut vid

As for cooking, I use Shore Lunch, either original or corn meal recipe. For years I tried to create my own coating, but these are easier and better. Get a lot of oil very hot, like 375 or 380, dust the fillets and get 'em in the oil. Won't take long. Lots of hot oil in the pan means less oily fish as the temp won't drop as much when you put the fish in, which means it will soak in. Be careful.

You can keep them for quite a while even when dead. If you keep them on a stringer overnight you have to be willing to lose one or two to a snapping turtle or otters. If I don’t feel like cleaning them at night I will attach my stringer to my anchor and sink them offshore in 20+ feet of water. Tie an empty Nalgene to your rope and go get them when it’s time to fillet.

When I was young my dad told me as long as the gills aren’t white the meat is still ok. I have no idea if that is actually true but it has served me well so far.

Once the eyes cloud over, and they are no longer clear, I usually clean them......Same goes for gills, if the gills are no longer more red then pink, and definitely not white, they are good.

The only time I don't follow this is when it is cool or water temps are pretty cool. At any rate, I've dragged my fair share of walleyes around for most the day, and still cleaned them. NO ONE died :) .

One other thing. If I know I'm going to be fishing all day, and the fishing is "good" we usually don't harvest until later in the day. Sometimes that bites us in the can, and we have to harvest less the desirable fish, like smallies or largemouth. If we do get a good walleye first thing in the day and we know it will be a pretty big fishing day, and it is not 800 degrees outside, sometimes I will gut the fish, and just run the stringer through what was the gill plate, and mouth. When I gut this way, I usually remove the gills, and guts......

Later,

Geo

If they are alive no problem. If they are stiff and eyes clouded over I would not trust them to eat.

If you want to clan your fish in the morning and are worried about snappers, eagles, buzzards (yes, I had a buzz get my fish) or otters just stringer your fish off into some shallow water which has submerged brush. Find a little pocket in the fortress and tie them off. The fish become quite calm and the predators don't find them.

I use evaporation methods to keep my filets cool for several hours. Instead of dragging a fish around on a stringer I will find a suitable place on the shoreline to clean my fish. After that I place them into a gallon ziplock and place the bag into a cloth type bag which I submerge first and get wet. Keep the bag wet and the evaporation will keep your filets fresh and cool for several hours.

Question...

Lets say July waters with a bigger lake. What if you put fish fillets in a zip lock bag and then placed that bag in a mesh/cloth bag and put a few small rocks in with it and sink down 15-20ft. Is the water cool enough down there to keep it fresh? How many hours you think?

Rsbuck13: "Question...

Lets say July waters with a bigger lake. What if you put fish fillets in a zip lock bag and then placed that bag in a mesh/cloth bag and put a few small rocks in with it and sink down 15-20ft. Is the water cool enough down there to keep it fresh? How many hours you think? "

Yes it helps tremendously,but depends on the lake. Big lakes with windswept areas the top water will mix easier. A will just say roughly now in many lakes of moderate size like August 1 you won't have much difference in water temps from surface to 15 feet and shallower. Lets put it this way deeper the better you are going to be. At 15 feet you may lose maybe 5 degrees. After that it may change fast.
I have done the deep stringer on whole fish or the small bag will work also.
With warm water caught and dead fish will detriote(poor spelling) very fast. I have salted them down some and I think it slows down the process. I almost seems in warm water the fishes flesh sometimes starting to breakdown before their even dead.
Best case scenario-catch fresh fish when warm,just have a early lunch.