Ideas for Keeping Fish Caught While Ice Fishing From Freezing??

[Dave S]

When returning home from a day of ice fishing, walleye I catch are typically frozen requiring several hours to thaw out before cleaning. Does anyone have any easy suggestions for keeping fish unfrozen so they can be readily cleaned after leaving the ice? Article in In-Fisherman Ice Guide also suggested that unfrozen fish maintain their firmness and taste better if not frozen before cleaned. Thinking 5 gallon bucket with water or cooler with water might do the trick. Waiting for fish to unthaw before being able to clean them is a pain especially when staying overnight away from home.

[AquaMan]

Put them in a cooler or 5gal bucket IN your fish house. That is waht we do. The cooler is easier since it will allow you to put the fish inside your vehicle without stinking it up unless you have the cover for the bucket. However, the coolers insulating properties slow the freezing process down. Do not try to heat either since warm fish breed bacteria. Water in the containers before you put the fish in is not a good idea since it slops around and will, more then likely, make a mess. The cooler should be able to keep fish fresh for about 3-4 days before freezing if you monitor them and bring the cooler inside when they start to get too hard.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[REW]

If you fish in a shelter, simply place them in a bag or cooler that you keep in the heated shelter. I quit throwing my fish on the ice many years ago, to prevent just such an occurance.

If you are fishing in the open -- simply put the fish in a cooler that you keep with you on the ice -- and although they will eventually freeze - it will take a long time if you keep the lid on the cooler shut.

Then, if you wanted to, you could always put a candle in the cooler, and the candle would probably be enough to keep the fish from freezing. If you wanted the candle to continue burning, you would have to leave the lid ajar to supply air for the burning candle.

The other thing that you can do, if you have a cooler, is to have one of the freeze bags that you ordinarily freeze to keep things cold. If you fill it with boiling water, just before leaving to go fishing -- the warmed water will stay warm for quite a long period of time.

Take care

REW

[Capt. Doug Schreiber]

Try making a livewell on the ice. If you have a power auger drill a couple of holes so they over lap. Don't drill all the way through, just part way down. Use a spud and punch a hole through just big enough to let water through. Try this, but when its really cold I'm not sure this will be worth doing. Also I always worried about someone stepping in it the next day. Heck you can alway bring your boat out and put them in the livewell, but keep it recirculating. You don'y want the fish to die. Good Luck, Doug

[Don Smith]

I live in Michigan and do a lot of ice fishing for walleye, trout, and northern. I also did not like trying to clean partailly frozen fish. I make another hole close by to where I'm fishing and put my fish on a stringer, tie it on my spud handle and lower it down the hole. I just pull it up when I'm ready to go and leave. It is also a good way to bleed them out if you so desire, they don"t make nearly half the mess if their bled out. Wish"in I Was Fish'in. Don S.

[Frank from TBay]

We use the same method of keeping them on strigers up in NW Ontario. There is nothing worse than cleaning a thawed fish. We keep our Pike seperate from the Walleye. The Pike many times we will put into the snow bank and keep it covered. It takes a long time for them to freeze. Just watch the foxes. We have lost fish to these guys.

[Fritz]

The Idea with the stringer works great. I thought Iwas the onlyone who did that. When your done fishing just put the fish in a pail and head for home.

[GORD]

cooler idea is good. put fish in a double or triple plastic bag with twist tie before putting it in the cooler. keep the lid closed. keep the cooler in your vehicle if possable.

[Dave S]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! Trying to clean half frozen fish and making a mess of the fillets in the process is not much fun. Thanks to what I have learned on this great board, I actually manage to catch a few walleyes ice fishing! I knew there must be a better way than simply throwing them on the ice to freeze solid as I have done in the past.