Thread: how long can fish stay on ice

Heat, Moister and Flith will ruin meat quicker than anything.
Keep those three apart and you should be fine. What is meant by moister is "Hot Moister".

Keep them out of the Sun in a clean cooler with ice. Should hold for several days.

My two cents worth. I have kept them on or in icy water for 5 days and the fish be just fine. Yes, draining the water will keep thier gills reder than leaving them in standing water. The main thing to take in consideration is if the fish are firm or soft or mussy. If soft you need to throw out. After cleaning I let soak in a salt water solution for at least 2 days and have left up to a week. It seems to firm the meat up and they do cook better to me. I know as most of you that we should clean as soon as possible to keep form wasting such wonderful tasting fillets. If you have so many as not to clean in a timely manner maybe you should share with your friends or neighbors. H*** - I forgot friends only want them already cleaned. LOL There are so mnay different answers to this questions we could all go on for days or weeks and not come up with a conclusion that everyone would agree on. That's my ole daddy used to say that's why they made strawberry, chocolate and vanilla.

Well I think that once the slime is removed from the skin water can enter the flesh though osmosis and soften it up a lot. You want the fish flesh to be firm not mushy I would think.

Remember that water will enter the fish fesh as the flesh has more salts in it. That makes the water outside the fish go though the flesh and try to dilute the salts in the fish flesh. Humm Maybe that is why we always soaked our fish in Salt Water. That way the water didn't go into the fish flesh.

I caugth and cleaned some fish last week and put the cleaned filets in the frig in some water with ice cubes in the pan. They were in the frig for at least 4 days or maybe 5 days. When I took them out and rinsed them off with fresh tap water one of the containers smelled like Sea Food does when it's unfrozen. Sort of like the ocean or the smell around a saltwater bay or lagoon. I hope that the filets are still ok. I stuck them in a ziplock large freezer bag and put them up in the freezer compartment.

I caught some fresh fish Sunday and fried them up and ate some six of them and a few other filets that were in the batch in the fridge soaking in the salt water. Not sure how long those other filets had been in the frig. 4 or 5 day and some only for two days. Anyway I got an upset stomach at 6 am the next morning. But I drank a lot that night and I had more of a heartburn sensation than a food poisoning sensation. Nothing that a few extra strenght tums could not resolve.

But I am now wondering just how long I can keep the fish filets in the refrigerator in salt water. I do know that bacteria can still grow at 40 deg F but their growth is slowed down. Now at 32 deg F or lower bacteria can still survive but they only grow very slowly. Most bacteria should die at below 32 deg F. or Zero Deg C. There are some bacteria that can live in freezing conditions and some that even can survived in the under the ocean thermal vents where hot lava is coming out of the ocean floor. Bacteria can really adapt to a lot of different conditions. But when you consider that each generation passed ever 20 minutes you can get a lot of genetic variablity over a few years. While we humans have a life span of 60 to 80 years and are slowlying changing our genes the bacteria are mutating all the time and they reproduce much faster than most other species on earth.

I think that they have now proven that bacteria were found on Mars even.

Originally Posted by crappster

Don't mean to derail....but I never did understand the saying of not letting your fish sit in ice water or water and ice mix. I have done this for the past 13 years and have never had anything out of the ordinary happen to the fish. Cold is cold is cold. I 've heard some say it ruins the meat. Never had the meat ruined. Always fresh as long as its cold. Someone enlighten me. And to your question gooch, if they've been on ice they should be good to go. When you filet the first one, look at the meat. If its normal opaque or clear color...it should be good to go.

Bart:

I think that they may be saying that is sucks the flavor out of the flesh as the water is sucked into the fish filet meat over time.

Try adding some salt to the water that you soak your fish in. That should help equibrate the water to the salt content of the fish flesh and prevent water from going into the fish meat by OSMOSIS.

Water go though a semipermeable membrane to equalize the water/chemical concentrations on each side of the semi membrane.

If you take some fresh water and put it in a rubber and then stick that rubber full of fresh water into a bucket of salt water you will see what happens. If not reverse the ingredients and then observe again. ie put salt water inside the rubber or ballon and fresh water in the bucket.

In one setup the ballon will swell up as the water flows into the ballon.

fish flesh has minerals and proteins in the meat and less water than the water in the tub. So the water will flow into the fish flesh if you don't add salt to the water in the tub.

Try this with a few spare filets and see if this holds true.

It's always best to clean and eat the fish right away fresh. Keep the fish alive in a live well or immediately put the caught fish on ice and then clean and cook them as soon as possible to prevent bacterial contamination of the meat.

I would not soak the filets too long as even in salt water they get mushy in a day or so.

Originally Posted by Bart

When the meat is mushy when you squeeze it I throw it out. It may still be good but I can't stand the thought of frying mushy fish.

About the water.... I don't know about uncleaned fish but as for filets... any chef will tell you that water sucks the flavor out of any meat. Yeah I know some people have frozen fish in water for years and couldn't tell the difference but however good those filets tasted they would have tasted better vaccuum sealed ((IMO)).

Most folks here in Arkansas with the nickname MOOSE are not very smart. This is obviously not true in Hoosier land.
Not only is that more than I wanted to know about how long fish would stay on ice. Its more than I ever thought I would know in my life about the subject.

Thanks for the biology/physics/chemestry lesson moose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I liked it!!

CC

I keep my crappie on ice for 2-3 days..for one, they are much easier to filet and for two, if the filets are pinkish and 'smell' I throw em out.. I've had a cooler of 25-35 good fish, kept on ice fileted up, no trouble.. the post about draining out the water is what I go by...drain and replish with ice.. I have 6 tubs if filets in my freezer and would not hesitate to feed my friends.. it's a treat that most would come back for time and time again..

I've always cleaned my (panfish & walleyes) the next day. As long as they're laying on ice (and NOT in water) they'll be fine. I've also gone as long as three days with no problems.
Crushed ice is better than cubed ice but its hard to find it. I read long time ago that crushed ice has better cold coverage, problem is it also melts faster.
That's my 2 cents...lol