Thread: Dead Crappie

Was lucky enought to catch a mess today. Some died in the live well. They were dead for about six hours before I got home. I kept "cool" water in the livewell. I disposed of them. What do you think? Would you keep them? What is a "safe" time to keep and eat a dead crappie?

If the gills are still pretty pink I'd clean them. After 6 hours they would be white unless you have very cold water.

Originally Posted by LOWEDE

If the gills are still pretty pink I'd clean them. After 6 hours they would be white unless you have very cold water.

and longer due to uncontrolled circumstances, but they were iced down in water. if the gills are still red/pink eatem'. been the formula for everyone I know.

good fishin'

That's why I put all my fish in an ice chest with plenty of ice and stopped using my live well...I only use it for bait fish (minnows for crappie fishing and sunfish & bullheads for trotlines).

I have eaten trout, hatchery brood stock that were dead in the water for 6-10 hours and never had a problem. They were in the cold water of the lake of course. Only time I have worried about a fish that has been dead for a long time is if they get mushy. If I feel the meat give/mush at all after it has been out for a while then I won't take a chance.

Is there any way to keep the live well colder? If you keep it at or below 55-60F then they should keep all day dead or alive, at least edible keep anyway.

Of course if it smells bad it is crab bait but I figured that was obvious.

Thanks for the replies folks. Breambuster has a good idea. I did actually think about putting ice in my live well, without turning it on. In other words, turning the live well into an ice chest.

Fillet them and if the meat is still firm and looks ok, I wouldn't be afraid of them.
I have put them on ice and cleaned them the next morning and have had no problem.
Don't make a practice of it.

Isn't there a way to set up a live well so that it take sin fresh lake/river water to keep the temps down and keep them alive longer? Just a thought as I have never used one but figured there had to a way.

Originally Posted by fish_4_all

Isn't there a way to set up a live well so that it take sin fresh lake/river water to keep the temps down and keep them alive longer? Just a thought as I have never used one but figured there had to a way.

On my 2008 Lowes my 2 livewells have the normal water pump that does a good job. But with them having on board minnow buckets the water pump was only good when I am on the water. I buy my minnows locally and keep a stock tank full in the back yard. And normally I have at least an hour road trip to and from the main lake I fish at. So I use Bait Saver that I get at Bass Pro. Plus for a few dollars I installed a air pump system in my front livewell that got from BP. It don't use much power and I put a time switch on it with a manual switch. Last weekend wife and I went fishing and we got done and I just turned on the manual switch. We ended up driving the long way home we also did some site seeing. It was a good 5 hours from the time we left the water until I pulled into the driveway. All the crappie were still alive along with the catfish that we caught on crappie jigs! I don't like cleaning dead fish! Since I put the air system in I don't even have dead fish even during the hotest summer fishing trips.

In the summer when it's really hot. I put ice in the live wells
and leave the pump off as the water you draw in is surface water
which is too warm. Put ice in the minnow buckets also.