Keeping Fish Fresh on the Boat

[aristoxenus]

Good morning.

I'm basically a novice at fishing, and I have a few elementary questions. I'll start today with this: What are considered to be some "best practices" for keeping fish fresh if I intend to keep what I catch for the grill? I troll from an old runabout boat, and on occasion I've thought about keeping a couple catches but since I've never really known how to keep them fresh I've always tossed them back because I don't want them to spoil sitting out on the boat for several hours.

Also, any trout marinade and/or seasoning recipe suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!
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[bytebull]

three ways to do this.

First you can just put them on a stringer and hang them over the edge of the boat. Only do this if you don't have a problem with turtles because turtles find them and tear them to pieces. Also pick them up out of the water before you use your outboard and move to another spot, then just put them back in the water. If you are going to be moving long distanced during a day fishing and the fish will be out of the water over 5 to 8 minutes don't use this method.

Second you can keep a decent size cooler filled with the lake/ponds water about half full. Have a second cooler with you that you keep your food and drinks in with an extra bag of ice in it. Put your catches live into the cooler with the water and about every 30 minutes put two big handfulls of ice into that water and keep the lid closed. This method will keep the fish alive usually the whole day fishing.

Third, again bring two coolers. One with your food and drink. The other fill up half full of Ice and pour about a half cup of regular table salt on top of it (evenly). Then fill the cooler to about 65% full of ice. Now when you catch fish just place them on top of the ice and keep the cooler closed. If the cooler is getting full of fish just drain some of the water from the cooler using the plug and shift your fish to the bottom of the cooler as best you can leaving the remaining ice above them and keep adding new catches to the top. This method will keep fresh as long as there is ICE in the cooler and you keep it closed tight.

Hope this helps!
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[Tarpon4me]

Just toss them in a cooler with plenty of ice. They'll be just fine.
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