How were fish kept in the old days?

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Chubs
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How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Chubs »

OK, this might be a silly question. If I plan to keep fish, always carry a fish bag, and/ or have an ice chest in my truck.
I went fishing with my mom and dad this weekend and this time the packing was up to my parents, they didn't bring any ice. We caught a red fish and kept it. Threw it in the truck bed (no ice chest) , drove it to the camp, cleaned it, then threw it in the refrigerator gutted with head and gills still on (no ice) . Time out of water alive to the fridge might have been 30 min. Texas summer heat index probably 105 degrees.
The long story short, we cooked up the fish for dinner and it turns out it spoiled at some point. Real sad it happened and think we all learned a lesson.

Question is, how did people used to keep fish in the "old days." was there ever a time in Texas fishing history where carrying an ice chest full of ice wasn't a thing? What did folks do when they kept fish in summer ?
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by mwatson71 »

Not sure what constitutes “the old days” but I grew up fishing the Brazos River in Waco from a flat bottom jon boat. We always kept the catch in a live well until getting back to the dock where they were quickly cleaned and iced. I remember from very early in though that if you weren’t going to keep them alive you needed to “gut ‘em and gill ‘em” so maybe removing the gills would have kept your red a little longer. These days it’s ice in a fish bag or towed via stringer if necessary. I’ve even gone back to the car mid-fishing trip to throw fish into the cooler because it had more ice.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by SWFinatic »

I don't ever remember icing down fish as a kid until they were cleaned. We would stringer most of the fish while fishing. If we caught a catfish too big to put on the stringer that fish would just lay in the boat until we got back to the truck. Most of the time we cleaned them right after we pulled the boat out of the water.
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Chubs
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Chubs »

Interesting.

I always take the gills out as well. My dad said he gutted the fish but turns out he left the gills. I wasn't sure if it would matter so I left it. I know that's where all the blood goes though so that could make sense, the blood stayed in the fish. Also the fridge probably just didn't cool it off fast enough, and it cooled off too slowly. I always think those camper fridges don't get cold enough to keep meat from spoiling...


SWFinatic, how long would the catfish stay like that? It still tasted good? That sounds sort of similar to what we did, kept the fish alive in the water right till we headed back to camp, then cleaned it 30 min later.

My grandma told me when she was a girl, probably in the 1940/50's or so I figure, they used to live in Kansas, and her dad would go to Florida once a year and catch a bunch of redfish. They would fillet them all and put the fish fillets in a bucket, fill it with water, then freeze the whole thing. The fish ice brick would keep everything fine for the whole trip back evidentially. She wasn't sure if a cooler was involved during the car trip, and if it was one or 2 day drive.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by SWFinatic »

Chubs wrote:Interesting.

I always take the gills out as well. My dad said he gutted the fish but turns out he left the gills. I wasn't sure if it would matter so I left it. I know that's where all the blood goes though so that could make sense, the blood stayed in the fish. Also the fridge probably just didn't cool it off fast enough, and it cooled off too slowly. I always think those camper fridges don't get cold enough to keep meat from spoiling...


SWFinatic, how long would the catfish stay like that? It still tasted good? That sounds sort of similar to what we did, kept the fish alive in the water right till we headed back to camp, then cleaned it 30 min later.

My grandma told me when she was a girl, probably in the 1940/50's or so I figure, they used to live in Kansas, and her dad would go to Florida once a year and catch a bunch of redfish. They would fillet them all and put the fish fillets in a bucket, fill it with water, then freeze the whole thing. The fish ice brick would keep everything fine for the whole trip back evidentially. She wasn't sure if a cooler was involved during the car trip, and if it was one or 2 day drive.
Chubs I don't remember it being that long. Catfish stay alive a long time out of water. We fished trot lines a lot and would go run the lines first thing in the morning then go bass fish for a while after that or maybe go catch "perch" for the trot line. My Mom and Grandma were both sticklers on meat going bad and they were almost always involved in the cooking or at least helping with the prep. If the fish didn't pass their test it wasn't getting cooked. Never had any catfish spoil.
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Re: RE: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by 2 Weight Willie »

Chubs wrote:OK, this might be a silly question. If I plan to keep fish, always carry a fish bag, and/ or have an ice chest in my truck.
I went fishing with my mom and dad this weekend and this time the packing was up to my parents, they didn't bring any ice. We caught a red fish and kept it. Threw it in the truck bed (no ice chest) , drove it to the camp, cleaned it, then threw it in the refrigerator gutted with head and gills still on (no ice) . Time out of water alive to the fridge might have been 30 min. Texas summer heat index probably 105 degrees.
The long story short, we cooked up the fish for dinner and it turns out it spoiled at some point. Real sad it happened and think we all learned a lesson.

Question is, how did people used to keep fish in the "old days." was there ever a time in Texas fishing history where carrying an ice chest full of ice wasn't a thing? What did folks do when they kept fish in summer ?
I've heard of people putting the fish in the bottom of a jon boat, and covering it with lots of cool, wet mud

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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Reefmonkey »

Stringers were and still are an alternative method to icing fish. A fish kept alive on a stringer is going to stay fresh, and ostensibly a fish that dies on a stringer is going to stay fresh for at least a little bit submerged in cool water (though risky).

Old-school stream trout flyfishermen would put their catches in wicker creels lined with wet moss. I say "old-school" because most freshwater trout flyfishermen are strictly catch and release these days.

Before the advent of double-walled insulated coolers in the mid 50s, there were unlined leaky wood or metal ice chests for decades. Even a galvanized washtub with cracked ice would suffice.

Definitely gutting a fish before it dies is going to help it stay fresher longer than a fish that dies with its guts still in, even if you're icing. I always remove the gills at the same time I gut. If I'm bringing fish live to the dock, and planning to fillet, I don't bother gutting before I fillet. If I'm planning to fillet but worry about the fish not making it alive to the dock, I will gut and gill then ice. If I don't think I can either keep a fish alive on a stringer or in a livewell until I get to the dock, or don't have an ice chest to put it in, I release that fish, I'd never keep a fish, alive or dead, out of cool water or ice any longer that it takes to clean it and put it on ice.

Glad nobody in your group got sick.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by osochuck »

I have filleted them and put the baggie in my whataburger cup of left over soda
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Re: RE: Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by 2 Weight Willie »

osochuck wrote:I have filleted them and put the baggie in my whataburger cup of left over soda
Only in Texas haha

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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Endo »

I highly doubt a whole/uncleaned fish for 30 mins in the back of a truck was the issue you all got sick. That's no time at all really. I've done way more time than that, more times than I can remember.

Something else was going on, either got contaminated with something strange during cleaning, the fish had bacteria or worms and undercooked, or the fish was not the source of you all getting sick.

.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

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osochuck wrote:I have filleted them and put the baggie in my whataburger cup of left over soda
Haven't we all? :lol:
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Ron Mc »

Stringer works great for me, and I love cam cleat for keeping the new plastic stringers.
See, nothing old day about it

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This works as long as you're filleting at the launch.

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Last Oct fishing East Flats with Neumie and friends. loaded our fish into his fish bag for crossing the ferry, long drive, and filleting back at his Copano dock.

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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by SWFinatic »

I've moved on from stringers due to porpoise and gators. Some of the areas I fish there are gators. Last time I was out had a 5-6 footer 20 yards from the kayak. I've also had a porpoise swipe at my kayak after a stringer of fish. And if I do happen to gut hook a keeper I want to it be on ice so it doesn't spoil. I will almost always have a fish bag with ice for my fish to go in to avoid any issues.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Kitsune »

Endo wrote:I highly doubt a whole/uncleaned fish for 30 mins in the back of a truck was the issue you all got sick. That's no time at all really. I've done way more time than that, more times than I can remember.

Something else was going on, either got contaminated with something strange during cleaning, the fish had bacteria or worms and undercooked, or the fish was not the source of you all getting sick.

.
X2. I don’t gut, bleed, or do any other special technique besides clean them when I can. I personally feel people get all caught up in rituals for the fish they keep. Nonetheless, the quicker you cool a fish down the better. But I actually like the fish to harden up and slime to reduce before putting on ice. I’ve never had a problem with fish spoiling or taste difference.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by cfont »

for those of you using fish bags with ice and not removing their gills or gutting them... do you just slip the fish in there alive knowing/hoping they cool down quickly enough?

I'm relatively new to actually catching fish worth keeping and wanting to make sure I have a good process down.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by Neumie »

cfont wrote:for those of you using fish bags with ice and not removing their gills or gutting them... do you just slip the fish in there alive knowing/hoping they cool down quickly enough?

I'm relatively new to actually catching fish worth keeping and wanting to make sure I have a good process down.
I string them up as I'm fishing for convenience. When I get to the end of my drift or a stopping point I'll move my fish to a cheap Walmart Cooler I keep in my front hatch with ice. I do not gut and gill them beforehand, but it would probably work better and produce a better quality meat.
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Re: How were fish kept in the old days?

Post by karstopo »

Redfish are generally pretty durable. People in the Northeast would throw whole striped bass or bluefish in a bin abd fish most the day without any ice on the fish, they might throw some cool water on the fish or a wet burlap sack once in a while. They never spoiled in that amount of time. I fished with these people and ate the fish. No ice for hours and dead whole fish. Not 105 degrees, try 70 or 80 or something like that.

My dad worked on a charter boat off Freeport in the 1950s, they had ice aboard and iced down the fish. Gutting and gilling is something people do to extend the time fish will stay fresh. He would gut and gill fish and ice them down. People in Texas had ice houses even way back when. Ice came in big solid blocks packed in saw dust obn railcars and cut from lakes up north. People had ice boxes in their homes, literally a box with a big block of ice. My granny called the refrigerator an “icebox”.

These days, I prefer a frozen gallon jug of water to put my fish on. I freeze them, then bring them along on the trip. This ice could be put in in a soft or hard cooler. Or I might string the fish if I don’t have the cooler or the ice. I can’t remembers time when a redfish or flounder died on the stringer while in the water. Trout might. Most of the time the fish are still alive by the time I get home from fishing, ice or no ice, but I’m close to the water. If I’m thinking I’m going to be after trout, I like to have an ice chest and ice available. I might let a trout go an hour off ice and be dead, depends on the weather.

I’ll put live fish out on the stringer in the lake and clean up my other gear first , then clean the fish laet. The redfish always revive in the lake water. If they are on ice, I’ll slice open the live ones to bleed them. But an hour off ice and dead is about my limit in our climate.
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