ive done a search to see if this has been covered before but failed to find anything ..

question is pretty simple

whats the best way to transport fish from your spear to your plate and i mean by also time and temp can u carry a dead fish for 4hours on a stringer then throw it in an esky half full of water drive 20mins get ice ice it up take it home and cook it up few hours later ....

being a new bloke and learning

my thought is

spear it

string it

store it (esky with seawater)

ice from the servo on the way home

get home eat it

....

excuse me if this is not easy to understand
i just dun wanna spear a great fish get it home eat it and make myself sick

cheers justin

ive found this on adrenos site .. the text in blue im abit iffy on .. keeping them alive after spearing is a big no no a quick and clean dispatch is the only way to go




With the rising costs of meat and cheese protein foods, consumers have become increasingly interested in fish as a source of dietary protein. Freshly caught fish spoil easily and need to be properly preserved. The four most popular methods of fish preservation are freezing, canning, smoking, and pickling. This publication describes each method briefly.

Top quality fresh fish are essential for fish preservation. Of all flesh foods, fish is the most susceptible to tissue decomposition, development of rancidity, and microbial spoilage. Keep freshly caught fish alive as long as possible. A metal link bag will permit fish to remain alive longer in the water than a stringer. Spoilage and slime-producing bacteria are present on every fish and multiply rapidly on a dead fish held in warm surface water.

Fish begin to deteriorate as soon as they leave the water. To delay spoilage, clean the fish as soon as possible. Thorough cleaning of the body cavity and chilling of the fish will prevent spoilage. Fish spoilage occurs rapidly at summer temperatures; spoilage is slowed down as freezing temperatures are approached.

FREEZING FISH

This is the simplest, most convenient, and most highly recommended method of fish preservation. A good quality frozen product requires the following:


Careful handling of the fish after catching.
Wrapping material or method that is airtight and prevents freezer burn and the development of undesirable flavors.
A freezer storage temperature of 0° F or lower.
To Freeze Fish

Remove the guts and thoroughly clean the fish soon after catching.

Prepare the fish as you would for table use. Cut large fish into steaks or fillets. Freeze small fish whole.

Wrap the fish in heavy-duty aluminum foil, plastic type film, or heavy-duty freezer bags. Separate layers of fish with two thicknesses of packaging material for easier thawing. Store at 0° F or lower. When ready to use, thaw in the refrigerator.

Small fish, such as sunfish and panfish, or small servings of fish can be frozen in ice. Place the fish in a shallow pan or water-tight container. Cover with ice water and place in the freezer until frozen (8-12 hours). Remove block from container, wrap, and store infreezer.

You kinda answered your own question, dont leave it in the sun for too long out of water or ice, clean it by the water side's probably preferable, but it can wait until you get home, you can frigde it for up to 2-3 days before cooking otherwise freeze it.

With big fish i have found if you top and tail them and stuff the gut cavity with ice for transport the fish will keep till you can process it at home!
get a good esky! (tekni ice for instance)
don't super saturate fish flesh in FRESH water. use salt water where possible to wash fish.

I'm with Oscar on not getting the fish wet with fresh water. The night before a dive I chuck a couple of three litre juice bottles in the freezer. this gives me a cold esky to put the fish in as soon as I'm at the car and keeps the fish off the bottom of the esky so that if I need to add more ice they don't sit in the melted stuff.

I like to gut my fish ASAP as it's the guts that go off first (they also make good burley).

Then there is the obvious things like not just dropping them or dragging them on the rocks when you get out to avoid bruising, keeping them out of the sand so you don't need to wash it off when you get home and only using good sharp knives to fillet and cut up the fish, no messy hacking but nice clean slices.

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT

Great idea.
Does putting a bit of sea water into the esky cause any harm to the fish? I've heard some people mix ice and sea water in their eskys.

Adam

love the advice guys ... i base my question on what i saw with one of my fish which i didnt eat


speared it dispatched within a minute

on a stringer dragged it around on my float for about 15mins

i got back to shore left my float in the water

grabbed my esky filled it half with saltwater from where i speared it

threw the fish in (non gutted)

packed up my gear and left 15-20mins

went to a servo on the way home not even 10mins from leaving the bay

drained the water from my esky and replaced with ice

40mins later i was home

i pulled the fish out of the esky and went to gut it and clean it up i just noticed it didnt smell right it was soft and thought nahhh this is not right so i fed it to the dog

the temp was 22oC on the way home i dont know where i went wrong

Mixture of Ice and seawater, known as a 'slurry' is best way to keep your fish fresh. Where possible I clean my fish in seawater and try best to avoid using fresh. I can't be arsed buying ice all the time so I just use frozen 1.5L bottles in a good esky, does the job.

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Due to rising costs and dumb questions;
Answers will now be $1.00
Answers with thought $2.00
Correct answers $4.00
Dumb looks are still free

Could have just been the specie of fish.. That sort of treatment shouldn't ruin fish, especially on a relatively cool day.

Duskies however will smell like shit regardless of the treatment.

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Breathing is Overrated

lol well stop shooting shit fish.

this fish will make any girls BOX smell!

Bear would eat it

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Taking the fight to the fish!

I've seen him eat just about every yucky thing known to man but I doubt even he would eat a kelpie.

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT

ice and salt water is the way to go. Ice and seaweed goes good too, especially for crays. Keeps things moist. As we all know...Moist is good

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bluedevilspear@hotmail.com

I thought kelpies were the other things, that look like kelp?

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Taking the fight to the fish!