# Hiking and keep fish fresh?



## tye dye twins

I am loving the summer hiking and fishing latley but keeping them fresh for the table is confusing me. This winter was easy while ice fishing/backcountry skiing.

Any tactics on how to keep them fresh while fishing and for the long hike out? What do you guys do?


----------



## Bscuderi

I pack in my backpacking stove and frying pan. Eat them on location or not at all. I will keep fish from the non hiking lakes if I want fish that badly.


----------



## LOAH

Just keep them on the stringer in the water until you're ready to leave. Bring a good sized bag along with you and put them in your backpack.

Keeping them alive on the stringer will lessen the time they have to get funky. Even if they're dead though, keeping them in the water until go time will keep them fresher than anything else.


----------



## Leaky

Don't know how thoroughly in cold water, put it on top of my fish in my back pack and rely on evaporation cooling properties to keep em cold. *I would welcome comments as to the effectiveness of this for others. * Don't know how long this is good for, I do it for maybe 3-4 hrs in hot whether.


----------



## twinkielk15

I use a good old-fashioned creel. I made it myself from red dogwood. Fish are still nice and cool when I get home.


----------



## tye dye twins

Bscuderi said:


> I pack in my backpacking stove and frying pan. Eat them on location or not at all. I will keep fish from the non hiking lakes if I want fish that badly.


I guess I should have mentioned I want to eat them smoked.

Well any good recipies Bscurdi? I think I might have to pack bacon!!!! 8)


----------



## tye dye twins

LOAH said:


> Just keep them on the stringer in the water until you're ready to leave. Bring a good sized bag along with you and put them in your backpack.
> 
> Keeping them alive on the stringer will lessen the time they have to get funky. Even if they're dead though, keeping them in the water until go time will keep them fresher than anything else.


I think a lot of the lakes I hit the water is shallow for a bit so the water isn;t too cold. I have thought about freezing a camel back type bladder and using that for the way down. It was just so much easier when there was snow on the ground!


----------



## tye dye twins

twinkielk15 said:


> I use a good old-fashioned creel. I made it myself from red dogwood. Fish are still nice and cool when I get home.


So are you wading in the water to use that? I had to google creel. Ha ha ha!


----------



## harlin

Take a thermos bottle full of iced water. Put the fish on the stringer. When your done fishing whack em on the head, put them in a bag and pour the iced water on top of them. Tie the bag so the ice is snug up against them.


----------



## Bscuderi

Shelf stable bacon would be good  I like to just take garlic salt cayan etc some of the basics. Depends but sometimes I put a little bit of butter in a small jar to use for pan frying but it's not necessary there's enough oil in the fish to keep it from sticking. My favorites are either straight up, or trout and eggs mmmmm u can pack a little zip lock bag with some powdered eggs  or trout chilli is always good! Another one of my favorites is some fast cooking rice with curry powder chilli powder and basically make a field trout curried rice  but I usually only go through the trouble backpacking but ok a long all day trip that could make an easy awesome rejuvenating lunch


----------



## tye dye twins

harlin said:


> Take a thermos bottle full of iced water. Put the fish on the stringer. When your done fishing whack em on the head, put them in a bag and pour the iced water on top of them. Tie the bag so the ice is snug up against them.


Brilliant! This was the answer I couldn't come up with!

Any other ideas are welcome too. Keep them coming!


----------



## wyogoob

twinkielk15 said:


> I use a good old-fashioned creel. I made it myself from red dogwood. Fish are still nice and cool when I get home.


Sounds neat. Any pics?

A creel is a good way to keep fish fresh. The old basket creels are excellent as are the canvas ones. I put weeds in mine, tradition I guess, something my dad and my grandfather did.










These fish are for the frying pan and caught during hot weather so they were "gilled and gutted" ASAP. Best way to do it, and what the heck, they have to be cleaned anyway.










Sometimes I throw in some ice ahead of time.


----------



## Grandpa D

And when the weeds dry out, you can smoke them! :O•-:


----------



## wyogoob

Grandpa D said:


> And when the weeds dry out, you can smoke them! :O•-:


Ah, ha, ho, ho, he, he.....no

gitbak2wurkdail


----------



## Ifish

wyogoob said:


> A creel is a good way to keep fish fresh. The old basket creels are excellent as are the canvas ones. I put weeds in mine, tradition I guess, something my dad and my grandfather did.


Man, what a great memory! My Dad and Grandpa use to do this too. I just knew, when you went fishing, you had to put weeds in the creel. It was what we did.

Now I use one of the canvas Cool Creels. It works really well. You soak the canvas bag in water and it stays cool as the water evaporates. Kinda like what Leaky was saying.


----------



## wyogoob

I had a canvas creel for awhile. Kids lost it. I should get another.


Irregardless of how you store them, you should clean your fish before the gills turn pink.


----------



## gdog

Tim....tell us a little about that rod.....


----------



## wyogoob

7'-6" Orvis HDG Superfine, 1972


----------



## SagebrushRR

You can buy Instant ice packs in the phamacy. When you are ready to use them, just shak em up and put with your fish.


----------



## twinkielk15

tye dye twins said:


> twinkielk15 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I use a good old-fashioned creel. I made it myself from red dogwood. Fish are still nice and cool when I get home.
> 
> 
> 
> So are you wading in the water to use that? I had to google creel. Ha ha ha!
Click to expand...

Normally, yes. But if I'm not I just line it with grass and/or leaves and then dip it in the water to keep things wet. It's all evaporative cooling. If you have a really long hike you can douse it with a little of your drinking water halfway through and it'll keep cool. It's important to have air flow through the creel. If it's air-tight then the fish is just being kept in a smelly, wet swamp.

No worries on googling. At least you are man enough to admit it.


----------



## JERRY

SagebrushRR said:


> You can buy Instant ice packs in the phamacy. When you are ready to use them, just shak em up and put with your fish.


 8)


----------



## cpierce

A lot of good replies. The instant cold packs are good as well as the older creels. 

1. Keep the fish alive as long as possible. 

2. When time to go ... bleed the fish...remove the gills completely.... then gut them. 

3. Salt them all over lightly if you want them fresh. Be sure to salt the cavity well, or if you are going to smoke them, pack them with some of your favorite sugar/salt cure. Either way the salt will help to keep bacteria at bay.

4. Pack your fish in a well soaked creel with cold packs if you have them. No creel? Use a soaked tee shirt or towel around a light green stick framework. You want the wet material to evaporate. A tight wrap won't evaporate. Keep rewetting it as you need to.

Personally I would eat them fresh at the lake, then catch some more at a creek or lake on the way home!!

Good luck.


----------

