Fish On Ice ?

[Moleman]

How long will fish keep in a cooler of ice? I recently had a salmon on ice for 5 days before processing.....did I poison myself?

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

I've heard 5 days myself, and that's for a nice fish. If the fish is a smoker, he doesn't stay on ice for more than 2 days, tops.

[Thumper]

A former commercial fisherman (ocean) says that they used to keep them on ice for up to ten days. I know for a fact that the "fresh" Alaskan halibut that you buy at Freddies is often a week or more old. That's why I don't buy fish.

[Hookset]

On some of my lenghty excursions, 4 days on ice was norm. The fish looked and smelled great. As long as the fish is cold and you don't run out of ice, you should be ok. The key is the odor, if you start noticing a stench (something mildly rotten), then it's to late. Even after 5 days the odor should be very minimal.

Used to take game to a butcher, he said he could tell if the meat was any good just by the smell. He turned away lots of meat every year because people didn't know to how to properly care for their game.

Bon appetite,

Gregg

[ 10-24-2001: Message edited by: Hookset ]

[Robert]

Depends on several things. The quality of the meat is important. Keeping it ice not water and ice is alo important. 10 days in the fridge would be ok if its cold. Like what th others say smell is very important. Some stores will go up to two weeks from the day the fish was processed. I have gotten some of this and smoked, it was good. The number one thing is smell.