# Why are the crappies mushy already?



## TritonBill

We caught around 17 crappie from West Branch yesterday and they were already mushy. I thought they didn't get like this till after the spawn and water getting into high 60's. The water temps were around 55 and pretty muddy.

Any ideas?


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## senecasilly

i dont clean my fish till they sit on ice over nite. they r much easier that way, try it u will see what i mean


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## Whaler

They are always mushy .


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## GoneBassin

Try placing them in ice for 12-24 hours before you fillet them. This way it gives everything a chance to set up a bit and they arent so "mushy".


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## TritonBill

So if you do that when you cook them they won't be mushy either? Sounds good I'll try it next time.


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## johnboy111711

bill, if you freeze them in water, like you would for storage, they are fine.


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## sowbelly101

I had the same thing happen last year, I had too many in the live well and wasnt changing out the water and running the recirculator and they died. they all were mushy when I cleaned them. I started changing the water in the live well and running the recirc and it keeps them alive til they go under the knife. I usually find if i have a couple dead ones amongst the live ones the dead ones are mushy. Keeping them lively has definately made a big difference for me.

oh, and the smaller skinny whites usually seem to be mushy reguardless

sowbelly


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## TritonBill

I definately keep them alive till they go under the knife. I tried putting the ones I caught yesterday on ice for 24hrs but they still seemed soft tonight when I finally got around to cleaning them. I will say they were easier to clean though! I guess I won't know for sure till I go to eat them but it sure seemed soft. I didn't have this problem until this year.


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## Lewzer

I don't know. I recently cooked a few caught last April and they were mushy.
They were WB crappie too.

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41288&highlight=crappie
Shortdrift had a solution if you want to go that far.


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## madcrappiekids

found some pretty good crappie Thursday night at Acton lake, they were in the basket for about 2 hours and then on ice about 1/2 an hour on the drive home, nice and firm. I guess I can't remember having "mushy" crappie. We always just put them under the ice on the drive home.


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## Fishin'Fool

That's odd, the last few catches at WB _have_ been mushy. And
come to think of it, musty as well.


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