I don't have a livewell so I usually use a stringer when I'm not sure I'll catch enough to keep.

Question is, do the fish survive if I let em go after an hour on the stringer? Or should I just go ahead and keep them because they'll die anyway. This is night fishing where the sun and heat is not a factor.

They should be good to release. It also depends on how you hook them on the stringer to how long they will survive.

This time of year throw them back right away or they are very likely to die.

Yup, I agree with Brian. You need to keep 'em in a well circulated livewell with some ice, or let 'em go. Stringer crappie in the winter will live, but not in the summer.

That's true Anthony about the technique, but in the summer I don't think they can hack it.

why would you throw them back......

yep, even in a live well, at night, the heat will get to them and they won't make it

Go with a wire mesh basket, won't tear up their gills, but they're still gonna be sitting in eithty-degree water unless you lower to the level you're catching them at, so unless you lower it down they'll probably die quickly anyway.

Thanks for the tips. They'll go straight into a cooler from now on and then into the frying pan.


Not worth the filleting, mess and cleanup for just one or two fish. But if they're gonna die anyway then I'll go ahead and do it.

If you gonna' keep 'em on a stringer (winter or summer) string them from the bottom of their lower lip up through the thin membrance in their upper lip. Doesn't damage the gills and doesn't drown them like it does when they can't close their mouth.