[piemma]

A story from years ago. My late fishing partner Gil Guilletone was fishing Deep Hole one morning. Cold as hell about 15 degrees. he caught 2 fish in the low 30# range.
After he landed the second one he went over to where he had the first one laying on the rock/rubble bar for about 10-15 minutes. He picked up the 1st one to wash it off and it flipped and swam away.

I am sure it was due to the air temp, out of the water 15 minutes but it was very cold.

I caught a 44# fish at Balston in late September one year, in front of the big dune on the left. Dragged it back to the truck, put it in the cooler on the bumper rack and drove into Ptown. I was at the Cumby and ran into the late Tom Murphy. I opened the cooler to show him and the fish almost jumped out. Again, out of the water 15 to 20 minutes but cold and on ice for at least half that time.

I would think that under normal conditions during the Summer, not very long at all. In the late Fall, with cool temps, a bit longer.