I have an odd question, but a little info to help clarify first.
I grew up going up to Ontario for a couple weeks every year to fish. We'd bring home LOADS of filleted panfish and walleye, but the fishing camp we stayed at had an excellent fish cleaning house with plastic wrap, butcher paper, and chest freezers available. We'd fillet the fish, wrap a pile of fillets in plastic wrap and they'd be frozen into a solid block that we could pack into coolers with ice for the trip home.
Here at home we keep a lot of panfish for the table but they get tossed into a cooler with ice immediately upon being caught, then immediately filleted at home and either fried or vacuum sealed and put in the chest freezer.
Now for the part I'm not sure about - in June every year we go to Lake Erie and catch monster channel cats. It's an absolute blast, catching them until our arms are tired of fighting. We occasionally fry up a couple on shore for lunch, but I've been wanting to take some home for the freezer. The complicating factor is that where we stay has no freezer available. We normally don't stay up there for more than 3 or 4 days, and have a 2 hour drive home. What's my best bet for keeping a few dozen fillets safely until I can get home and get them into a freezer? I have a couple Yeti-type coolers available. There's electricity available so I can haul my vacuum sealer up there with me. Access to ice is not an issue.
Fillet them, vacuum seal, and just bury in the ice? Drain open so they don't wind up submerged in water? I'm probably grossly over-thinking this, but I'd hate to kill some of these fish only to have the meat spoil due to improper handling. How long can I keep the fillets sealed up in ice before they have to be frozen in a freezer? Buy a small chest freezer, generator, and turn my truck into some sort of mobile fish-monger's shop?
Thanks for any help/opinions!