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What is the best or proper way to keep them cold until cleaning? That is do you want them on top of ice no water, buried in ice no water, or submerged in ice water? If you clean them on the boat what do you do with them?

I doubt there is one "best" way. What ever works for you is the best way. NOW... with respect to cleaning them on the boat.... (imo).... You should NOT clean them on the boat if you still have folks in the water, its dangerous in that it can bait up other fish and then sharks.

The best way is to put the scallops in a cooler with frozen gallon jugs of water. That way it acts like a refridgerator and not a freezer or ice bath. They pop open around 35°-40° they will close if its much colder than that.

Tom Keels wrote:The best way is to put the scallops in a cooler with frozen gallon jugs of water. That way it acts like a refridgerator and not a freezer or ice bath. They pop open around 35°-40° they will close if its much colder than that.

Sounds like using the jugs works well, but I don't think its the lower temp that causes them to close. It's sitting in cold water. The scallops need to be on or in ice (or just cold) but not in cold water, so the drain to your cooler needs to be kept open. Problem is that most cooler drains even if open still leave a half inch or so of water unless tilted, so I normally have a few dozen on the bottom that don't open.

Jugs a good idea.

We've always just thrown them in a a 5 gallon bucket full of seawater or the cooler on top of the ice, of course some of them find their way further down. If I get one I can't open I just bust the hinge, but most of the time one side or the other beside the hinge will have a gap that the tip of a scallop knife can be inserted into and the shells pried open.

Cleaning them on the boat works well. Move off the flats into deeper water, so you don't leave your "empties" all over. Set out a couple of rods baited with live pinfish. Start shuckin' and just pitch the shells and guts overboard. Drop the meat into a bowl set on ice. When you're done dump the meat into a Zip-Lock bag and drop it in the cooler. Try to keep enough of the deck clear to deal with the cobia that eats your pinfish.

A lot of this depends on how fast you can shuck em.
If you’re quick temp issues aren’t as big of a deal with scallops because we eat the muscle and not anything vascular or digestive.
What I think are some particularly good points:

Sir reel wrote: (imo).... You should NOT clean them on the boat if you still have folks in the water, its dangerous in that it can bait up other fish and then sharks.

Yes.

Tom Keels wrote:The best way is to put the scallops in a cooler with frozen gallon jugs of water. That way it acts like a refridgerator and not a freezer or ice bath. They pop open around 35°-40° they will close if its much colder than that.

Agreed, if you're not as fast at shucking .

Charles wrote: Cleaning them on the boat works well. Move off the flats into deeper water, so you don't leave your "empties" all over. Set out a couple of rods baited with live pinfish. Start shuckin' and just pitch the shells and guts overboard. Drop the meat into a bowl set on ice. When you're done dump the meat into a Zip-Lock bag and drop it in the cooler. Try to keep enough of the deck clear to deal with the cobia that eats your pinfish.

I have brought home Cobia this way.
I shuck right out of the collecting bag into a container with a couple handfuls of ice in it and then dump the meat into a Zip-Lock bag and drop it in the cooler.

We keep the guts and freeze them to use as a chum bag offshore. It works pretty good, you just put the frozen guts in a mesh bag with a rope tied to it and add a few dive weights to make it sink and drop over board