Help this newbie...

[brianisoutside]

Just started using my oldtown to fish from.
What are you guys doing to keep fish fresh while on the water?
Looking for a recommendation for a fish finder.
So far I've used it at tridelphia, Patuxent river and centennial.



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[bhdpal]

Hello;

Bag Ice and a good cooler is best Keeping fish for the table. But kayak/canoe space limitations must be considered. An insulated soft cooler bag with a 5-10# bag of ice or 2 -4 re-usable frozen cold packs works for me, keeping lunch, drinks and fish cool. Some small craft anglers prefer In water stringers.

YETI just introduced a new insulated soft cooler bag. It gets rave reviews but the price tag is high end. Of course you get what you pay for and if it suits your wallet, go for it.

My insulated soft cooler bag is same you buy at WM. As bag ice melts inside these cheapie insulated cool bags, they have a tendency to leak inside your boat (YETI bags are guaranteed not to leak). I use two 20 gallon white kitchen draw-string trash bags inside the W/M cool bag as waterproof liners. I keep fish in one trash bag and the ice in the other.

The 'trash bags' also keeps the fish separated from your lunch and eliminates 'man-handling' the catch when transferring to the cleaning station. Trash bag liners are cheap and saves me the task of scrubbing out the inside of the bag after each use. A light hose rinse does the trick. These insulated cool bags are light and easy to carry. Plus I can fold and contour the bag to fit in tight places a big plus for kayaks/canoes.

If you are talking about keeping fish alive for tournaments, that's a 'horse of a different color.' Live-well aerated systems are popular among bass anglers. But imo, P/C&R (photo/catch & release) is hard to beat if the fish is not required for weight-in.

Back in the 90's I owned and operated charter boat 'SPRAY' out of Ocean City MD. My shark fishing charters promoted P/M/C&R (Photo/Measure/Catch & Release). My rule on the boat was one keeper table-fare shark over 50# per charter. Just bringing a shark back to the dock for a photo op, and not eating the fish, or donating it to a 'feed-the-hungry' center was wasting a valuable fisheries resource. Fish Taxidermist can reproduce an exact replica of your fish to hang in your office or home wall, from the photo, measurements and a species ID form.

Hope this helps.

Joe

[JWR]

I've always had a bass boat with a live well before, but now I'm going to be fishing from a PA 14. Do you simply put the fish into the ice while it's still alive? I tried using a floating fish basket before., but apparently when you paddle, the float lid tends to open...doh.


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[LivinTheDream]

I cut the gills with shears and put them on a stringer in the water for 10-15 minutes to bleed out, then I squeeze the crap out of the belly in the water and put them on ice in one of those $10 Coller bags described. Fish clean very nicely with this technique, never a bloody mess and nice clean filets.

[jmt1980]

For a cheaper-than-a-Yeti option....

I bought an IGLOO Marine Ultra Soft-Sided Cooler from West Marine (on sale, $35) and it's been awesome. It's easy to shove in the back of my kayak behind my crate, so I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to shove up into a sit-in either. Some of the reviews make it sound like its a cheap POS... well, even for $50 it's cheaper than anything with a Yeti name on it. I've had zero issues with mine. Zippers are pretty stout and if I leave it in the truck full of ice it's still full of ice when I come back. If it's still mostly ice after 4+ hours in a hot truck I'm happy.