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Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: How to store your catch on a kayak  (Read 3994 times)

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ram

  • Plankton
  • *
  • Location: Tacoma
  • Date Registered: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 7
Hello, I'm new to fishing from a kayak, and I was hoping I could get some suggestions on where to store my fish after a catch. I plan to do a lot of fishing near Dash Point since I live close and I'm using a 2019 Hobie Outback. An Ice cooler appears to be the way to go, but then I've got that hatch in the front. I'm curious to know what other people use while on the Sound.


JasonM

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Snohomish
  • Date Registered: Jun 2017
  • Posts: 282
A tall medium kitchen garbage bag with a drawstring fits that front hatch on the 2019 Outback perfectly. When it's as cold as it has been recently, I just toss the fish into the bag in the front hatch. Then I drop the bag into the cooler with ice in it when I get back to the launch. When I first got my 2019 Outback, it was warmer and I used the same method except with tossing some ice into the bag in the hatch as I headed out onto the water. That wasn't ideal, though, as there was no insulation to keep the ice from melting within a few hours.

Other than in the front hatch, I also have one of the PFG ultime catch cooler bags. It works fine, but takes up room in the rear tank well. I have considered lashing it down up on the front of the kayak somehow, but I think I would rather get a triangle-shaped catch bag designed to lay on its side like that if I end up going that way for warmer weather fishing.


ram

  • Plankton
  • *
  • Location: Tacoma
  • Date Registered: Dec 2018
  • Posts: 7
I like the garbage bag idea. My wife is going to kill me If I spend any more money on my kayak. That'll at least hold me over until it gets warmer.


JasonM

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Snohomish
  • Date Registered: Jun 2017
  • Posts: 282
I like the garbage bag idea. My wife is going to kill me If I spend any more money on my kayak. That'll at least hold me over until it gets warmer.
Make sure to get the ones with "flex" or puncture resistant in the name. Those are a lot less likely to get punctured by fish fins. I'm a fan of these from Walmart.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Strong-Flex-Tall-Kitchen-Drawstring-Trash-Bags-Citrus-Burst-13-Gallon-45-Count/907849461


pmmpete

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Missoula, Montana
  • Date Registered: Jul 2013
  • Posts: 1989
I like to get my fish bled out and on ice as soon as I catch them, to keep the quality of the fish high.  I have an end-loading flexible catch cooler, but it's difficult to stuff big fish into it, and there is surprisingly little space in it for fish after I put ice in it.  So I have been using one or the other of my two hard-sided coolers.  I strap them down in the rear cargo area of my Revolution with four nylon straps which I clip to padeyes around the cargo area with inexpensive Walmart camping carabiners.  The straps hold the cooler firmly and rigidly in place.  The coolers can't pop loose even if I get Maytagged in surf.  I put my ice in a garbage bag to reduce the amount of fish goop which gets on the cooler, but an advantage of hard-shell coolers is that they're easy to clean out.  I put a bungie cord over the top of the coolers to keep my fish and ice in the cooler if I manage to roll my kayak.  Both coolers came with wheels, which I removed.  The advantage of getting a cooler with wheels is that there is an indentation in the shell of the cooler for the axle of the wheels, which allows the coolers to extend out over the stern end of the cargo area.  This allows me to fit a longer cooler in the rear cargo area.  I can get pretty big fish into the coolers by bending them in a "U" shape.  All the fish in the pictures shown below fit in my cooler, except the last one, which was a 35" lake trout.  I don't think I could have crammed that fish in the cooler even if I hadn't already had a 30" lake trout and three smaller lake trout in the cooler.

If I have hopes of getting a lot of fish, or some particularly big fish, sometimes I also put a big garbage bag containing ice in the front hatch of my Revolution.  This is better than leaving them to broil in the sun, or to hang in warm water.

What I look for in a hard-shell cooler is length (so it can hold bigger fish), low height (so it has less wind resistance), and good insulation (so it keeps ice and fish colder for longer).  But what I'd really like is a long, low, top-loading soft-sided cooler with thick insulation, which would conveniently store large fish without having to bend and twist them into an insufficiently long hard-sided cooler, and which has a smaller wind profile than a hard-sided cooler.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2019, 08:06:20 AM by pmmpete »


JasonM

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: Snohomish
  • Date Registered: Jun 2017
  • Posts: 282
But what I'd really like is a long, low, top-loading soft-sided cooler with thick insulation, which would conveniently store large fish without having to bend and twist them into an insufficiently long hard-sided cooler.
Yep.. one of those to strap down to the front of my Outback seems like the best way to go for me, too. I haven't found one that's the perfect size without a huge price tag, though.  :D


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Walmart sells pretty darned big cold-item bags (over near the ice cream) for 99-cents and they do an excellent job of keeping ice cream solid on the 90-minute drive home during the summertime without ice or reusable freezer packs.  I plan to try using them this summer.  Don't know how durable they might be, but at 99-cents per bag, I don't particularly care.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


Mojo Jojo

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Suffers from Yakfishiolus Catchyitis
  • Location: Tillamook, Oregon
  • Date Registered: May 2014
  • Posts: 6006
Costco also sells cold bags except they went to black ones now my older one is white.



Shannon
2013 Jackson Big Tuna "Aircraft Carrier"
2011 Native Mariner Propel "My pickup truck"
2015 Native Slayer Propel "TLW's ride"
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Zach.Dennis

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Location: Beaverton, OR
  • Date Registered: Aug 2015
  • Posts: 799
Make a custom one

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=20817.0

It took me a couple weeks and it was a fun time.  For the price of a decent cooler you can make 2 bags.
2021 1st Place ORC
2023 1st Place ORC


rogerdodger

  • Fish Retriever
  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • roger
  • Location: Florence OR
  • Date Registered: Dec 2012
  • Posts: 1490
A low cost option that I have used for years is the Trader Joes red insulated bag ($5.99).  Outstanding for trout, kokanee, rockfish and if you don't mind big tails hanging out for all to see, it holds big coho and most lingcod just fine.



Recent (last December) crab/rockfish/lingcod trip on the new Outback, I zip tied one to the back of the seat for fish:



Later that day, here is my second lingcod (24") going into the bag that already has a 26" ling in it:



2019 Hobie Outback (Fish Retriever)



INSAYN

  • ORC_Safety
  • Sturgeon
  • *
  • **RIP...Ron, Ro, AMB, Stephen**
  • Location: Forest Grove, OR
  • Date Registered: Aug 2008
  • Posts: 5411
A wet burlap bag will do a decent job of evaperative cooling if you keep in the tank well and dunk it every so often.  It's a cheap method that I believe was the original fish bag when kayak fishing was getting rev'd up in the early 2000's.
 

"If I was ever stranded on a beach with only hand lotion...You're the guy I'd want with me!"   Polyangler, 2/27/15


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
A wet burlap bag will do a decent job of evaperative cooling if you keep in the tank well and dunk it every so often.

Yeah, they do.  I keep an old hand towel in mine.  Keeps things wet longer and makes the bag look heavier when I reach the landing...   >:D
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


boxofrain

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Brookings, Or.
  • Date Registered: May 2006
  • Posts: 1015
A wet burlap bag will do a decent job of evaperative cooling if you keep in the tank well and dunk it every so often.  It's a cheap method that I believe was the original fish bag when kayak fishing was getting rev'd up in the early 2000's.

That's what I use. Whatever you choose...please don't put your fresh caught food in a toxic garbage bag, they are for garbage, not food stuff's.
the memories of a man in his old age, are the deeds of a man in his prime.


workhard

  • Salmon
  • ******
  • Get off your computer and fish
  • Location: Bellingham
  • Date Registered: Sep 2015
  • Posts: 712
I just gut them and put them on a stringer tied to a handle.


Captain Redbeard

  • Lauren
  • Global Moderator
  • Sturgeon
  • *****
  • Location: Portland, OR
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3290
I just gut them and put them on a stringer tied to a handle.

Uh-oh. Cue the pitchforks and torches...  ::)