ORC - Care of fish for weigh-in

Speaking of spiny rockfish, they sure like to poke holes in catch bags don't they?! They have poked holes in ice packs too bah. I gave up and now just use the liner from a catch bag to keep em out of the sun with plenty of duct tape patches.

Keeping em out of the sun is key and evaporative cooling ie periodically dunking or splashing water your catch bag seems to do the trick for me, ice packs are nice but the gel stuff is vulnerable to being poked and the hard packs seem to bend the fish in pain-to-fillet S-shapes. But on really hot days or if you are planning on being out on the water for the whole day it makes a lotta sense.

Forgive my ignorance here, I've never fished in the ocean before.  But wouldn't bleeding a fish in the ocean be somewhat hazardous (sharks and stuff)?

You're absolutely right!  The best practice in this department is to bleed your fish into the bag you keep them in, such as a catch cooler bag or a big drybag.  Not only does this keep you from chumming the water around you, but you can throw in ice packs and keep your fish cool and out of the sun.

I agree with the keeping em cool part but I don't think sharks are keying in on spiney little rockfish or dead lingcod.  Now, if you were bleeding out a whale or a sea lion there'd be cause for concern. 

For those that don't agree, you'll be happy to know that Konezone is kicking down a couple of kayak size kill bags for prizes.   

-Spot-

Hey Spot, I'll have to respectfully disagree on this one.  I'm not a marine biologist but I stayed at a holiday inn last night 

From what I understand sharks can pick up on the scent of blood in a current from miles away.  I've seen more than one show where they chumb the water with just a bucket and have a small school around said boat within a few hours.  Call me a nervous nelly but I'd prolly opt to keep my fish intact or bled in the bag like you said!