Fish keeper bags - what works best?

Thanks D, but I'm using a flying gaff. 

I had to look it up - very interesting.

The flying gaff is what I'll use the next chance I get to kill a halibut. Couple things I learned this summer playing with the live models in AK.
Halibut are all different. Unlike cabies which are are pissed off and act like they are going to rip your head off when you get them in the boat, halibut range from calm and docile to thrashing flopping crazy fish!
A solid hook set goes a LONG way. I only had one fish come unbuttoned at the boat. all the rest were hooked hard!
Little chickens are easy to deal with. Anything under 30 pounds is really not that bad to handle lingcod style. Just pull it in and get a lap dance.
Halibut DO NOT like gaff hooks. If you want to see a halibut go ballistic, just gaff it.
A harpoon can be deployed from a kayak without much trouble. Practice first.... Most harpoons have tips that are loose fitting. A rubber band around the shaft and cable will keep the tip from sliding off when you are trying to do everything one handed.
Any fish over 80 pounds will be an interesting problem on a kayak. Having a buddy near by will be a nice option.
I just wish we had more time to target halibut in Wa. the short season doesn't allow for much practice. I'm already counting down to next May!

I know this is an old thread, but I finally got around to making my own fishbag, using a thread about a DIY bag on Aquahunters, so I thought I'd make a post about it.
Started at Fabricmart with my shopping list: 1 yd. of 56" wide heavy duty white vinyl, 1 1/2 yds. 48" wide clear vinyl (the thickest one they had), two spools of nylon monofilament thread, 30" heavy duty plastic zipper, a pack of heavy duty leather needles, 15' of 1" wide black nylon strap and 1 spool of upholstery thread for the edging. Picked up the insulation at a hardware store, 6' of 48" wide Reflectix insulation.
Made a template out of card board, mine was 48" long, 12" wide at the narrow end to fit between the scupper posts at the end of the footwells, and 24" wide for the rest of the bag which sits right underneath the rod pod on my Trident, keeping most of the weight centered in the kayak. Cut two pieces out of all the material:

Next, I sewed up three sides of each panel and slipped the insulation in then sewed up the fourth side. Then, cut and sewed in the zipper on the top panel, then sewed the top and bottom together. Finished off the seams with the 1" strap, and done.

Fits nicely inside the yak, easy to access and should be more than big enough for anything I'll be bringing up.
Had some scraps leftover, so decided to throw a lure bag together. Back to Fabricmart for some mesh nylon panels to make the pockets out of, and

Altogether, it ended up being about $55 for all the materials, and probably about six hours total, from design to finished product. None of the sewing is very hard, getting the edging on is kind of a pain but other than that it's pretty straight forward. Don't need any kind of special heavy duty machine, any old sewing machine should be able to handle it easily. Besides the money saved, having a bag custom designed for your boat/needs is pretty awesome, and you end up with a pretty superior product. If any one wants to make one of there own, I'd be more than happy to pass on a couple of tips that will make it go together much smoother.
This bag was designed more for pelagic catches (long and thin), if I was fishing back at home the dimensions/shape would probably be a bit different to accommodate a halibut.

That is really sweet.  I like how all you have to do is open the rod pod and drop the fish in. 

Great job!

A harpoon can be deployed from a kayak without much trouble. Practice first....

If you make a nerf poon I'll swim circles around your kayak Bill.

I'm seeing two good looking products, anyone got a recommendation?

Creative Feathers Insulated Kayak Fish Bag - $74 at Austin Kayak

PrecisionPak YakCatch3 - $54 at Walmart.com

Both are about 41" long and should hold decent size Chinook.

Thoughts?

I'm new to this forum, and am just starting to get geared up for doing some salmon fishing. So eventually, I do have a question that relates to this topic. And I probably will have a lot more as time goes by.

I bought an Ocean Kayak Prowler Trident 15 Angler edition about 16 months ago. I bought it to just do some kayaking on Puget Sound, and was really not at all interested in the fishing side of the boat. But after about a year of paddling, I decided that I might as well see if I couldn’t get some use out of the boat that it was originally intended for.

Last November, I bought a crab pot, and had some reasonable success catching Dungeness, until the season closed at the end of the year.

Now, I am trying to get geared up for doing some salmon fishing. I bought a used fishing pole and reel from a neighbor who recently sold his boat, and is retiring from fishing. After a lot of reading here, at Salmon University, and at other Google sources, I figure probably didn’t buy the best combination for how I want to fish. But I’ll figure that out, eventually. I’m going over to John’s Sporting Goods in Everett for some help on Thursday, and expect to buy enough to at least wet my line soon

One of the things I was thinking of buying was just an old fashioned stringer like we used to use as kids. My thinking was that if I ever caught a fish (hopefully), after killing it, I would just run the stringer through its gills, and tie it off the side of the boat. It could be bled there, it would keep any mess out of the boat, and the cold water should preserve it for as long as I’m going to be out on the water.

Is there anything wrong with this approach? Am I correct in thinking that you are using fish bags to get the fish out of the water, and avoid sharks? That shouldn’t be an issue in Puget Sound, but are there other considerations?

Thanks for any help.

One of the things I was thinking of buying was just an old fashioned stringer like we used to use as kids. My thinking was that if I ever caught a fish (hopefully), after killing it, I would just run the stringer through its gills, and tie it off the side of the boat. It could be bled there, it would keep any mess out of the boat, and the cold water should preserve it for as long as I’m going to be out on the water.

Is there anything wrong with this approach? Am I correct in thinking that you are using fish bags to get the fish out of the water, and avoid sharks? That shouldn’t be an issue in Puget Sound, but are there other considerations?

Thanks for any help.

Biggest problem you'd be looking at in the sound is sealions.  These things have been known to pull people right off their power boats while they are trying to net a salmon.  They will not think twice about flipping you right off your yak to steal your fish while it is hanging in the water.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I use a fish bag for two big reasons.  First and foremost is to avoid drawing attention from furbags and sharks.  Second reason is to keep the fish out of the sun and really cold with ice packs.  When I get to the table to cut the fish they are nice & cold.  I bleed my fish into the bag and this keeps them out of the water. 

I bleed my fish into the water, then put them in the fish bag, then change fishing locations

Best gel ice is Techni Ice.  Someone on this forum turned me on to it.  Great stuff!

https://www.google.com/search?q=techni+ice&num=100&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=dBI&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=KiYXT_2ELImYiAKS7vmxDw&ved=0CH8QrQQ&biw=1600&bih=741

The best ice hands down is free using recycled Gatorade bottles.  I have about 20 in my freezer on the ready at any given time.  Small and large ones. 

I usually put two in the bottom of my big fish dry bag and they stay mostly frozen from 4am till 7pm on moderate temperature days.  Hotter days, a bit less but still icy.

The best ice hands down is free using recycled Gatorade bottles. 

I too used frozen water bottles for some time.  Too much bulk.  The Techni Ice comes in nice flat sheets. 

One of the things I was thinking of buying was just an old fashioned stringer like we used to use as kids. My thinking was that if I ever caught a fish (hopefully), after killing it, I would just run the stringer through its gills, and tie it off the side of the boat. It could be bled there, it would keep any mess out of the boat, and the cold water should preserve it for as long as I’m going to be out on the water.

Is there anything wrong with this approach? Am I correct in thinking that you are using fish bags to get the fish out of the water, and avoid sharks? That shouldn’t be an issue in Puget Sound, but are there other considerations?

Thanks for any help.

Biggest problem you'd be looking at in the sound is sealions.  These things have been known to pull people right off their power boats while they are trying to net a salmon.  They will not think twice about flipping you right off your yak to steal your fish while it is hanging in the water.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I use a fish bag for two big reasons.  First and foremost is to avoid drawing attention from furbags and sharks.  Second reason is to keep the fish out of the sun and really cold with ice packs.  When I get to the table to cut the fish they are nice & cold.  I bleed my fish into the bag and this keeps them out of the water.

Thanks,  rawkfish. I hadn't considered sea lions. And there are definitely plenty of them around south Whidbey Island.

Catch bags are nice and all, but many people use diver's game clips to secure their catch.  I don't always like the mess of cleaning out a bag, so if I know it's going to be cool out, a game clip gets called into action.

-Allen

Catch bags are nice and all, but many people use diver's game clips to secure their catch.  I don't always like the mess of cleaning out a bag, so if I know it's going to be cool out, a game clip gets called into action.

-Allen

+1 for less clean up!

Burlap coffee sack, dunk it once or twice an hour you get evaporative cooling. If it's going to be sunny throw some ice in there. Cheap, easy, self draining, natural construction/recycled/re-useable. I string the sack on a game clip so I can close it up tight if the going gets rough. Dunk it in a bucket of hot soapy water and hang it in a tree to drip dry and absorb some UV disinfectant after you clean you clean your catch. Get two and rotate them out, they last for years. No zippers to fail, no bleach needed to de-stink.

The only downside is sometimes they get curled up and go into rigor.   

+1 on the burlap. I have about 6 of 'em and 2 are now covering an azalea in the yard with a good foot or more of snow. They insulate well and will keep the plant from freeze burnout. Just occasionally dip in the cold water and use a few Blue Ice if you want,