is there anything that you have to do to the fish (gut or remove the gills) before putting it on ice for several hours. I have a bag cooler that I put in my front hatch with ice in it and am planning to put the fish there for a few hours before I go to the house and clean them. I just don’t wanna open the hatch to some rotten fish.
Also…when I paddle up on a school of fish feeding what is the best approach to fishing them? Cast in the middle of them with a bottom rig? popping cork? cast near them bit not on them? Cast past them and reel into them? Or just try them all and see what works?
hopefully these are not stupid questions…
Thanks!
If the ice will stay solid in the bag (not melt all away) the fish will be okay too…I like to take small milk jugs, filled with water and freeze them solid, and use those in the cooler - they seem to last longer than loose ice. I have never had fish go bad on ice.
Now if you are out all day, and all your ice melts away and the cooler gets hot inside - you might have issues with spoilage.
I’ll let the pros chime in about the fishing part!
–elgeebee–
WS Ride 135
I figured that would work, but nothing worse than rotten fish!!! 
Especially as hot as it is out there now…
I found myself this morning near a huge school of fish feeding and did not even know which way to go…kinda like shooting at a ■■■■■ of ducks… ya cant figure out which one to shoot at!
I have often used a stringer clipped to the yak. They stay alive until I get to the landing and can put them in the big cooler in the truck. Bedt one is the galvanized, clip type. Just be sure to rinse with fresh water after being in the salt.
19’ Sea-Pro CC
“Swagger Wagon”
Yamaha 115 - 2 stroke
14’ CMF Skiff
25 Johnson - 2 stroke
14’ Heritage Redfish
“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”
Ernest Hemingway
Stringers are hit and miss here… salt water near the harbor or ICW go for it… anywhere else that is “brackish” yer askin for a gator on your butt… and before ya’ll call me crazy I have cut a stringer loose that had a small gator (4-5ft) attached to it so don’t think “It doesn’t happen” I used to think the same way… get a good cooler like a polar bear soft side or something that will hold ice for a LONG time and go that route… no sense tempting fate…
“Paddle faster boys… I hear banjo music!”
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http://www.HeroesOnTheWater.org
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Tarpon 160os
nikonjedi speaks the truth. No stringer for me in the salt. I lost one to a shark a couple of years ago.
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