How do u keep your fish fresh

[chomper]

Seen a lot of different ways to keep fish on kayaks what method do u use and why i.e. live well esky coolerbag

[laneends]

You talking bait or catch?? Live or dead bait?

[chomper]

Both

[vicyak]

Depends on the fish. If I know I'm going out more than a few hours I will carry ice in my esky. Add a bit of saltwater and good to go.

If I'm going to a spot where I often get Salmon I always carry ice.

Short trips I don't worry about ice. I eat the fish ASAP. You can make your own ice blocks in old 2L icecream containers and pop a couple in your front hatch (PA14). Add water when you catch. The larger blocks take a longer time to melt as well...

[Seasherpa]

I fill two large coke bottles with water and chuck them in the bait freezer. They slowly melt too and there's no servo stop or slurry sloshing around. Get home, rinse them off and back in the freezer for the next day.

[cheaterparts]

I fill two large coke bottles with water and chuck them in the bait freezer. They slowly melt too and there's no servo stop or slurry sloshing around. Get home, rinse them off and back in the freezer for the next day.

and if you use clean water for you Ice it give you extra 2 litres of cold water to drink as it thaws - handy in warm weather

back when I used a Wavedance Kingfisher I had an esky that I would use the frozen bottle treatment and things like gummies or larger snapper that didn't fit would sit on the deck covered by a wet towel it did the trick



I would just lay them between my legs and cover with the wet towel -

[shane]

For basic bait fishing in the PA I'll either have an esky on the back with bait in it or the bait in a flexible cooler bag (supermarket type). For summer I'll add some ice blocks to the esky and store smaller catches there segregated from the bait. In cooler weather or overnight the catch goes into a hatch or stays on the deck. In daytime or warmer weather larger catches are kept cool with a towel but I generally don't stay out too long if wanting to keep it fresh.

For offshore work on the AI I'm more often fishing in warm to hot weather so have a more elaborate setup. Ice - either a 5kg bag or frozen bottles is kept in a cooler bag inside the hull (where it keeps longer). I have a medium size Wilson catch bag (146x43cm) that fits nicely along the aluminium ladder style Haka I have on the LHS tramp. When I catch tuna, large gummy or snapper they get cleaned and put in the catch bag along with the ice from the hull. I then splash the surface of the bag occasionally to keep the outside cool.

For live bait I've tried a number of different setups. Large eky's with hand pumps, bailers and aerators. Submerged live bait tubes. Smaller rear or haka mounted tanks with bailers or electric pumps. It can be pretty challenging keeping a large number of slimys or squid alive for an extended period and I haven't come up with an ideal setup yet.

[laneends]

Seen a lot of different ways to keep fish on kayaks what method do u use and why i.e. live well esky coolerbag

A kingfisher is a bit limited with above deck storage, and probably one of the main reasons some eventually upgrade.

For a basic set up you could find a suitable sized esky as cheater did for catch, with a say a thin flat cooler block in the bottom. Then use one of those small soft cooler school lunch containers that you pick up at supermarkets etc (my current one has a finding nemo theme on it). Keep bait in that with another small cooler block. Then pop that also in your esky. keeps catch and bait separate but in same esky.attach esky lid with strap so you dont loose it.

[Jacko]

Catch & release.
They not only stay fresh but also stay alive - ready to catch another day !

[Mr Tangle]

I always ike jime my catch, bleed it and put it on the esky i normally carry
Old milk bottles with frozen water