Where to keep fish? ? ?

[Jezreel]

So, with such limited space in a tin boat, and no actual live well, where do I keep my fish? I'm sure there will be may answers, but I need ideas. I've never owned a boat, and this is all new. My Tracker 1542 has a small Wet Well, but it's not very big. Not much room elsewhere in the boat especially with the deck built in the front section. What if I get into the crappie, and Want to keep 25 or 30? That little wet well won't hold them. Here is what I was looking at. Getting a 100 quart cooler, and adding a Super Saver aeration system to it. Is this what many with limited space do? Has anyone ever used one of these, and is is worth my while?

 

[Johnny]

I take a 40 quart cooler half full of ice - I do not try to keep them alive.

 

[-CN-]

You know how many times I've heard it said that fish taste better when caught through the ice? Think about what is done with fish once caught. When they are put directly on ice, they taste better. The baskets that you hang over the side are ok but stress live fish. Livewells simply make them skunky. If I'm going to keep fish I put them directly into a cooler of ice. I am actually going to create a built-in fish chest in my rebuild, a well insulated ice cooler.

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[Johnny]

-CN- my feelings exactly.
I don't know if there is any proven fact to it or not, but, I have read that
freshly caught fish put in a live well puts them under stress and they start
producing toxins with the bile and liver fluid that can change the taste of the fish. (just as you stated).

the saltwater fishing forum that I visit really advocate making a salted ice slush
(not sea water - Kosher Salt and ice) to make a super cold mix and the freshly caught fish go right in.
I have not used the salted ice slush for freshwater fish but I do when salt water fishing.

I would suggest that everyone compare the difference of live well vs ice chest.

 

[Jezreel]

Thanks for the info. The two times I went out on my new boat before I started building on it, that is what I did. I brought a cooler of ice, and threw the fish in it as I caught them. I just figured if the big boys have a live well, it must be the way to go. I reckon I'll just go back to the cooler and ice. That'll certainly save me some money!

Thanks guys! ! !

 

[jethro]

I fish in NH and Maine where livewells are illegal. So I just keep a cooler and put them on ice until later when I clean them.

 

[el_cheapo]

So, with such limited space in a tin boat, and no actual live well, where do I keep my fish? I'm sure there will be may answers, but I need ideas. I've never owned a boat, and this is all new. My Tracker 1542 has a small Wet Well, but it's not very big. Not much room elsewhere in the boat especially with the deck built in the front section. What if I get into the crappie, and Want to keep 25 or 30? That little wet well won't hold them. Here is what I was looking at. Getting a 100 quart cooler, and adding a Super Saver aeration system to it. Is this what many with limited space do? Has anyone ever used one of these, and is is worth my while?

When I catch bass or catfish I just hang them off a long stringer on the side of the boat, just tie it through an oar lock. I'll pull up the mess of them before I fire up the gas motor and just lay them on the floor till the next spot, I leave them out while trolling around.

Keep in mind with that cooler livewell setup you are just recirculating the same water, and as long as the lid is closed the same air. So you'll run out of oxygen if you leave the lid closed. Eventually there will be no more oxygen in the air for it to push into the water. I have a livewell made out of a cooler but it draws in air from outside of the cooler and bubbles it on the bottom https://www.amazon.com/B15-Marine-Metal-aeration-Bubbles/dp/B000EYWNVQ/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494511879&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=mr+bubbles+livewell

I just drilled a hole in the top of an old cooler to run the air line down. I really just use it for a bait well but it states it will oxygenate 35 gallons of water at 99.5 percent dissolved oxygen. I can tell you it'll keep a cooler packed full of bluegill alive for at least a week, I don't imagine you having any trouble with crappie.

 

[Johnny]

Hang fish over the side of a boat in Florida and you will
be "donating" them to a 10 foot ALLIGATOR !!!!

 

[WALI4VR]

You gents that just use ice in a cooler, do you kill the fish or bleed them out b 4 putting them on ice?

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[Johnny]

saltwater fish such as blues, amberjack, wahoo, kingfish, etc
are bled on the boat deck prior to going on ice.

I have never heard of anyone bleeding a freshwater fish.
I only keep large bluegill, crappie and medium size bass (2-4lb).

DaleH can probably shed some light on how to bleed lobsta

 

[AZSunDevil]

My buddy uses a cooler with bilge pump to fill then circulate

He seems to really like it for his usage day fishing in Colorado lakes for trout and walleye

 

[sonny.barile]

I agree about the live well versus the ice chest. Of all the species I fish for, summer flounder (or fluke to us New Jersians) is the only one I eat. I put them on ice in a chest. I have friends that keep Stripers and other long fish. Most will tell you to bleed them out and throw them on ice. You can throw sea salt on the ice and it will chill those fish so good you can have an on the water sushi lunch.

 

[el_cheapo]

Hang fish over the side of a boat in Florida and you will
be "donating" them to a 10 foot ALLIGATOR !!!!

I don't think I'd have the balls to fish in Florida, Were gatorless in missouri.

 

[LDUBS]

You gents that just use ice in a cooler, do you kill the fish or bleed them out b 4 putting them on ice?

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For trout and other freshwater fish, bonk em on the head before tossing them in the cooler.

 

[jethro]

You gents that just use ice in a cooler, do you kill the fish or bleed them out b 4 putting them on ice?

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We aren't allowed to posess live fish in the Northeast. If you want it to become part of your daily bag, you must kill it immediately.

 

[skipper123]

I agree with putting fresh fish right on ice as you catch them. They do taste better and if we stay out all day you still need a ice cooler because sometimes they will die in the live well on a hot day. I would not eat a fish that's been dead in a hot live well for an hour. I keep two small coolers in my boat with the handle on top one for drinks and one for fish. I freeze small ice blocks to drop in the fish cooler when ready to go. The ice last all day and my fish are ice cold and easy to clean when we get home. If we catch a fish larger than the cooler I simply fillet it right on the side of the boat on a fillet board and right on ice. I think the coolers are thirty two quart about the largest you see with the top handle 20.00 each at academy sports. This has worked great for me for years and the last boat I bought we did not even install a live well. One more thing to take up needed space that I don't really need.

 

[turbotodd]

Agree with CN and Johnny on this. Pull them from water, throw 'em on ice. They taste a lot better that way-especially trout for some reason. Or that was my experience anyway. Haven't done it yet with crappie but I assume they're probably similarly better tasting when iced immediately after removing from the water. I like crushed ice better but I don't always have access, so cubes work just fine.

I just use a cooler and strap it down so it doesn't slide all over the place. Remove cooler and pull it out when you're done fishing. I use an older cooler. Blood and guts don't bother it but I do keep it clean, enough that the GF doesn't gripe when I throw a few cold ones in the ice before we go fishing. Once I get a couple fish, though, the drinks come out obviously.

Gators aren't just in Florida either. We have a few here too and same deal, on certain waters if you're dragging a stringer of fish around, you are gator hunting. Heard of a guy with a 14' tin boat hanging a few catfish on a rope stringer and gator found them-and turned the boat over trying to get the fish off of the stringer.

 

[turbotodd]

You gents that just use ice in a cooler, do you kill the fish or bleed them out b 4 putting them on ice?

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I don't, but I may try it sometime to see if they're any better that way. One particular waterway, the fish and game people frown on the practice for whatever reason.

 

[LDUBS]

You gents that just use ice in a cooler, do you kill the fish or bleed them out b 4 putting them on ice?

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I don't, but I may try it sometime to see if they're any better that way. One particular waterway, the fish and game people frown on the practice for whatever reason.

The F&G people frown on putting them on ice or on bonking them on the head? Seems odd they would have a problem with either, but stranger things happen all the time.

 

[hbouldin1216]

I have a stainless fish spike that I use, punch em right through the top of the head and into the cooler with salt slush. they're frozen solid in no time and taste much better than if they're allowed to die on their own. Can't hang them over the side here either unless you want a sea lion in your boat.