Keeping large fish cool

[rayke1938]

Any suggestions for keeping that metery cool once you have it on board. In the past all I have had is a wet towell so I cant stay out that long as I dont want the fish to spoil. I dont have the space for a long esky and cant afford those zip up soft bags.

Was thinking of a couple of silver poly tarps with a 1/2 inch foam blanket sandwiched in between and wrapping the fish in it with some of those icycool packs.

Hopefully it will get plenty of use at Monduran next month.

Cheers

Ray

[shortie]

fillet it onboard while your waiting for your next bite.

[ellicat]

Cut the fish into sections so it'll fit in your esky, or cut the fish so you can bend it up so it'll fit in the esky. I'm sure the researchers can put it back together if need be. A 3rd alternative would be not to take dino again

[Bommie]

just tow one of these behind your boat Ray, plenty of room for the big barra

[Tiny Tin]

hi Ray..check out the link below..it has a fish bag that should be big enough for what you want at around $55. there are other ones there too

/>http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001T7ANJG/ref=asc_df_B001T7ANJG931347/?tag=nextag-apparel0c-mp01-delta-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=B001T7ANJG&linkCode=asn

[Tiny Tin]

there's a few here
/>http://www.nextag.com/insulated-fish-bag/products-html

[tugger]

i'd be carefull as you are not allowed to fillet fish and bring them back to the ramp they must be consumed onboard by law. best bet is to get some type of soft cooler bag with ice

[rayke1938]

Tiny Tin wrote:

hi Ray..check out the link below..it has a fish bag that should be big enough for what you want at around $55. there are other ones there too

/>http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001T7ANJG/ref=asc_df_B001T7ANJG931347/?tag=nextag-apparel0c-mp01-delta-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=B001T7ANJG&linkCode=asn

The only thing is that they do not ship to australia.

Cheers

Ray

[dhess]

tugger wrote:

i'd be carefull as you are not allowed to fillet fish and bring them back to the ramp they must be consumed onboard by law. best bet is to get some type of soft cooler bag with ice

That is not correct. You are allowed to have fillets as long as they are at least 40cm an the skin is left on except for blue spotted coral trout.

[brisbane_boy]

Yep exactly, but for finfish there is no fillet size rule I can find in the regs only for the coral fish.

[thousandyards]

if you've got ice or a smaller esky on board maybe get an empty 1L milk bottle, fill it with water and freeze it, then at least gut your threadie and stick the frozen bottle in the gut cavity.........might help it keep cool from in the inside. obviously shade is the big thing......

[rayke1938]

If I keep a thready I leave the gut in it till I get home as i keep the frames for Brad.Also I am never far from home if I am lucky enough to score a thready.It would be a bugger of a job to fillet one on the boat with all the nodules along the spine etc. Its the barra that I want to keep cool. I have seen people just tie them up to side of boat at Monduran but not really in favour of that.

Cheers

Ray

[Travis]

funny enoughmy cousin is a paramedic and we have used body bags before :laugh: another one would be a surf board cover from the dump or markets ray

[Davo_Dinkum]

never thought about this ,but i always have a esky got to keep the beer cold .

but would be hard to fit a meter fish in a 50 liter esky.

reckon u would be able to find some type of flexible ,cooler bag ,and few bags of ice .

[Eug]

i'd like to catch the large fish first then think about keeping it cool

[Feral]

A Lot of yakers buy those woolies or coles cool bags, unpick the seams and sew them together, then use the techni ice sheets to pack the fish in. Need a good dozen sheets though for a good sized barra! It would probably be just as easy to have a normal esky full of party ice and a small silver poly tarp (or even a normal one). Open the tarp, put down an inch or two of ice, drop the barra on top, then another inch or two of ice as you wrap the tarp around it.Throw a blanket over it to keep the sun off would probably easily last a half day session.

[apoklyps60]

make one yourself ray. find a fabric store get some heavy canvas and a really loooong zipper. go to a hardware store get the mylar sheeting triple ply. make a big square on the canvas and sew the mylar sheeting onto what is going to be the inside of the bag. you can glue some insulating foam in between the sheets of mylar then have your wife sew the zipper for u. platic zipper that is. when you have ur super sized barra you can throw it in with ice. should keep it cold for awhile.

regards,

Vin

[apoklyps60]

even better use neoprene instead of canvas then all you need is the mylar to line it with. dont forget to use silicone glue when sewing it

[Feral]

$10 kids nylon sleeping bag!

[Brian D]

Ray, you can deckie for me and I'll pack the meter esky plus the beer esky, Feral and Ferg can have your boat because they throw there fish back anyway.

Worry more about getting all the beer food and lures to the house in your little car. I mean you only have a 4 seater with a ute tray on the back....ummm maybe need to turn the tinny into a mobile esky.

[Feral]

Of course you and Brian could just keep up a steady stream of icy cold empty cans to cover it with.....

[apoklyps60]

Feral wrote:

$10 kids nylon sleeping bag!

best idea yet

[rayke1938]

Found some body bags on ebay for $20 wonder if I can get some second hand ones cheaper? :blush:

On second thoughts may be a bad idea missus may zip me up in one.

Cheers

Ray

[AZZA]

Hi Ray we are using this product on some jobs called air cell, it is an insurlation material that has better thermal rating than anticon blanket. It's pretty much just a bubble wrap type stuff with sliver foil on both sides I would just roll the fish up in some of that and fold the ends over be just like a meter long barra kabab. Sounds like such a good idear I am going around to one of my jobs to get some for mtself let know if you want some and I will throw some in the suit case for you.

[rayke1938]

Azza sounds just what I am looking for.

Cheers

Ray

[AZZA]

No Worries I will swing by a job today and pick so up,

[rayke1938]

Thanks Azza it works a treat.

Tried a couple of new techniques to keep fish fresh today. Using the piece of insulation that Azza gave me. The mission was to find the best economical way to preserve a decent fish for when we go to Monduran.

Step 1, Catch the fish!

Step 2 . Try ways of keeping the fish!

We tried putting the fish on a layer of Techni ice sheets, and covering it with another layer. Reasonably successful, but the sheets were slipping off as ther boat moved, if the fish was not quite dead yet, it would toss the sheets off as well.

So next we tried encasing the fish and techni ice sheets in a sheet of insulation, worked better, but still a tendancy for the sheets to come lose.

So then we tried tieing it up. Success, no problems at all keeping the fish and ice sheets in place , also stayed fresh for hours. Fish was ice cold when we got back to the ramp 4 hours later, in perfect condition.

So we now have it sussed, easy to carry a normal esky full of techni ice sheets, the insulation rolls up, a bit of rope and your sweet!

Fish still cold 6 hours later so will be great for monduran. Will just have to repeat step one.

Cheers

Ray

[bootyinblue]

How would making sleeves out of a car windscreen thing go? Take one and fold and stitch it so you have 2 outside pockets to put techni ice in, and then an inside pocket to slide 1 or 2 fish in so that the ice bricks are not sitting directly on the fish?

[rayke1938]

I have also scored a long polystyrene box from Brad 1m long 30cm wide and around the same deep. Just got to work out a way to encase it with a protective coating so its watertight and durable.

Cheers

Ray

[AZZA]

Glad it worked out well Ray will need to pick up some for myself when I go back up to Cairns Tomorrow