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Fish Storage
http://www.hobie.com/au/en/forums/viewtopic.php?f=100&t=53836		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Roller [ Sun Feb 01, 2015 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Fish Storage
Hi guys what are you doing to preserve your big fish on hot days? I'm considering a coolbox with ice blocks, and maybe quatering some of my larger catches such as longtail tuna. I'm not really a fan of storing fish in the hull. As my hull is generally a bit smelly and on hot days rather warm inside. Due to sharks I'll prep my fish on land, I'm fortunate to be island hopping here. Any thoughts appreciated rarely had this dilema in the UK/North Sea :lol:
Author:  fusioneng [ Sun Feb 01, 2015 10:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
In the keys during the summer it's very hot and sunny always. We don't line fish much but we do a lot of spear fishing and lobstering (in season). There are a lot of sharks in the keys and spear fishing seems to attract them quickly. When scuba diving we find it safest for us to put our catch into catch bags the float the catch up to the surface in air filled baggies, where someone gathers them up quickly and puts them into our ice chest. One problem we have is there is no real good place we have found on deck to put a pair of ice chests (one for food and drink and the other for catch. We tried lashing them to the AMA's just outside the tramp in between the aka bars one on each side. We also tried putting them on the tramps near the back, again one on each side for balance, but when on the tramps we have little room for passengers. Our rear deck is already pretty occupied with the twin Hondas and the anchor system so we can't really store a big cooler back there, plus the sail control line is in the way. Most of the time when we go out we also have 3-4 people along so weight also become a problem.
What we found to work best for us is to tow a 4 person inflatable boat behind the TI with all our gear and coolers aboard. Pulling the boat about 10-15 ft behind the TI is the best solution for us. We bought our inflatable boat at Walmart for under $75 bucks. It has 650 lb weight capacity and when towing you hardly know it's back there. We sometimes go pretty far offshore sometimes for the whole day, so anything we catch has to go on ice or it spoils in the Florida heat. And if we leave any fish in the water or fish guts we will have a half dozen sharks circling in a very short time so we try to keep things clean on th TI. With the dingy we have more room for passengers on the TI also (we always seem to have too many people lol). At first we tried towing kayaks filled with gear, but they would flip over too easily with just gear on board.
Any big cooler is best as far aft as possible, lashing near the bow puts too much weight forward in our experience.
We thought about getting one of those insulated storage bags with ice and shoving it in the front hatch, then putting smaller catch in there, but it's kind of hard to get into that front hatch when on the water so we never attempted it.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas
Bob
Author:  xdcammer [ Mon Feb 02, 2015 6:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
http://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/prod ... large_9855

Large fits in the AI hatch. 4, 600mil Coke bottles full of ice will sort it.
Author:  coachstevo [ Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
I use a kill bag as well, but put it on the haka. Same 4 frozen soda bottles...Pick a size any size

http://charkbait.com/cs/csdKillBags.htm
Author:  Roller [ Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Thanks guys I'll look for a quality kill bag
Author:  Yakass [ Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Roller, if you use a tramp, there is a far better way to keep fish cold than using big bags or cooler boxes. Forget ice, forget insulated containers. Just get a microfibre towel (I use a large size sea to summit tek towel) and wrap up the fish in that, and secure the fish tail to the rear of the tramp using a bungee cord that spans the tramp support rod. This is how we keep fish fresh on trips to Fraser. A fish caught at 8AM will taste like it was caught 10 minutes earlier after the sun goes down, as the fish will stay wet and thus won't cook, even on a scorching summers day. One large towel will cover 3 good sized spotty mackerel, and 2 longtail tuna. If you're keeping more than that, you're keeping more than you need, because most fish up your way do not freeze well anyway

Also, a good deal of the fish you'll catch up there will be too big for cooler bags and eskies anyway. You'd need a pretty big container to hold most of those fish, meaning the container itself will become a pain to store. Just do it the simple and economical way
Author:  coachstevo [ Thu Feb 12, 2015 6:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Interesting, I tried the towel method down in Baja with our dorado/mahi mahi and yellowfin tuna and they cooked. Water was 84 degrees and air temp 100
You guys have similar conditions over there?
.
That prompted me to get a bag. It is 50"" long, but fits most of the salmon and such we get around here as well as the Baja fish ( for the most part), and strapped to the haka it makes a nice seat when empty.
Author:  Yakass [ Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Yep, it gets pretty hot around Fraser Isl in November. But we're always sailing and as such water is always splashing into the fish from underneath and the towel stays drenched the whole time. It also keeps the sun off. Works perfectly every single time. If the towel isn't wet and doesn't stay wet, however, I'm sure it wouldn't work out too well.

Its a good thing it does work to because we can't take ice to Fraser Isl and keep it frozen.
Author:  coachstevo [ Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Crazy, i wonder if the difference is humidity? I couldn't keep the damn towel wet even when sailing as it was drying out too fast...I needed a near constant spray.
Baja was stupidly dry at the time as the winds were coming down off the desert....but Australia is basically one big a@@ desert...?
Author:  Yakass [ Sun Feb 15, 2015 10:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Yep, fairly dry and hot at that time of year. Mind you it always gets a bit choppy when the wind gets up in those currents, so there is almost always spray splashing up onto the tramp and keeping the towel wet
Author:  CR Yaker [ Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
If you can legally do it, fillet those fish on the water. I always carry a fillet knife and board here in Costa Rica. Makes for a much lighter carry and easy to keep in a cooler bag or cooler. But that's just single day trips. If you don't have any ice, bleed them and gut them, towel trick sounds good.
Author:  Yakass [ Mon Feb 16, 2015 8:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that we always bleed and gut the fish as soon as we catch them. Not sure this helps them stay fresh when using the towel method, but its good practice to get into regardless. Fish always taste nicer if they are bled/gutted immediately
Author:  Roller [ Sat Feb 21, 2015 4:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
Thanks guys great advice all round, regarding Baja and Fraser I'd think humidity is definitely a bit if not a lot higher at Fraser. I've seen in many third world countries where they have no ice or only ice for export fish the locals simply use saltwater , the salt stops bacteria from growing
Author:  Spinfisherbob [ Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fish Storage
http://www.cabelas.com/product/SILVER-H ... 627&rid=20

Insulated Fish Bags come in all sizes. I put a couple frozen soda bottles 1 or 2 liter size in the bag with a a wet towle
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