Pkfish49

I go on 3-5 day fishing trips and take the catch home. If I were a better butcher, I'd fillet, but I end up just gutting, scaling, and cutting the heads off, before vacuum sealing. I'd save tons of space by filletting, but I'm so dead tired at the end of the day, I don't bother to try. The cooler solution worked for me last season, but I no longer want to deal with having to worry about ice levels and having to add ice. Unfortunately, the hotel room has a refrigerator, but not a freezer.

I'm looking to upgrade my cooler solution with something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Aspenora-Refrigerator-30-Quart-Portable-Compressor/dp/B07VCR2SK3/ I'm mostly a Panfish guy - Pickerel 15-18 inches - Yellow Perch - 8-12 inches, along with assorted other species generally under 12 inches. I vacuum seal after gutting and scaling. Can somebody give me a rough idea how many of my fish will fit in this model? I can deal with the economics of bigger models, but the increased weight is something that I prefer not to have to deal with.

I go on fishing trips up to 5 days and take the fish home, so not fitting everything would be a dealbreaker. I don't mind a little overkill, but don't want to over do it too much, especially since more space = more $.

I do have a good cooler, but want an upgrade. I found this on Amazon and was wondering whether it would fit my needs: https://www.amazon.com/Alpicool-Portable-Refrigerator-Vehicle-freezer/dp/B073WYS3TR/ I fish lakes and generally take home panfish under 15 inches. I may occasionally land one or two 18 inch fish. I catch the following: Pumpkinseed Sunfish Bluegill Yellow Perch Pickerel Black Crappie Bullhead Catfish Largemouth and Smalmouth Bass I store the fish in vacuum-sealed bags after cutting the heads off, gutting, and scaling. I always have more aspirations, but I rarely take home more than 15 fish. Will this amount fit in this freezer? Given the dimensions and the way that I pack, how many of these types of fish can this freezer hold? Thanks

Thanks for all the advice. I'll follow-up late next week and let everybody know how it went. Hopefully, I'll have some good fish pictures to show off in the appropriate forums. I'm not a big Bass guy, but am hitting a lake with some big ones. I may toss some Senkos around to try and beat my PB.

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up buying this 48-Quart cooler: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DH4LT/ The marketing claims, "Keeps the Ice: 3-day ice retention at temperatures up to 90 °F." It's going to be inside a cooled hotel room, away from any sunlight. One of the videos that is linked to in the thread reviewed a wheeled version of this as having kept ice for 5.5 days - outdoors in the heat. I don't mind changing the ice a few times. A few follow-up questions: Do I need to fill it to capacity with ice, in order to keep the fish the coldest? Is it OK to put the vacuum-sealed bags on top of the ice, or is it better to also have ice on top of the bags? Is it better to break up the ice, or leave it in big chunks? How many 8 pound bags of ice will I need to fill this to capacity? Is it OK not to take the ice out of the bags?

$4 and #5 are great for Pickerel (they go after anything shiny) as well as Bass and a variety of Panfish, such as Yellow Perch. I had too many problems with the treble hooks snagging on weeds, so I replaced a bunch with single weedless hooks.

Hope this is the correct forum for my request: Hitting the lakes next Saturday morning and will be home by Wednesday Afternoon. Expected to come home with up to 30 panfish - most small. Maybe a few footlong Yellow Perch. This looks like an incredible deal, but a bit overkill for my needs: https://www.amazon.com/Igloo-Polar-Cooler-120-Quart-White/dp/B004QILD6W/ I'm going to put vacuum sealed fish in at the end of each day. Can I use a $5.00 styrofoam cooler and replace the Ice every 24 hours, or will this cheap route bring me home spoiled meat? What's a good economical and practical solution for me? Thanks

I caught this footlong Yellow Perch and the slightly smaller one last weekend. I landed one with a simple worm, bobber, and double split shot rig. It was hard to bring in. The fish wasn't aggressive—it just keep nibbling at the bottom of the worm, moving the bobber ever so slowly. I managed to tease it with the right reeling motion, set the hook, and brought the prize home. The other I caught while trolling with a Rebel Crickhopper crankbait. Let's hear it for New York State's Fisheries!

Not applicable for my example, but thanks for the info. Please specify - what does float an fish or float throw mean? I imagine it would bring up an interesting argument, if one were to cast from public property behind the posted sign and be able to have the lure or bait hit the water directly. Would this technically be trespassing since during both the casting and retrieving process, the equipment passes over the posted land?

Not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this. Mods - please move if appropriate. Most of the accessible shoreline of my favorite upstate lake is posted, but there are a few public access areas. If I launch a boat from one of the public areas, can I pilot and fish anywhere in the lake, including near the shore areas that are posted?

I didn't realize there was any danger in keeping it so tight. I just removed the lure from the snap-swivel. Ty

Thanks for the IDs. The picture was taken at a bad angle. I just checked and there are two sets of three hooks.

I used the forum resources to trade a reel for a bunch of lures. This one that I got as part of the deal is awesome. I've thrown it with a splitshot (for more casting distance as it is very light) and have caught Bass and Pickerel. I've also caught Bass and Yellow Perch trolling with it. What is this lure called - how is it classified? Also, is it supposed to represent an insect that fish would normally eat? If not, what is it supposed to represent? Thanks.

Ty, I'm not a very good butcher. I normally cut the head off behind the gills and pull out the remaining guts. Is this good technique to gut while leaving the head on, or can you recommend something better?

I just got my fillet knife sharpened so I'm ready to take care of business quickly. I do need to check New York State regulations regarding "transporting" or carrying around fillets or cleaned fish with their heads cut off. I would never do this, but in theory I could keep undersized fish and a DEC officer looking into my cooler would have no way of knowing the original size, so I wonder whether this is technically illegal.

I'm going fishing accompanied by a five-gallon paint bucket. I'll fill it with cold lake water early in the morning and put my fish in as I catch them. My question is - if it's a hot day - 65 f - 80 f , how long will the fish stay fresh for. I know about devices that hold fish and can be kept in the lake. My problem is that I'm going to be moving around a lot and driving to different lakes. I'd rather not have to waste valuable time taking trips back home to clean the fish in the middle of the day. If I catch some fish at 7:00 A.M., will they by OK by 5:00 - 6:00 P.M. when I normally return to base. In any event, if I travel with an ice-filled cooler and clean the fish as soon as soon as I catch them, will they be tastier than if they sit for hours in the bucket?

I've already invested in a number of the Meeps. Can I remove everything from the Meeps except for the shiny piece and attach a weedless #3 hook?

One of my favorite lures is a #4 Mepps Trophy Series Aglia Spinner. The problem is that I lost 5 of them last weekend as they got snagged in a very weedy lake. All I want is the shiny part. The part between the treble hooks and the shiny part gets caught up in weeds all day as well. What is a good weedless alternative?

This was caught in Sullivan County, around 100 miles from NYC. I took some pictures before throwing it in the frying pan -Excellent meal by the way !. From the closeups of the tail area, can anybody clearly state whether this is a Brown or Black Bullhead?

Thanks. Is it clearly a Brown Bullhead, or do colors not mean too much for this type?

This is the only other picture that I have. After some research, I thought it might have been a Brown Bullhead, but it is really, really, dark and Black Bullheads aren't supposed to be in the area where I'm fishing. From the coloring, I initially thought it was a baby Largemouth Bass; but then I saw the whiskers. Does this side view help the ID?

Thanks.

At first I thought it was a Pumpkinseed Sunfish, but the shade of yellow is different than all other Pumpkinseeds that I've caught and the markings are different.

Caught in upstate New York Today: