Esky fish rack

[Guest Guest123456789]

Hi Raiders,

The problem I've had is keeping fish cool with out freezing the flesh. I have frozen bottles of water in a cooler which I don't want the fish to rest on.

Now I could just use an ice slurry but the problem there is you need more ice and that also means more weight and also less storage area. I do think ice slurries are great for bleeding fish so I have converted my live bait tank into a kill tank which will consist of a smaller ice slurry.

Once the fish is bled out, I'll gut it and transfer to my front long esky which I have mounted near the bow. This will be for storing fish (either bled our whole for bait).

So I made a fish rack out of an old portable clothesline I found on the side of the road.

Just used some pliers and electrical tape. The frozen ice bottles fit neatly on the bottom and should be sufficient to keep the temp in the whole esky low. Also, no flesh will touch the ice and freeze. It also means less ice needed and less mucking about. I also maximise the storage space for my fish. Very happy with the result check it out

[Fab1]

Hi Raiders,

The problem I've had is keeping fish cool with out freezing the flesh. I have frozen bottles of water in a cooler which I don't want the fish to rest on.

Now I could just use an ice slurry but the problem there is you need more ice and that also means more weight and also less storage area. I do think ice slurries are great for bleeding fish so I have converted my live bait tank into a kill tank which will consist of a smaller ice slurry.

image.jpeg

Once the fish is bled out, I'll gut it and transfer to my front long esky which I have mounted near the bow. This will be for storing fish (either bled our whole for bait).

So I made a fish rack out of an old portable clothesline I found on the side of the road.

image.jpeg

Just used some pliers and electrical tape. The frozen ice bottles fit neatly on the bottom and should be sufficient to keep the temp in the whole esky low. Also, no flesh will touch the ice and freeze. It also means less ice needed and less mucking about. I also maximise the storage space for my fish. Very happy with the result check it out

image.jpeg

image.jpeg

good on you for having a crack.I use the frozen bottle method with a sheet of shade cloth over the top as it's easy to hose off and will not rust like anything metal.You may find the fish will still touch the frozen bottles I between the lengths of rod you have there.

Good job anyway.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Thanks Fab.

I don't think rust will be a problem. We have a similar outdoor clothes rack and it been exposed to the elements without rusting. The metal is covered in a hard plastic material which is waterproof. This will not be submerged in water.

I've tested it with fish, you're right the concave of the bottles presents a challenge. During testing it's possible a very small surface area of the fish will touch the ice - I don't think that will be a noticeable problem.

I thought about the damp cloth. The potential problem, and I would like your feedback here, is still freezing parts of the fish and also creating warm spots in the esky (particularly at the top when loaded with fish). I want the air to freely circulate across the frozen surface of the bottles as much as possible with minimal barriers.

[Fab1]

Thanks Fab.

I don't think rust will be a problem. We have a similar outdoor clothes rack and it been exposed to the elements without rusting. The metal is covered in a hard plastic material which is waterproof. This will not be submerged in water.

I've tested it with fish, you're right the concave of the bottles presents a challenge. During testing it's possible a very small surface area of the fish will touch the ice - I don't think that will be a noticeable problem.

I thought about the damp cloth. The potential problem, and I would like your feedback here, is still freezing parts of the fish and also creating warm spots in the esky (particularly at the top when loaded with fish). I want the air to freely circulate across the frozen surface of the bottles as much as possible with minimal barriers.

Ok,my apology.You say you thought about using a damp cloth then laying the fish on that I presume.Im not sure what you mean by wanting the air to circulate,as far as I'm aware in a sealed esky the only air that's in there once the lid is closed will drop and settle above the surface of the water.Its the frozen bottles getting the temperature of the water you put in the esky down that keeps your fish cold enough to keep fresh not the coolness of the air in the esky as far as I'm aware.

All I do is fill my bottles with saltwater then place then in the bottom of my esky and cover them with a piece of shade cloth then pour a bucket or 2 of saltwater from where I'm fishing.Most fish I catch just get placed in the esky alive and go to sleep within minutes others like tailor get bled then into the esky.

That's all you need to do as the fish are ice cold at the end of a days fishing.

You can do what I do or exchange the shade cloth for hesian,rubber bath mat,Perspex with holes drilled,those rubber perforated non slip mats(check out the dollar stores).I always use saltwater in the bottles as it gets the water colder and takes longer to thaw out.

Hope this helps and someone else tells you what they do.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Ahh I see makes sense now thanks Fab. You're using an ice slurry to both bleed and store the fish. Great system, wish my boat was big enough for a set up like that.

I'm using a two stage system:

Stage 1

Ice slurry to bleed the fish in a small esky.

Stage 2

Large, long dry esky esky with freshwater ice bottles to store the fish. As there is no water in the dry esky the rack keeps the fish off the ice bottles but still allows lots of air to touch the surface of the bottles and circulate through the rest of the esky, well that's the theory anyway.

I heard saltwater freezes colder. The reason I opted for freshwater is to help meet the 2 litres of drinking water per person when in offshore waters safety requirement.

Edited September 25, 2016 by Guest123456789

[Fab1]

Ahh I see makes sense now thanks Fab. You're using an ice slurry to both bleed and store the fish. Great system, wish my boat was big enough for a set up like that.

I'm using a two stage system:

Stage 1

Ice slurry to bleed the fish in a small esky.

Stage 2

Large, long dry esky esky with freshwater ice bottles to store the fish. As there is no water in the dry esky the rack keeps the fish off the ice bottles but still allows lots of air to touch the surface of the bottles and circulate through the rest of the esky, well that's the theory anyway.

I heard saltwater freezes colder. The reason I opted for freshwater is to help meet the 2 litres of drinking water per person when in offshore waters safety requirement.

I only have a small tinny and the one esky.I bleed the fish I catch in a 20L bucket or a keeper net using a pair of chicken scissors to cut the throat for a few minutes then straight into the esky as described.Is there a reason you run your large esky dry?That would act more like a refrigerator to keep them "cool"not "cold"as you get with having water in the esky and having your catch submerged wouldn't it?

I would add water to your esky next time out and you'll find your fish will stay much colder and hydrated.

There's nothing wrong with the fresh water in your bottles if you need them to comply with the laws it's just that saltwater ones stay frozen longer and drop the water temperature down colder than using fresh.

After a good 8-10 hours out on the boat I can't hold my hand in the water longer than a few seconds as it's absolutely freezing that water in the esky.

Saying all that use what works for you.

Cheers.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Hi Fab,

The 20L bucket is a great idea for a kill tank. I have one spare I might use that if I choose to use the small esky as a live bait tank again.

I agree my dry esky is going to be more a refrigerator than a freezer. I might see if I can get a thermometer sticker and put it in there to see what the temps are.

The reason I want to run a dry esky is for a few reasons:

Firstly, it sits on top of my dry storage so I need to move it when occasionally accessing that area

Yes it's a bit annoying but the benefits of having the esky there is I use it to sit on when casting lures from the casting deck (a lot safer) and it's also a back rest for my passenger/s.

Secondly I like putting my lunch and other snacks there which would get wet if it was full of water.

Thirdly, you need less ice to run a fridge instead of an ice slurry or it's easier to use freshwater bottles not saltwater.

Fourthly, not using water or lots of ice leaves more room for storage.

Finally, I've found as long as you bleed and quickly cool the fishing an ice slurry after capture, cool temperatures for storage is totally ok, the fish taste just as good.

Again, love ice slurry kill tanks, so the little esky I have will be used for this purpose before the fish are transferred to the big esky. I might try your seawater trick for this esky.

I'll give the new set up a few runs and let you know how it goes.

[Fab1]

Hi Fab,

The 20L bucket is a great idea for a kill tank. I have one spare I might use that if I choose to use the small esky as a live bait tank again.

I agree my dry esky is going to be more a refrigerator than a freezer. I might see if I can get a thermometer sticker and put it in there to see what the temps are.

The reason I want to run a dry esky is for a few reasons:

Firstly, it sits on top of my dry storage so I need to move it when occasionally accessing that area

image.jpeg

Yes it's a bit annoying but the benefits of having the esky there is I use it to sit on when casting lures from the casting deck (a lot safer) and it's also a back rest for my passenger/s.

Secondly I like putting my lunch and other snacks there which would get wet if it was full of water.

Thirdly, you need less ice to run a fridge instead of an ice slurry or it's easier to use freshwater bottles not saltwater.

Fourthly, not using water or lots of ice leaves more room for storage.

Finally, I've found as long as you bleed and quickly cool the fishing an ice slurry after capture, cool temperatures for storage is totally ok, the fish taste just as good.

Again, love ice slurry kill tanks, so the little esky I have will be used for this purpose before the fish are transferred to the big esky. I might try your seawater trick for this esky.

I'll give the new set up a few runs and let you know how it goes.

All valid points as I'm sure you'll agree there's not much room in a small boat.

Give the ice water a go and see what you think.The biggest difference you'll find in the summertime.

[Captain Spanner]

We used to use a dish rack to keep our lunch on in the main esky so you could lift it out to put fish/bait in/out without it all getting messy. We put the freezer bottles in the esky the night before to pre chill the walls of the esky before we put bait/fish in it. We don't normally use a slurry and the esky stays colder than a fridge but doesn't seems to freeze fresh fish.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Thanks captain spanner, really happy to hear someone else is doing something similar. Was worried this was another of my wacky ideas.

Do you bleed fish? If do before or after going into the dry esky?

[stevefish]

Or you can put your lunch in a Tupperware style container and let it float around in the cold icy water

Edited September 27, 2016 by stevefish

[Welster]

What your doing is going to have your fish so much better than the average guy with a keeper bag hung over the side.

I use two, two litre orange juice bottles filled with fresh water in my esky and a bucket of sea water. It's icy cold at the end of the day.

Just about every fish is bled in the live bait tank and put in the esky a bit later on.

Although I have a litttle more room and can keep my food and drink in a cooler bag in the shade seperatrly.

Edited September 26, 2016 by welst

[recurve]

We run a pretty simple system. 3 - 4 bottles of frozen water, pour in water to make a slurry. Fish go in the slurry. Back at ramp, fish come out of slurry for filleting and then fillets go back into slurry.

However.

Sunday just gone we were jigging for Kings with plastics and ended up catching 5 big salmon. Biggest was 65cm. We put them in the bin and cut their throats to avoid the blood splatter. Back at Ramp 5 hours later the water was so so bloody. Poured out all the water put more water in. Processed all the fish and squid and put them back in the Esky. Water went cold again in no time. The bottles are magic.

Also I have never had issues with bottles freezing fish. The outside layer melts so the fish are never in direct contact with ice. If you are running a dry system then yes they will freeze when they touch a bottle. As said before the water gets very very cold.

[Guest Guest123456789]

We run a pretty simple system. 3 - 4 bottles of frozen water, pour in water to make a slurry. Fish go in the slurry. Back at ramp, fish come out of slurry for filleting and then fillets go back into slurry.

However.

Sunday just gone we were jigging for Kings with plastics and ended up catching 5 big salmon. Biggest was 65cm. We put them in the bin and cut their throats to avoid the blood splatter. Back at Ramp 5 hours later the water was so so bloody. Poured out all the water put more water in. Processed all the fish and squid and put them back in the Esky. Water went cold again in no time. The bottles are magic.

Also I have never had issues with bottles freezing fish. The outside layer melts so the fish are never in direct contact with ice. If you are running a dry system then yes they will freeze when they touch a bottle. As said before the water gets very very cold.

Well done on catching the salmon. That's a good point about the bottles and the water near the surface. I didn't consider that. Given it is in fact liquid it must be above zero degrees therefore direct contact couldn't possibly freeze the fish if contact were made. Maybe I can just ditch the rack and leave the esky open for a bit until the water shows in the bottles. Got me thinking......

[Guest Guest123456789]

What your doing is going to have your fish so much better than the average guy with a keeper bag hung over the side.

I use two, two litre orange juice bottles filled with fresh water in my esky and a bucket of sea water. It's icy cold at the end of the day.

Just about every fish is bled in the live bait tank and put in the esky a bit later on.

Although I have a litttle more room and can keep my food and drink in a cooler bag in the shade seperatrly.

Thanks Welst, 2 litre drink bottles, great idea I've been using a Tupperware container for my kill tank.

Might scrounge a 2 litre juice or milk bottle instead.

[recurve]

Well done on catching the salmon. That's a good point about the bottles and the water near the surface. I didn't consider that. Given it is in fact liquid it must be above zero degrees therefore direct contact couldn't possibly freeze the fish if contact were made. Maybe I can just ditch the rack and leave the esky open for a bit until the water shows in the bottles. Got me thinking......

Thanks, they put up a good fight and I have perfected the art of smoking them so I am very happy to see Salmon on board.

That would work. By the time you launched and got the fish there should be a layer of water which would insulate against the ice. Agree.

[Guest Guest123456789]

The slightly thawed ice bottles work a treat I threw out the fish rack. Thanks for sharing.

Really, smoked Aussie salmon is ok? I'll have to try it.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Guest123456789

[recurve]

The slightly thawed ice bottles work a treat I threw out the fish rack. Thanks for sharing.

Really, smoked Aussie salmon is ok? I'll have to try it.

It is really good,

Get the Stainless Steel Wanderer smoker from BCF. Only need the basic one, cost me about $60.00.

Open up the salmon from gut to spine so you have a butterflied salmon with hinge as the top fin line.

Pour salt over flesh, lots of salt.

Sprinkle lots of brown sugar into the flesh, lots of brown sugar

Rub salt and sugar into flesh

Cover and leave in fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight (I always do 2 hours)

Take out and drain off the moisture or dab it off with paper towels.

Fill Meth trays to the brim and light.

Get smoker going and wait for smoke to start

Put fish on tray and close lit.

Large fish 17min

Med Fish 14min

Or just smoke until it is soft and you can press the spine down and all the flesh flexes.

You over cook it you ruin it. You want it just just just cooked.

It is very good. I have done for people and they have been blown away. We make Kedgeree, Fish Dip, fish cakes or we remove from carcass when cold and break up into small boneless pieces chop up Dill and capers and red onion (Optional) then add BEST Mayo salt and pepper. Put that on some sourdough with Cucumber and Tomato.

We love it. But we are Kiwis and smoked Salmon/Kahawai is well liked. You can get it butterflied and smoked like this at supermarkets in NZ.

Try it. Done correctly it is not dry or bitter. It is very soft and very moist.

[Guest Guest123456789]

It is really good,

Get the Stainless Steel Wanderer smoker from BCF. Only need the basic one, cost me about $60.00.

Open up the salmon from gut to spine so you have a butterflied salmon with hinge as the top fin line.

Pour salt over flesh, lots of salt.

Sprinkle lots of brown sugar into the flesh, lots of brown sugar

Rub salt and sugar into flesh

Cover and leave in fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight (I always do 2 hours)

Take out and drain off the moisture or dab it off with paper towels.

Fill Meth trays to the brim and light.

Get smoker going and wait for smoke to start

Put fish on tray and close lit.

Large fish 17min

Med Fish 14min

Or just smoke until it is soft and you can press the spine down and all the flesh flexes.

You over cook it you ruin it. You want it just just just cooked.

It is very good. I have done for people and they have been blown away. We make Kedgeree, Fish Dip, fish cakes or we remove from carcass when cold and break up into small boneless pieces chop up Dill and capers and red onion (Optional) then add BEST Mayo salt and pepper. Put that on some sourdough with Cucumber and Tomato.

We love it. But we are Kiwis and smoked Salmon/Kahawai is well liked. You can get it butterflied and smoked like this at supermarkets in NZ.

Try it. Done correctly it is not dry or bitter. It is very soft and very moist.

That sounds great I'll give it a go. The bitterness and dryness are my major gripes with Aussie salmon so if this is removed that's great.

My wife will never let me get a meth fuelled smoker. We went to a friends newly constructed home for dinner. My young son was there with other young families. My friend was cooking smoked salmon and the metho caught alight. Almost burnt his house down, my son has a healthy degree of caution with fire now (kind of a good thing). Smoked salmon was amazing by the way.

The other way of infusing flavour to the fish is by cooking it on a plank of wood. My brother in law bought cedar planks from Bunnings and cooked Atlantic salmon on an indirect heat bbq smoker - absolutely beautiful. I've got an old Weber smoker bbq, I'll try that. Also want to try tailor smoked - been catching a lot of these lately. Could be a good weekend, Sat, catch fish. Sunday, clean boat and smoke fish.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Guest123456789

[Captain Spanner]

I don't normally bother with a slurry and we fish out of Sydney and seem to be fine. I spike (just with the knife) and cut the fish (generally inside behind the gills) for bleeding. Then unless it's a tailor or similar (teeth), I'm ok with the bonito because their teeth seem more conical and less city, I put my hand up through the gill latch and out the mouth so I have a solid grip (closed fist) around the bottom jaw. Then I dunk/drag the fish along next to the boat for a few seconds (might take several dunks) and then I pop it in the esky full of freezer bottles. Any residual blood drips through under the bottles so it is never sitting in a puddle of mess. I think what helps me a lot is that my esky lives in the cabin (non closing so there is plenty of air flow) so it is in shade most of the day. You have a lot more trouble if your esky is getting pounded by direct sunlight or if you fish warmer locations like up the coast. It's very important to make sure your esky seals properly as it can only maintain the cold it starts with and not regenerate it like a fridge or freezer that is powered.

If I have too much time on my hands I have started to gut and gill some fish once bled (as early as is convenient) and back in the esky. If are are clever enough to get a bigger fish like a bigger fin, I will most likely gut it and fill its gut cavity with frozen bottles too to get the temp down as quick as I can.

[Guest Guest123456789]

I don't normally bother with a slurry and we fish out of Sydney and seem to be fine. I spike (just with the knife) and cut the fish (generally inside behind the gills) for bleeding. Then unless it's a tailor or similar (teeth), I'm ok with the bonito because their teeth seem more conical and less city, I put my hand up through the gill latch and out the mouth so I have a solid grip (closed fist) around the bottom jaw. Then I dunk/drag the fish along next to the boat for a few seconds (might take several dunks) and then I pop it in the esky full of freezer bottles. Any residual blood drips through under the bottles so it is never sitting in a puddle of mess. I think what helps me a lot is that my esky lives in the cabin (non closing so there is plenty of air flow) so it is in shade most of the day. You have a lot more trouble if your esky is getting pounded by direct sunlight or if you fish warmer locations like up the coast. It's very important to make sure your esky seals properly as it can only maintain the cold it starts with and not regenerate it like a fridge or freezer that is powered.

If I have too much time on my hands I have started to gut and gill some fish once bled (as early as is convenient) and back in the esky. If are are clever enough to get a bigger fish like a bigger fin, I will most likely gut it and fill its gut cavity with frozen bottles too to get the temp down as quick as I can.

Thanks for the pointers. Haven't fished with the esky in summer yet. It is in direct sun. It's one of the new Eva Kool polyurethane ice boxes. I think this should still be ok? It's kept ice frozen for days. The seal is very good.

I'd be too scared of a shark biting my hand off to drag a bleeding fish beside my boat. Be careful Captain Spanner, I don't want to see your fishraider name changed to 'Captain Hook'

[Welster]

It will be fine. My old plastic moulded (the lid doesn't fit well) one does just fine keeping the water icy cold even on hot days and it sits in the front of a bowrider. Your evacool should do it easy.