Ice

[diver1]

gday all, im after any idea,s on maken the ice 4 fish and the ice 4 drinks last longer in the boat? or do i just put up with it not lasting when i get out on the water all day?

[tide'n'knots]

make an ice slurry in your esky! simply empty the ice into your esky and put in about a bucket of salt water.

The salt in the water helps stop the ice from melting and any fish caught and placed in this will be in supurb condition at the end of the day.

As long as ths lid is left on the esky and only opened for drinks or to put in a fish you should still have ice left in the water at the end of the day.

pete.

[LittleNoah]

gday all, im after any idea,s on maken the ice 4 fish and the ice 4 drinks last longer in the boat? or do i just put up with it not lasting when i get out on the water all day?

Dunno if you already know this or not but you should always have the plug in you're esky removed for just ice (not a slurry obviously) so the water drains out as fresh water sitting in an esky causes the ice to melt quicker.

[Evets]

Diver,

I fill some 3 litre milk bottles with water and then add a coule of tablespoons of salt. By doing this the bottles freeze at a much lower temperature and stay frozen for heaps longer, though it can take a few days for the bottles to completely freeze.

Out on the water, I make an ice slurry with salt water and add the frozen botles. Stays cold all day.

Also get youself a good quality esky. It will help keep the heat out and the coldness in.

Evets

[copafisher]

As Evets said use some bottles already frozen and put them in with some fresh saltwater (dont use stuff near ramp etc, I get it usually once I am in position and water looks clean). They say to keep fresh water/ice from direct contact with fish as the freshwater affects the fish flesh.

I use esky/bottles for fish and cooler bag/another bottle for drinks/lunch. Label the fish box ones so you dont get them mixed up as they can get a bit slimey, I use a permananent marker and put them in different parts of the freezer. Wash outside to remove slime/blood etc before refreezing.

Cheers

[stevefish]

Also get youself a good quality esky. It will help keep the heat out and the coldness in.

Evets

do that.

and if you can make blocks. i make em in tupperware containers about 3 or 4 kilos each, although i have a bigger freezer than many.

[pelican]

buy block ice or as above freeze your own and agood esky kept shaded makes a huge difference

[Lasty]

I make block ice using 2 and 4 litre ice cream containers. They take about two days to freeze through but last for ages.

[brickman]

a little trick i use is freeze about 4 inches off salt water in the bottom off the esky you need a big freezer

i have a little tucker box and can fit a small esky inside it takes a few days to freeze

gary

[diver1]

do use all add salt to the block ice?

[stevefish]

do use all add salt to the block ice?

i dont, and my blocks hardly deteriorate in my icebox all day, but i keep thinking i should bring home enough sea water to freeze and that might make keeping squid on ice a little less tricky.

[diver1]

I make block ice using 2 and 4 litre ice cream containers. They take about two days to freeze through but last for ages.

so if i just add a bucket of saltwater to my frozen blocks or frozen drink bottles is that my saltwater ice slurry 4 my fish? or do i need a bag of ice as well? also if i keep my beers in the same esky as my dispatched fish wont my beers stink? get a fishy whiff with each sip?

[Lasty]

I don't add salt to my ice as I always have a couple of frozen containers in the freezer and never know what they will be used for, it could be fishing or it could be beers for a picnic or barbeque (who needs salty beer!)

I have never found the need to make them last longer, the 4 litre container will last a couple of days in an esky.

[emetic]

i have a 50 litre "aussie ice box" brand esky and the ice lasts in there for about 3-4 days with the plug in and closer to a week with the plug out, thats just with regular cubes.

using salt water to make your ice blocks would help if you have an average esky.

[diver1]

but u wouldnt have ya beer in with ya bleeding dead fish would ya??? looking like im guna have to stay with the 2 eskys in the boat? was trying to cut back to 1 for the extra room.

[offchops]

be carefull how much salt u use i used about a handfull on servo ice and it snap froze my flathead in minutes and blew up my coke cans

[tide'n'knots]

if you are worried about the salty taste on your drinks you can seal them in clip top plastic bags. saves room on the boat rather than taking 2 eskys!

Pete.

[diver1]

not the salt thats worrying me its the blood from fish, when i catch me flattys i spike them thru the brain to kill them quickly and me ice slurry fish box is usually red with blood. the clip top plastic bag idea would be alright 4 a cple a drinks but when a few of us go out with a 30 pak of cans it would be ridicuolous.

[daleyboy]

not the salt thats worrying me its the blood from fish, when i catch me flattys i spike them thru the brain to kill them quickly and me ice slurry fish box is usually red with blood. the clip top plastic bag idea would be alright 4 a cple a drinks but when a few of us go out with a 30 pak of cans it would be ridicuolous.

Dunno what your worrying about ... adds to the flavour ... and its usually no worse than the good ol smelly fingers after handling bait for a few hours ... its all part of the fun

[diver1]

Dunno what your worrying about ... adds to the flavour ... and its usually no worse than the good ol smelly fingers after handling bait for a few hours ... its all part of the fun

only use soft plastics, dont use bait, boat and hands stay nice n clean,

[diver1]

ive got a 80 litre techni ice esky and im freezing two 4 litre ice cream containers, 1 with just water and the other with water and a cple of tablespoons of salt in it, im guna put them both in the esky and put it in the sun all day and see if theres enough difference to warrant useing the salt. ill let use know how i go.

[numbnuts]

I use the 3lt milk bottles but find I don't need to use the salt because I use a good quality ice box that I pre cool the night before with a smaller frozen bottle this makes a huge difference to the ice lasting .Also with the cost of a trip on the water these days getting much higher with fuel, ramp fees, tolls etc it makes sense to make your own ice.At around $5 a bag X the number of trips you do each season ,it is quite a large saving that can perhaps go towards some fancy new reel perhaps?

As for the fishy smell getting on drinks, all I do is put a large garbage bag inside a second one and put food and drinks in that , works fine.

P.S. remember that blood/alcohol limit is .05 same as on the road ,there has been a big crackdown lately.

[diver1]

i musta been useing a crap esky b4 cause i took me 80 litre techni ice esky yesty, went out bout lunch time the esky sat in the full sun all day with me drinks and frozen 4 litre ice cream containers in it and this morning the blocks were prety much the same size!! hardly melted! so i threw em back in the freezer 4 next time, moral to the story, a quality esky is definetly worth it if your headen out on the water 4 long periods of time. i had 1 frozen with salt water and 1 with just tap water and they were both still like a rock. Edited January 1, 2009 by diver1

[wrinkley]

Tried the ice slurry once with salt water, and of the 6 Corona's, 3 froze and the lids popped, lost a few of the good ones.

Have a better esky now, and a bag of ice will last 5 days to a week