Traveling with your Catch

It’s no secret that I love fishing wherever I can and feel strongly that fishing outside your comfort zone will make you a better angler, no matter the species.  Yet, there’s a primary wrinkle in the framework of enjoying that catch, especially if you travel far and wide.  Air travel or even length trips in the truck call for some specialized equipment and even more special treatment of the fish themselves.  Though there may be no one-size-fits-all solution to traveling with a bag of fish fillets, here’s a few considerations to take into account.

Airline Travel

Though this may be the most challenging portion of the subject, it could be the most worthwhile.  In the past few years alone, I’ve been faced with getting everything from halibult in Alaska back home, to blue crab and redfish from the Chesapeake bay.  Each scenario posed its own challenges, primarily in the form of volume.  In the AK example, we had nearly 70 pounds of salmon to come back as well, and in Virginia, I was looking at roughly 20 pounds.  Let’s use these two examples to break down a few strategies.

In most instances, it pays to check a bag here, especially if you don’t pay to check said bag.  Utilize an airline-specific credit card, promotional offers, or reasonable checked luggage prices from select airlines to permit the opportunity of a checked bag.  In some cases, if you fly enough, you’ve got the option to check several bags, or at least one bag per person flying.  If you have to utilize that checked bag for your traveling companions, it’s often worth the effort, which does require some pre-planning.

In recent trips, I’ve checked a cooler on the way out to my destination, and when I brought it back, ensured it was full of seafood.  That comes of course with some hiccups too, from latches and sealing, to making sure you’re underweight when it comes to your checked coolers.  In one instance, I was with a friend who flew Delta Platinum, and could carry up to 70 lbs. on each back, which was really handy for the salmon.  As a Delta Gold member myself, I was able to carry 50 lbs. which works for most cases, provided the cooler isn’t too heavy in its own right.

We start by freezing all of our fillets solid in camp, preferably with a vacuum sealer if on hand.  Then, take careful note to separate the fillets and lay them out in the camp freezer, again if possible.  Singular, individually packaged groups of fillets when layed out in this way freeze more solid, and therefore stay better frozen when traveling.  Still, unless you’re filling the cooler to the top with fillets, it’s best to at least fill empty space with towels, a random hoodie, or large frozen chunks of ice where available.   

Soft-sided Coolers with extendable handles and wheels make airport travel easier.

I’m a big fan of hard-side coolers when it’s possible to use them, for a number of reasons.  Durability is but one, but the ability of a well-insulated, hard-side cooler to keep frozen items frozen over a longer duration is probably the chief concern for most anglers.  Still, the roto-molded, ultra-insulated varieties both take up valuable checked luggage space, but also are heavy.  For that reason, you may need to go with a quality soft-sided cooler, or a smaller hard-side that both permits some volume of fish, while also staying light-enough in weight to not exceed your checked baggage standard.  Of course, there’s always the rugged and reliable cheaper hardside coolers.  I’ve used those before too, though most do not have wheels (which is a challenge in an airport), and the latches rarely stand up to long-term use.  For that reason, we have often completely duct taped the entire cooler lid to the cooler in multiple spots.  Not only does it keep the lid secure, it notifies you if anyone has tampered with your luggage. 

Truck Travel 

This option is probably more familiar to most people but does also take some considerations.  I’m typically traveling across country, and tend to keep two coolers onboard when fishing.  I keep a smaller rotomolded option in the back of the crew-cab for snacks, drinks, and anything like smoked fish I may pick up on the way, and I keep a larger cooler under the tonneau cover of my truck for volume.  It’s amazing how nice this 1 -2 cooler punch works out when taking big trips, and the options you have for a variety of fish and game. 

The smaller cooler in the cab is stocked from home with soda, water, and a variety of refrigerated snacks that keep me from having to make costly stops to gas stations that have the same items at a mark-up.  On longer trips where I’m often in charge of my own breakfasts and/or lunch, I’ll stop at a grocery store at our destination and fill up the bigger cooler in the back with just enough to get me buy a number of those meals.  Usually, if I am taking home fish, I have already cleaned out the big cooler, or can put extras in the small one, and, I’ve created space for the fillets I intend to get home. 

Keep in mind that some states require a skin patch per fillet or so for identification, so it can be best in those instances not to freeze fish while at your destination.  Instead, keep them on plenty of ice throughout the length of your stay, and consider keeping fish only the last day or so of your trip to ensure the freshest meal possible.  Regular ice does the trick, but I find that large frozen milk jugs will extend your cooling over a couple of days, even in really hot weather.  That, and it extends the duration that your smaller cubes stay whole in the cooler as well. 

Often, I’ll keep my fillet kit inside a one-gallon Ziploc bag and stow that in the big cooler as well.  This kit usually consists of a larger and smaller fillet knife, plenty quart and gallon sized freezer bags, and some specialized soap to get fishy smell off your hands (individually packed in its own plastic).  I always keep this in the truck, as I never know when I might need to fillet some fish, and there are times where I’ll even bring an electric knife and/or a vacuum sealer if I intend to run into and keep larger quantities of fish.

It's amazing how easy it is to keep a few fish at any destination, especially if you’re prepared.  At the same time, I’m also mindful of not necessarily focusing on a “limit” wherever I go.  Fish are a nice treat for me, but rarely the highlight or the sole mission on any adventure.  Even at the fish-factory type lakes where mechanized fillet harvesting is as much a business as the fishing itself, I’m content to enjoy some fish dinners at the lodge and maybe not take any fish home at all.  Regardless of which suits you best, going into it with a plan makes for an easier effort all around.   

Catching More Big Fish

BIG FISH

Lots of anglers seek big fish almost as a matter of trade. They've experienced smash days on the water...have been there, done that. They can wait hours and even weeks for one big bite, habitually finding themselves on premier waters, at prime times, fishing in a way that few are willing to rise to because of the sacrifice it takes. They live for exceptional fish, and are satisfied with few others. After all that build-up....I'll be the first to tell you, I'm NOT that angler.

That's not to say I don't respect those anglers or that way of fishing, because I really do. There was a time when I lived by those ideals, tested my own mettle to achieve big fish fame-dom. Striving to be the best, to catch the best, to a fault, is something that's kind of hard-wired into me. Yet, these days I find myself taking what pleasure I can from whatever the day may give me.

BIG FISH STORIES

On a recent trip, that was a 10 year old's very first big fish - a near 20lb. bigmouth buffalo that pulled like a school bus and kicked like a mule when it hit the boat floor. A "junk-fish" by some people's standards, few things but a sturgeon would've pulled like that fish did on that day. We caught walleyes sure, even a few "keepers" - but his little chest puffed out 3 sizes bigger that day because of what surrounding boats thought was just a carp.

Perhaps what's better, is that we weren't trophy hunting. We were dropping baits around big schools of shad, looking to catch anything that ate. Eat they did, from smallies to walleyes, and buffalo to white bass, we had a great time, and even caught a big fish. More a family cruise in the fall sun, we enjoyed ourselves first and foremost, stowing the rods when light fell behind the bluffs in favor of dropping leaves and hoodie weather around frying fish back at the campsite.

3-days prior was a different trip altogether, and led to the big fish pictured. I was scouting that same bite, looking for the best bite I could, and fishing hard. The big girl, a 29" old female, ate off a 24' current break behind one of the largest rafts of river shad I've ever side-imaged. At first, she just stayed deep and rolled, almost catfish like. Then, she came unglued, and rose beneath the boat, revealing a white tipped tail but with no sight of the buried #7 purple wonder puppet minnow in her mouth.

CATCHING MORE BIG FISH - A STRATEGY

And so it goes, at least in my experience with big fish. You can hunt them like a trophy whitetail, with time on the water seeming to be that which separates the best from the rest. These fish just show up randomly sometimes, but that's not to say that catching a big fish happens at random. Doing the right things at the right times, with the right equipment for the job increases your odds not only in contacting a big fish, but in actually landing it when your chance comes. Ultimately, those details are the great equalizer, as so many anglers have brushes with big fish without ever knowing. Connecting, then making good on your opportunity when it counts is what ends up mattering most.

Which brings me to the white-out rod in the portion of the shot. It's a proto-type I'm testing for St. Croix like I have many rods before it. It's the best rod I've ever tried for this very application - working that bait to perfection, offering incredible feel and dexterity through the handle portion, and pinning that fish better than a gold-medal olympic wrestler. After fishing with it for several trips and many hours, I filled out a 45 minute questionnaire that's about as rod-nerdy as they come. Fun stuff for a guy like me, and hopefully some valuable information when combined with other anglers' data, such that the engineers can make the next revision even better - if that's possible.

Someday soon, you'll get to fish it too, but until then, no matter what your stance on big fish is, your angling pursuits or passions may be, know that I've found being ready is perhaps your vert best big-fish strategy. Rig right, use quality components and materials throughout, while utilizing the best tools for the job at hand. So many times, it seems like the rest just takes care of itself.

Early Grouse Offers Practice, Promise

Thick stuff made for good hunting but tougher shooting - Berretta Silver Pigeon pictured

10 steps into the ferns and balsam firs of northern lower Michigan, I was reminded why early grouse hunting can be fun and frustrating at the same time.  Weather was incredible, maybe low 50’s with a glint of sunlight through the trees, shining off the tiny water droplets that enveloped everything we were about to walk through in front of us.  Our group of four was happy, hunting over two days near Gaylord, Michigan’s Pigeon River Forest, albeit wet. 

While chaps kept most of the moisture from the woods at bay, we had to perspire a bit to find our quarry, but what better way to get some exercise?  You could suspend a rotisserie chicken in front of a treadmill, but what fun would it be to just pluck and start eating.  Instead, we walked a few miles of mixed aspen and pine, with the occasional alder swamp edge, to get our steps in. 

AGLOW Conference

Campfires, guitars, and like-minded friends made AGLOW that much more fun.

We gathered together as Outdoors Writers, Media Members, and Visitor and Tourism Bureaus as part of the annual Association of Great Lakes Outdoors Writers (AGLOW) meeting.  Though I’ve known about the group for some time, it was my initial conference and one I’m not likely to miss in coming years.  Not only did we work on our craft, but we played guitar, ate great food, learned more about the area we stayed in, and actually hunted and fished.  That’s right, instead of just talking or writing about it, we pursued a variety of outdoors ventures, from fly-casting to walleye-trolling, and elk bugling to bulging a bucktail for muskies.  Of course, I chose grouse getting as a trip for myself as well.  After a trip to Jay’s Sporting Goods, a Michigan institution and only place I’ve seen ammo in many months, I was ready to hunt. 

Thick Cover, Shots Fired

The first bird to flush was a ruffie in a sunny upland with scattered birch, but the best shot I had at a gamebird was actually in an alder thicket.  I wandered away from the group a touch, and our dog Ruby for the first day was actually in cahoots.  She pointed, then broke, and then put up a woodcock straight away.  I shouldered and fired, only to watch my shot pepper the lone big tree in the swamp.  The one the woodcock fluttered right behind.  Oh well, it was the first shot of the season in heavy cover to boot.

My second round fired came on day 2, and admittedly was a much easier shot.  Which of course I also missed.  Devil Dog as his owner called him, did a great job of flushing this bird into the relative open, just a bit long on the end of shotgun range.  Still, I had a chance at him, and that’s all you ask for in early grouse.  Continuing on, we put up 14 birds total that day.  Some of them launched out of trees, others just out of range or in fresh aspen regrowth among slash piles.  Hip flexers were sore after those walks, but that made lunch back at Tree Tops resort that much better when we got back. 

One For the Bag

Devil Dog and his quarry.

My bird came on the edge of some of that slash, where it met up with some mature forest.  3 flushed, two shots were fired, and one grouse was found, eventually, with the help of the Devil himself.  Without his nose, we never would’ve stood a chance.  I watched the bird touch down after the second shot kind of funny, but wasn’t sure if I’d hit him or not.  The Setter in less than 10 seconds found the landing spot, trailed around and under some thick grass, only to come to a quick, hard point.  The bird was still alive, and likely to scoot without the dog eventually retrieving when permitted to.

Hunting Dogs and Later Season

I don’t have much experience hunting over dogs like Kyle Alexander and Nick Green, Michiganders and incredible bird hunters in their own right, let us hunt with.  I can see the addiction however, and how without them, especially early, a hunter just wouldn’t stand a chance.  Yet, I also saw in the early hunt how they were all licking their chops for the coming weeks.  Less cover, easier walking, and finally some open shooting might make the scales tip a bit more in favor of dogs and hunter.  Still, if you’re an addict of fall sights and smells, why wait for an already short season to be shorter?

At the end of our walk we put up yet another bird near the trucks, one that we ended up missing for one reason or another.  It was a great end to our time in Lower Michigan, reminding us of the promise of weeks to come, and what it means to leave a few birds for seed.  Devil Dog had been particularly well behaved up to that point, until I stepped on one of the treats he left near the vehicles when we first departed.  To add insult to injury, in an attempt to re-bury said offensive boot bombs, he managed to kick sand all over me.  While I might not be getting a Setter anytime soon, I’m sure it was his way of reminding us to shoot better next time. 

Whether with dog or not, I was excited to discover a new corner of the world that had everything I look for as a sportsman.  Salmon and trout species in close proximity, with wild turkeys, grouse, and walleyes.  Not all particularly in that order, with some stunning scenery to match.  A touch of Great Lakes with great inland waters and woods makes for an interesting variety of things to hunt, fish, and generally enjoy.  Thanks for the memories Gaylord, I’ll be back. 

Fishing With Kids - Striking the Right Balance

We were trolling Lake Pepin for walleyes a few weeks ago, which is believe it or not one of my boys’ least favorite types of fishing, even when the bite is “on.”  This particular day, it was most certainly not, but the wind was right, the water color was brown, and levels were up where they needed to be.  I simply knew that if we trolled long enough, we’d luck into a few fish and probably catch plenty of other species to keep them excited.  So despite the overall lack of morale in the boat, we trolled on.

Hours later, with plenty of sauger, walleye, white bass, sheepshead, and even a small pike hitting the back of the boat, the kids had a “meh” day.  Not because we didn’t catch fish, including a nice kicker ‘eye, but because it took too long.  The rods weren’t constantly bending.  Worse, my boys and a friend had to continually maintain near-bottom contact, free snagged lures, and generally pay attention.  I’m happy we could finally get some fish, and show them some action, but to be honest, I don’t think they cared.  Despite my very best efforts and preparations, they had way more fun jumping off the boat near the beach and swimming the last two hours of the day.  I had to drag them out of the water and back to the ramp.

It's a lesson I’ve lived and re-learned so many times, I could never keep count.  We (by “we” I mean “me”) take our children fishing, hoping to excite them with the experience, while clinging to childhood memories we still have.  The result is often a frustrated father and kids that are somewhat incredulous to the time and efforts their parents put into trying to make it fun, while often, failing miserably.  That day on the water, we should’ve quit an hour or two earlier and focused on swimming more than the fishing.  Again, I know better, but am hoping that by re-accounting my own adventures, it might strike a chord with other parents and grandparents looking to help their kids have fun fishing.  Here’s what I’ve learned, and need to be reminded of from time to time.

Swimming is a great distraction and trip-extender, leading to a better day on the water for kids and parents alike.

The younger the children in question are, quite simply, the more you’ll need in the boat to keep them busy.  When our boys were younger, that meant a heavy dose of snacks, drinks, and minnows to play with.  It also meant their own tacklebox, including baits with no hooks for a time.  Just like at home, they preferred to play with anything but the toys you have on hand.  That meant scissors, pliers, expensive rods, and whatever else the grownups were handling, so don’t be surprised if they dive right in to that gear.  A pet on the boat when possible is a great diversion for kids, as are fish you stuff in the live-well.  They can find a thousand reasons to quit fishing and check out what you’ve already caught, which makes basic techniques that catch-anything, a really great way to get kids interested in fishing.

Boats to kids can be like a prison after awhile.  They’ve explored the space, played with what they’re able to, and in minutes to hours, can feel like they’re trapped rather than trolling.  That makes beaching the boat and exploring, even at the landing, that much more important.  If there’s some public ground, a beach, or even just something cool happening in the shallows, take the time to share it.  Let them check out turtles, play with frogs, and try to fish off the dock.  Speaking of, dock fishing (from the dock) could be my children’s favorite type of fishing.  They can run up and down it, fish a larger area, and drop the rod to swim or play whatever, whenever.  That freedom at least for my kids has always been much more important than catching fish.    

Now that my boys are older, ages 13 and 15, they’ve got much more patience for the fishing portions of the trip.  They can handle a few hours in the boat, and on good days, maybe even go the entire time.  That said, the very same things they enjoyed as young kids, they enjoy today.  Whether it’s checking out a fish in the livewell, pounding all the snacks I can haul in a boat over the first 15 minutes of the day, or trying to catch turtles so they can check them out a little closer.  That kind of thing can be tough for dad or grandpa to take, as so often fishing is about timing.  Time of day, locational timing, and the perfect pass or cast that’s fouled or missed before the opportunity has passed. 

On the last trip, the only moments I missed or let past were the ones I should’ve yielded more to them.  Some white bass were busting the surface near a shallow point, and rather than continue to troll walleyes (we just boated a 20”er), I continued on.  Big fail dad.  While I don’t know that we would’ve caught them, I certainly have in those situations before, and it’s a great time.  Like I said, though I’ve learned this lesson may times over, it’s good to keep reminding ourselves why they come out to fish in the first place. 

Kids don’t have the same illusions and prejudice we have for certain species, presentations, experiences, or the way it’s “supposed to be.”  They just like bending a rod and feeling a tug on the line.  When they’re tired, they lose interest.  When they’re hungry, they want to eat.  When the sun is hot, and sometimes even when it’s not, they’d rather be in the water.  A fish on the line is cool, but so is admiring the one they just caught in the livewell.  As my kids grow older, the balance is definitely moving heavier on the fishing end, but there’s no need to try and make pros out of them just yet.  If and when they want to fish more seriously, someday they can take that up and I’ll certainly oblige.  Until then, I’ll keep remembering to let them be kids and enjoy whatever part of the experience speaks to them most, if you do too.

Cleaning Cork Fishing Rods - Make Old Rods Look New

Cork fishing rods have a great feel and comfort, but often get dingy after a few seasons. Here's how I restore the cork on mine to like-new condition. You'll...

Cork is one of the best grip materials you can have on a fishing rod. Along with classic lines and looks, you’ve got the comfort and weight savings that have made them a strong option among all classes of fishing rods. But cork gets dingy after a few years, or even within a single season if you don’t take care of your rods. Here’s how I make them look new again with some OxiClean and a good sponge.