• Becoming a member is completely free!

    • Join the community and start contributing to a large source of sea angling information.
    • Become an active member and you can enter member exclusive competitions.

    REGISTER FOR FREE HERE

Keeping bait frozen on trips

Merlin 335

Merlin 335

Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2020
Messages
29
Reaction score
195
Points
28
Location
North West
I generally use a tronixpro bait pak for taking my bait on sessions, but I find that it's not great at keeping the bait frozen for long sessions (even with freezer blocks), but it is convenient to take as it sits on top on my seat box. I hate throwing bait away and am reluctant to refreeze baits (with the exception of squid), I do have a habit of taking too much bait, as I don't want to run of of bait and like to have a variety with me. I have been mulling over purchasing a coleman cooler box, but it will be just one more thing to carry. What do other people use to taking baits on sessions?
 
I got a snack bag thing , with 2 compartments, as I use bait I put the rest into one compartment that helps a bit , but over time it all defrosts
 
I was going to buy a small coolbox on eBay a few months ago - it was up for auction & I missed it. I don't do long sessions anyway, so don't use a lot of Bait. If it does defrost, I either take a chance & re-freeze it, or donate it to John ^^ - he always uses more than me! 😁😁
 
Merlin 335 said:
I generally use a tronixpro bait pak for taking my bait on sessions, but I find that it's not great at keeping the bait frozen for long sessions (even with freezer blocks), but it is convenient to take as it sits on top on my seat box. I hate throwing bait away and am reluctant to refreeze baits (with the exception of squid), I do have a habit of taking too much bait, as I don't want to run of of bait and like to have a variety with me. I have been mulling over purchasing a coleman cooler box, but it will be just one more thing to carry. What do other people use to taking baits on sessions?
Click to expand...
Move to Scotland that one day a year your bait gets a bit warm isn't too bad 😉
 
Two things I've found that help are freezing bait as cold as possible (our bait freezer at home is set to -32) and insulation when it's in your box/bag. I use any unused layers, even waterproofs to wrap around my bait bag to help insulate the contents, keeps frozen bait frozen all day.
Another tip I learnt is to load the bait bag up the night before and leave that in the freezer ready for the session so when you go, you can just grab the bag out of the freezer.
 
Craig said:
Two things I've found that help are freezing bait as cold as possible (our bait freezer at home is set to -32) and insulation when it's in your box/bag. I use any unused layers, even waterproofs to wrap around my bait bag to help insulate the contents, keeps frozen bait frozen all day.
Another tip I learnt is to load the bait bag up the night before and leave that in the freezer ready for the session so when you go, you can just grab the bag out of the freezer.
Click to expand...
Not thought of putting the bait bag in the freezer the night before, good tip
 
I bought one of these from Argos and wasn’t expecting much but I found it kept bait frozen for a long time with a couple of ice blocks in there.
Although I think I paid £14 a few years ago but it’s showing as £30 now, and out of stock too 🙄
As said, nothing will keep it frozen forever, but I’ve had this in hot sun and the bait has stayed near frozen far longer than I expected.

I find electric coolboxes a mixed bag. Yes they work, but they only lower the temp by a certain amount below the external temperature. Think I read seven degrees somewhere. I froze some worms in one on a night when the temp dropped to 3-4 overnight after a mild day - wasn’t happy when I went to get my bait out the next morning!

They also need to be primed with a couple of ice blocks otherwise they take forever to lower the temperature - good for camping if you can leave one running off the site electric hook up all day.

The other thing of course is it would be an absolute ballache to lug one fishing unless you weren’t walking far.

Best advice I can give is make do with a cool bag with ice blocks in, that has a strap to sling on your back, and only take your bait out the freezer just before you leave.
Also seriously consider what bait you’re taking!
In my experience certain baits work at certain venues for particular species.
So if you’re after ray, say, take a pack of sandeel or as many as you think you’ll use, but consider that properly - if it’s a five hour session, how many casts with sandeel will you have in those hours? 20? So two packs, but I bet you’d still have half a pack left over.
I’d probably take one pack - it takes a long time to have 10 casts!
 
Also, if you freeze your own bait try to freeze some smaller portions. That way you can defrost them one-by-one as you need to, keeping the unused ones frozen. The bait bag in the freezer tip sounds very useful. Get as much insulation around the bait bag as possible too - this helps to reduce the flow of heat into the frozen bait.
 
On the boat, I use a 53L Igloo marine coolbox. Just before I leave home I chuck 5 frozen gel packs and 5 frozen 500ml coke bottles (water filled) into the coolbox with the bait which is frozen from the freezer. Even on a summer's day, the frozen bait stays frozen in the bottom of the box, usually underneath our catch for the day, which is also loverly glossy and fresh.
 
I use different varieties of flask, one for sand eels, crab, even worm frozen on the hooks. Just put it back in the freezer end of session. You can always stick the flasks in a cool box/bag for extra insulation.
 
Back
Top