Brilliant ideas on how to keep fish to eat - caught out on a rocky jetty?

[snake95]

90% of my fishing is for bass from the shore.  What I do with bass is simple.  I put them back where I got them.

 

I have also recently caught: trout that I cleaned on the spot and rushed home to the freezer, and crappie from a boat that I put on a stringer.

 

Soon I will be casting for stripers and bluefish from a rocky jetty in the Atlantic.  If I am lucky enough to catch some (and legally allowed to) I may keep some for dinner.

 

How do you deal with either of these fish on a warm summer morning when you want to keep fishing?

 

Hard to lug a cooler out there.

 

Thanks for any tips on this one!

[Scott F]

Here's how the people do this,

 

[Choporoz]

The best thing to do with the blues that you intend to keep IMO, is ......throw em back

[Lures'n'Liberty]

Is there a reason you can't use a stringer? I have never fished in the ocean, nor have I caught a striper or a bluefish, but I would imagine that they would do just fine for a couple hours in the water while tied to a rope.

[Jigfishn10]

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

The best thing to do with the blues that you intend to keep IMO, is ......throw em back

 Couldn't agree more...Great sport fish...not so much for table fare, tho... JMHO.

[Doelman]

I've always just used a stringer when fishing inshore.

 

Some people like blues, not my favorite but cooked right they're fine to eat.

[MassBass]

Its commercial season for stripers. You could catch/photo/release and then go out to dinner for striper meat. I caught some keepers this year but I revived and released them. Im not always up for the killing and butcher of the fish and im not starving.  

[snake95]

Thanks, guys.

 

I know that many don't like to eat bluefish, but bluefish are popular with my in-laws, and when I've had ones that were cleaned immediately and then cooked on the grill (by me) they were great IMHO.

 

I'm all for putting fish back, too @MassBass and that's what I've done the few times I've figured them out in the past.

 

I'll try to concoct a stringer long enough to secure the fish and toss into the ocean.

[Jigfishn10]

@snake95, There's nothing like fresh fish for the table.  The whole experience of catching fish and sharing with friends and family at the table is second to none IMO. Enjoy, I hope you have a great outing and a delicious dinner.

[snake95]

To report back - I caught one keeper striper and decided to keep that one for dinner.

 

I used a very long, cheap cord stringer and tied off to the rocks on the lee side of the jetty.  Not ideal, but it worked to keep the fish fresh for an hour or so.

 

Having a long enough stringer and finding a good tie-off point were key.

 

Always the risk crabs or something might slice up the fish but that didn't happen.

 

I agree that harvesting is not always the best option.  Then again, I've been hammering this jetty for several days each of the last three summers, trying to learn what to do, and I felt like I earned this one.  Felt like a hero bringing home and grilling a fish for dinner that was well received by all. 

[Looch]

Find a puddle if possible. Or take an empty 5 gallon bucket.

 

 

[whitwolf]

Smoked Bluefish Is delicious!

 

[Oregon Native]

I know this is too lake but we used to use burlap gunny sacks back in the ol days.  Just keep them wet.  The evaporation helps keep the fish cool.  Would clean the fish first though.  Used this for salmon/steelhead and jetty fish back in Oregon.

P.S.  Sometimes it's nice to eat your own fish as you know how fresh they are and how they are taken care of.