As stated in another thread, I went fishing today for the first time in about 8 months (long story) which reminded me to share something that others may not know about. To get the best taste, it's often recommended that you bleed and ice the fish right away. But a decent sized cooler takes 5 or 6 bags of ice to fill, which adds up fairly quick at nearly $1 a bag. But I know where to get ice for free, and nearly anywhere. The answer is... McDonalds! Just take in your cooler, and they'll fill it with ice for you. I have a cooler on wheels, and I just wheel it right in the door, order a couple of hamburgers, and have them fill it for me while I eat. Better tasting fish, and more money to spend on gear! Score!

Arklier,
If you don't want to stop at McD's..... What I do is fill empty Gatorade bottles and 1/2 gallon milk jugs with water and freeze them. When I go out I toss several of them in the cooler. When I get back, rinse the blood off and back in the freezer they go. Works great, keeps the fish and beverages cold and never need to buy ice! Of course I have a pretty large chest freezer.

Arklier,

We have been doing the cooler and ice trick since the early 80's. When we need lots of ice I take my 172 quart cooler and a couple of smaller coolers. Ask to have the small ones filled and then dump that into the big cooler before the next stop. Start at McD's then Taco Time and end at Burger King. Now we are set for a long weekend with plenty of ice.

Hey guys knock it off!!! Don't you know that information is considered a "zipperlip"? Think of the damage you will do to the resource!

I can see it now... lines of people with coolers in tow waiting at McDonalds and Taco Bell to get their free ice.

Well, it's no longer all free - McD's in PA charges for ice - too many folks got greedy I guess

Us, self-employed have been getting ice there for years. I fill my small cooler for my work van everyday in the summer, full of ice cold sodas!

G-man,

Nice to see you post again.

When I worked for a number of restaurants I always had ice for free. Now that I'm independently wealthy , I just buy two on trips when I fish for salmon in the summer. One goes over the diet coke, the other bag stays unbroken until I get fish.

A tip when cooling in your cooler. Put the product (fish, beer, diet coke) in first, then pour the ice on top. Cold travels down with gravity, along with the melting water. You will use less ice and it will last longer.

Here's a tip for those of you that freeze your own ice in pop bottles or in milk jugs... if you put salt water in your bottles and then freeze it, it will keep your stuff colder for longer.
If you want to get technical, you could make a eutectic solution, basically it's 1lb of pickling salt to 50oz of water. This stuff will not freeze unless your freezer is colder than -6F, but if your freezer is cold, it works great. It takes a while to freeze it in the freezer, but it also lasts a LONG time in the cooler.

-N.

Bleeding the fish and putting it on ice is well and good, but you'll find your fish to be even better if you place some narrow strips of wood in the bottom of your cooler or some slotted metal plate cut to fit so that the water and slime can drop into the bottom of the cooler away from your fish.

Cold does travel down and you can extend the life of your ice supply by placing a piece of 1/2" closed cell foam on top of the ice to provide some extra insulation. If dry ice is available, a 5# block can last for a day or so in a good cooler and help keep your ice. Make sure you wrap in it some newspaper and handle it with gloves so you don't freezer burn your hand(s).

Bushbear

Like Bushbear mentioned about the dry ice, make sure it's wraped in news paper not only will you get burned but your cooler can,t handle it directly in contact, go to costco get there coolers fo 60.00 (igloo) buy 4 block ice at .99 and it will last for 10 day, have two of those coolers and am looking for a reason to buy a nother one just love them Doug