Ice Cold!

[THE DARKHORSE]

Disclaimer: this is an excerpt from what's essentially my journal on Big Water's Edge. Albeit a monthly or sometimes quarterly journal as apposed to a daily play by play, for obvious reasons. It's nothing more than a poor attempt at creative writing, mind you. So please don't take offense by the contents within the post; now or ever. If somehow, someway, you can relate to said contents just realize it's not intended to be taken personally. I'm not a life-coach. I'm just a crusty 'ol fisherman. One of the saltiest you'll find this side of the Mississippi, though.
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It's all about the chest. No, not the arrogant pumping of the chest; the ice-chest. If you're going to be fishing for the big-boys you best plan ahead. You don't want to be running down the isles of Wal-Mart at 2:00 a.m.---frantically trying to find a suitable resting place for your trophy catch. I've seen and been somewhat responsible for this scramble on many occasions, I might add. And I can tell from my second hand perspective that, well, it kind of sucks! That look in the anglers eye as they slide a fifty-pound beast into the back of a BMW is painful to watch. God forbid, the ecstatic angler manages to pull off the daily-double. The stoke tends to impair the anglers judgement at the time, but I can only imagine the wife's reaction as they pull into the garage; and their inevitable retaliation with the American Express!

I always tell my partner for the day to make sure and come prepared. A gear list isn't complete without a big ice-chest. It should be right up there with your fishing license on the priority list. Regardless of your skill level, when targeting ornery Pelagic species it's in your best interest to be optimistic. After all, confidence is key! If you don't believe it's going to happen, guess what? It's not going to happen. Being prepared for the best case scenario is a prudent judgment call if you asked me. With that being said, there's a fine line between being prepared and straight up jinxing yourself, though. Go ahead and bring that giant coffin of death, but unless you're about to launch into a WFO bite, never, ever, ever, come loaded down with sixty pounds of ice. If there was ever a jinx that runs the entire spectrum of the fishing community it's loading the chest with ice. I'd say it's easily ten times the jinx of a banana! Easily. So consider yourself warned.

When choosing a suitable resting place for your trophy-catch it's very similar to buying quality fishing gear. What happens far too often is guys try to go the cheap-route the first time around. Which, of course, only adds to the final sum of what you end up spending. Just buy a quality product the first time around and consider it done. Quality aside, the most common scenario is guys buying an ice-chest that's simply too small. I have guys all the time say, "oh I got one", and show up with a cooler that's suitable for a six-pack and lunch! I suppose it depends on where you fish and what you target, but the average White Sea Bass the last couple of seasons has been around fifty inches, give or take. That doesn't mean you need a coffin that's fifty inches long. Keep in mind the fish will easily bend at both ends, right? You just need to make sure the resting place is suitable for a trophy this size.

Along the same lines, I'm of the opinion that there's a such thing as too big, too. You want the ice-chest to be as efficient as possible. In short, you want minimal space after placing a couple beauties and forty pounds of ice. So don't just run out and buy the, humungous, Marine Igloo for $300. That cooler's designed for limits style fishing with multiple anglers and not ideal for one man's daily catch. For most guys I'd suggest the igloo Costco has carried for the last few years.

Here's one of mine. This little puppy hovers around $80, holds multiple trophy fish and is plenty efficient for the task at hand. I suppose you could splurge and go pick up a Yetti cooler (with a retail price of $600), too. If you go that route, though, you either have too much money or aren't catching big enough fish. I don't care if the thing will keep ice rock-solid for three days straight. If it can't fit a trophy fish, what's the point?
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Regardless of which cooler you decide to purchase in the end there's only one thing that really, really matters---what's in it!