Do y'all prefer to use a stringer or a fish cooler for fresh water fishing?

If you prefer to use a cooler, what do you use?

I like the idea of a bow mounted fish cooler bag, but its something else to store (and clean out when I get home). A cheap cooler strapped in the stern is easy to clean out, but kind of clunky and can be difficult to reach. Dead fish cannot be dragged along side all day.

Oh, the "first world" decisions I wrestle with...

Long paddles, cooler. Short paddle, stringer. Cooler I use is the Bucees soft sided cooler. $20. 8 pounds of ice lasts for a good part of a day. 20 pounds last all day no matter how hot. Holds more fish than you might think. 20 pounds of fish for sure.

My stealth has a fish box inside the hull. My viking 440 i toss fish in the back tankwell while paddling and toss em back in the water on the stringer while drifting or anchored. I do have a fish bag but is only good for fish without spikes, no catfish.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I guess I'll stick with a stringer for the spring and keep a bag cooler on standby for the hot weather.

I might even try a disposable bag cooler?

Thanks again.

I fish freshwater, and target catfish probably 90% of the time and I use a stringer.
Cats are tough and can stay alive on a stringer longer than just about anything out there.
When I change spots I just pull up the stringer and lay out the fish wherever I have room for them.
I carry a large heavy duty leaf trash bag and one trip I had about 40# of catfish on a stringer and I had a long paddle back to the launch so I paddled over to the nearest shoreline and put all the cats into that trash bag and stored them inside the hull through the front hatch.
They were all alive and kicking when I reached my launch site.
In the dog days of summer I'll carry an ice chest for the paddle back to the launch and then off to the cleaning table.
All fish with scales go directly into an ice chest.
If you are fishing for cats and want to use a bag I would take along some side cutters and snip off the fins before putting them into a bag.
Putting the fish into a heavy duty trash bag and then into the fish bag will make cleanup a breeze as well.

Two things a kayaker should never leave home without.......Heavy duty trash bags and duct tape!

I prefer a cooler, but both of my kayaks have custom coolers. My SUP uses a 28 quart Coleman.

Like karstopo, I use a Sam's Club soft cooler, with a liner I made from silver bubble wrap(like windshield shades), but I carry four frozen gel-packs and a pint water bottle. If I catch a for-sure keeper, it goes in the bag. Borderline fish go on a stringer while I'm fishing. The bag rides in the tank well behind my Pescador seat. I really, really like not having melting ice in the bag. A nurse at my vet office gives the gel-packs away, plus really good styro ice chests the get medicine in. TexasJim

I use both like a lot of others do. I'm a meat fisherman so I put em on the stringer as I catch them. When the bite turns off, I move or am done I put them in my cooler bag. I use one of the soft sided coolers from Sams with two frozen 2-liter bottles in it. Before the fish go in the cooler, they go in a trash bag.

Good luck on your decision.

I use a homemade stringer with my kayak. About 10 feet of rope with a small carabiner on one end and a float on the other end and 10 clips in-between secured to the rope with alpine butterfly loops. I attach the carabiner to the side of the yak next to the seat. When deployed, the length of the stringer minimizes interference with tracking while paddling.

Thanks for the input guys!

Freeze a gallon jug of water (a little over 8 pounds of ice) solid and that will last a long time in a cooler. No icy slush forms in your cooler and it will keep a lot of fish cool. Redfish survive for a long time in that situation so I bet catfish would too. You just have to remember to freeze the gallon jug prior to the trip. 8 pounds of loose ice in a bag will melt much faster than 8 pounds frozen solid in a jug in summer heat.

We use distilled water in the coffee maker (makes a coffee maker last a lot longer and taste better in hard water zones) so we always have a supply of jugs. The Hill Country Faire type of tall clear jugs have screw on lids and that will prevent the melt water from leaking from the jugs.