soft-side ice chest.

boom

WKR
Joined
Sep 11, 2013
Messages
3,185
lets say i have been catch and release fishing. but if i wanted to take ONE home to cook (largemouth bass), i would need to figure out cold storage for the 45 minute hot summer hike out.

any suggestions? my wife doenst like eating fish enough to green-light a soft YETI. what about the RTIC? anything cheap from COSTCO?
 

rklein

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
Messages
128
Location
in between hunts
Most any cooler of decent design will work for 45 minutes. If you're wanting to carry out one (1) fish I suggest getting something just big enough to carry what you'll catch(don't get a cooler too big). Pre-cool it overnight with the whole cooler in the freezer open to make sure the entire inside/outside of the cooler is cold. Fill with ice packs and ensure no dead air space. I don't see the issue being the 45 minutes you need to keep the fish cool, but presumably the hot day the cooler will spend in the sun. Keep it shaded, keep it closed, etc to ensure its cold when the fish goes in there.
 

jmez

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Messages
7,404
Location
Piedmont, SD
I wouldn't spend a bunch of money on a nice soft side for that. An igloo flip top lunch cooler will work fine. That is what I use for fish. Fill completely full of ice when you leave home and it will still be plenty cold that evening.

I have an ARTIC softside and had a Yeti softside. Not a fan of either one. The Yeti was a PITA to get into and a bigger pain to try to hold open to get ice in, big and bulky. Nothing handy about it. The Artic isn't as big and has a flip top. The zipper does not work easy, especially going around the corners.

I prefer a hard cooler. My wife bought them both. I woudn't buy one.
 

packer58

WKR
Joined
May 28, 2013
Messages
993
Look on Amazon, quite a few choices. I have a cheaper soft side i use in my boat, couple frozen water bottles and stuff stays cool all day. Mine is a single top zipper and is a bit of a pain loading and unloading..........Kinda like a bear trap.......
 

Idahoguy

FNG
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
44
Location
Idaho
I have several rtic coolers both soft and hard side. Just as good as any high dollar cooler out there. A cheap soft side would probably be your best bet.
 

EastMT

WKR
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
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2,872
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Eastern Montana
702a8d89f24e3da856376b7f935fba62.jpg

I have one of the Magellan backpack coolers for the same thing, really love it.
 
Joined
Mar 11, 2017
Messages
753
If made in USA is important, Bison Coolers are really nice for around 150 bucks.
I have this cooler and been using for lunch a couple years in desert heat. It is very well insulated and heavy duty.
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2019
Messages
61
I don’t have a soft pac from RTIC but I will tell you the RTIC 65 I’ve got is awesome. It does just as good as my buddies Yetis for much less.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

gjviii

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 2, 2015
Messages
184
i have had a few RTIC coolers both Hard and soft and didn't have much luck with the quality. To make matters worse the customer service was the worse i have ever seen. I wouldn't recommend them just because of the customer service... terrible, just terrible
 
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