Best Way To....

[FishermanTim]

Then there will be the talk of it being caught BEFORE the derby and kept alive to be weighed in for a prize.
Although you may find quite a few good ideas for keeping the fish fresh, if you do anything to keep it alive it will raise red flags across the board.
I can't believe that the tournament will only weigh fish at 4:00 pm!
That would definitly guarantee that almost all fish weighed in will be dead, and that they will definitely have lost weight during the day.
Sorry, but no amount of ice and water is going to prevent weight loss after fish has died. Maybe if it were flash-frozen, but then there's the questions of when fish had been caught.

Man, what a vicious cycle!

Anyway, if you are planning on keeping fish to eat afterwards, maybe you can keep the smaller fish for the table, unless the tourney is based on total weight of all fish caught per person and not individual weight per fish.

Good luck!!!

[spinncognito]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

Then there will be the talk of it being caught BEFORE the derby and kept alive to be weighed in for a prize.
Although you may find quite a few good ideas for keeping the fish fresh, if you do anything to keep it alive it will raise red flags across the board.
I can't believe that the tournament will only weigh fish at 4:00 pm!
That would definitly guarantee that almost all fish weighed in will be dead, and that they will definitely have lost weight during the day.
Sorry, but no amount of ice and water is going to prevent weight loss after fish has died. Maybe if it were flash-frozen, but then there's the questions of when fish had been caught.

Man, what a vicious cycle!

Anyway, if you are planning on keeping fish to eat afterwards, maybe you can keep the smaller fish for the table, unless the tourney is based on total weight of all fish caught per person and not individual weight per fish.

Good luck!!!

Guys pull into the weigh-in in their boats and weigh fish that are still flopping on the scale hook! Disadvantage to the shore guys for sure.
I have never seen a "set of rules" for this once-small neighborhood tourney but the weigh-in is from 4 to 5PM, only. One-day tourney, no official "start time" that I am aware of. This is the only type of tourney I would fish as it limits the possibility of cheating (not eliminates). A fun time, win or lose....

[Finaddict]

Paul ... saltwater and ice is probably your best bet for keeping the fish as close to it's original weight ... not a lot of saltwater ... just enough to create a real freeze ... the ice will melt quite a bit, but also the salt will be good too ...

... or just catch your winning fish at 4 p.m., throw it in the back of the truck and run ...

[Fly Rod]

Like a few have said, in a brine in the cooler. If you do not want to carry salt water to the truck go to the store, put cooler in back of vechicle, get a couple of 15lb. bags of ice and a box of salt, pour salt over ice. You would be surprised how much colder it will be instead of just ice and water.

Good luck at the tournament

And yes Fisherman Tim, the weigh-in ends promptly at 4:00PM and we go by the clock at the weigh-in, not the one on your wrist. Weigh-in is from 3:30- 4:00

Whiplash, the tournament is still named after Mary Parisi.

It's the best Blue Fish Tournamant on the east coast, started out with three people making a five dollar bet amongest themselves for the biggest bluefish many years ago.