We are leaving in a few days to go salmon and halibut fishing in alaska. Is it wise to bring a cooler with me or buy when I get there at wal-mart? Also, do styrofoam coolers work well on airplanes? Basically, if I have 50 lb. of fish what is the best way to get it home?

Never done it, but when we were in Alaska all the day fishing operations advertised that they would freeze and ship your catch - especially useful if you are not headed straight home after your fishing trip.

As above, and assuming you are not doing this on your own(?)... the company who is sponsoring your fishing trip will have a recommended method to pack & get it home for you.

Your charter boat captain probably has a relationship with a fish processor who will clean, fillet and flash-freeze your catch. They may or may not be able to ship (probably via FedEx) your fish home. Ask them this in advance.

Alternatively, you can buy fish boxes at the Wal-Mart (often in two sizes) along with gel-packs that can be frozen and inserted into the box with the frozen fish. You can ship these boxes along with your checked luggage.

I would not recommend a styrofoam cooler because it might not be durable enough to survive as checked luggage. other types of coolers are but cost considerably more.

If you are not headed home right away, the option (delayed shipment) gail describes may be your best choice.

Good luck!

Thanks for your replies. I had heard of fishing boxes but didn't know how long they kept fish frozen for. Anyone know? (with gel packs)

If you are on a charter, they have this wired. On ours, they cleaned and froze the fish on board the day we caught them. When we got to port, they packed them in long, rectangular, wax-coated fish boxes and checked them in for us at the airport, where they put them in a freezer and gave us a claim check. A few days later, upon checking into our flight, we gave them the claim check and they loaded the fish onto the plane. This was in Juneau (pre 911) but we connected in Seattle, where we spent another night, and the fish were held in the freezers there.

At home, we picked up the boxes at the oversized item baggage claim (same place you get your golf clubs, skis, etc.) then drove around to all our friends' houses delivering salmon and halibut, because there was no way we had enough room in our freezers.

You should call the outfitters you are using, to see if they will do this for you. If not, you can buy the boxes and check with the airport your flying from to see what their procedures are for freezing your fish until the end of your trip.

I'm not sure how long you are going for, but there's no way a styrofoam cooler will cut it in baggage claim. Between the 4 of us, we had about 100 lbs of each halibut and salmon.

Also, your captain should know a good smokehouse. We left about 30 lbs. of salmon to be smoked and it was shipped to us, vacuum packed, a few weeks later.

My husband goes salmon fishing every year and he flies to and from Canada for this. He bought one of those real long coolers and they worked great.

He had them frozen, then packed with dry ice on the day he left, and it made it home just fine.

BTW, the first time he bought the cooler in Seattle, then took it with him to Canada. Now he packs his clothes in the cooler and just takes a small folding bag to put his clothes in for the trip home, since the cooler will be packed with fish.

He bought home almost 80 pounds last year, too.

Get the heavy duty cooler. The styrofoam ones could break, you don't want to lose your investment.

Have a great time!

You can't just bung it in a picnic cooler - those are for much smaller amounts and really only good for several hours. It would be bad by the time you got home. You have to have it frozen and specially shipped.

Grocery stores sell fish boxes <$20. They are shaped to accommodate up to 50 lbs which makes the airlines happy. Biggest FYI, plan your fishing trip for the latter part of your trio, as once your catch is frozen, you have to find somewhere to store it. I just got back and recently spoke to another traveler and they did the fishing part first and had to pay $450 to ship it home. Normally we get the fish cleaned and flash frozen right at the dock. Hotels usually have a freezer but they prefer it to be overnight. We had to store our catch at the airport because the freezer at the hotel was full of other catches. It cost us $12 a night to store the 50lb box. Contact Alaska Airlines directly at the airport.

Definately forget the styrofoam cooler. Won't make it. There is fish storage right at the airport, if needed. http://www.dot.state.ak.us/anc/trave...gerSrvcs.shtml