I Bought a Kayak Cooler !!!! Is it the best Kayak Cooler ?

  Well it is time I purchased a nice cooler for my Kayak and Canoe fishing.    I actually went and did some Coastal Marsh fishing recently and caught a keeper Red Drum and Flounder and I had Nothing to to put them in to keep them cold!!!! 

   This started my search for a nice soft cooler that would fit nicely on the front of my yak and also fit in the front or back of my canoes.   A soft cooler it had to be especially since a soft one could/would conform to a canoes shape while laying on the bottom.    

I looked at lots of them  online and after reading lots of reviews ( plus I spoke with a kayaker who had one) and decided on the Reliable Fishing cooler.    Now, these are not cheap but you get what you pay for and I decided to spend the 150~ bucks and order one. 

you can get it here -  https://amzn.to/2RJu3gL

Amazon said I could expect my package in like 5 days but it came in two! Great ! I have been waiting on an anchor for over 2 mos ! It must be coming from China!!.

I unboxed the cooler and did a video on it which you can see below and while I have not used it yet, it is clearly a well made cooler though only time will confirm this. I am confident it would prove to be worth the 150 bucks. Anyway check out how well this cooler fits on the front of my Yak ( It will be secured with 2 bungees )

This is on a Wilderness Systems Atak 140

My Unboxing Video.

I will post an update on it after I have put a few fish in it!

Thanks for reading and watching !!  Mack 

#kayakcooler

#reliablecooler

#fishingislife

Canoes that I use For River Fishing......and videos on their Mods for fishing

 This Blog post is on the 5 Canoes I use for fishing.

  BE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEOS I HAVE LINKED IN THIS ARTICLE on my YouTube Channel

1.  The Canoe that Started my River fishing lifestyle.
     Mowhawk Pack Canoe  that my dad purchased for me in 1977.

She isn't that purty but she has seen a lot of water.  10 feet and made of fiberglass I use her now only sparingly as the Old town 119's are bigger and do a better job but, this is an excellent boat for an experienced paddler that is light and portable. I can throw this canoe on my shoulder and walk a mile through the woods with it. She was originally red , then blue , then several shades of green/brown.

2. Coleman Scanoe. 

This is a fishing boat. This is my "mule" for a boat. I mainly  use this canoe for Catfish, Stripers or anytime I am in "bigwater".  I can either paddle the Scanoe, use a trolling motor or use one of the 2 Gas engines that I Have. 

Click on this link and you can see what a  Coleman Scanoe can do with a 2.5 hp motor on her.

tp://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/rockfish-capital.html 

She is extremly fast with the 7.0 hp motor, and it has been several years since I have been brave enough to put the 7.0 on her!

Here is a video of how well this Canoe works when Trolling for Crappie

3. Old Town 158.  This canoe doesn't do anything great. Then why do I have it? well, because it is just a great all around canoe. Granted is doesn't do anything great but it does a lot of things good. If I just could only have 1 canoe it would probaly be the 158.

She paddles good , holds alot of weight and can be motored. I caught my biggest catfish out of this canoe.

How many canoes do you know  that you can standup  and hold a 46 lb blue cat at the same time???

Here is a video I made on the Old Town 158 and the modofications I have made to use it for fishing.

 Canoes 4 and 5.  Old Town 119's.

These are the best all around solo boats on the market.  PERIOD.  The best fishing solo canoe for the money.

The Canoe Cart above makes rolling this boat around easy.

My son a few years ago showing off by standing in his OT 119

Above is Jeff (Fishwhisperer) in his  Old Town 119

To see the mods I have made to the 119 here is my video on it  .....A must see

Here is what Blackwaterbill said about me and the 119.

" Troy

before the 119 Was cool, there was Mack from NC. When I got into the kayak ownership I started with a Dagger Blackwater 12 sit inside, couldn't get out of it the first time I tried it out. It wasa gift from my wife. At the same time Cullfisher got an Old Town sit inside, and he disn't like it either. I never took the sit inside to the river, I sold it to Getthenet and bought a T 120 from Drew and it was maybe 3rd hand then. Cullfisher sold teh sit inside and bought a P13. I didn't like the T 120 because I was too heavy for it and it threw me out or I bailed out nearly every trip. I sold it to Braveswin and bought a Drifter. Cullfisher sold the P13 an dbought a Caper so he could stand up and fish. I could stand in teh Drifter in those days. I went through 3 or 4 Drifters usually owning two at any given time. Because MacBass, Rockworm1 and Bassman1 all swore by their electric powered canoes Cullfisher and i got one of them each. We still have them and use them for long trips an dcamping and so forth where their frieght hauling and comfort is an advantage. Then came the Ulimates as the flavor of the month. I sold my Drifters and got a U 12 which I hated immediately. After two weeks I put it for sale and a man gave me a sot kayak and enough money to buy a 119 for the U12. I won't call his name because he may regret that deal. I later traded that sot he gave me for a new Drifter which I still have and I won't call the man's name that made that trade either.


For about a year I had stuck in the back of my mind was the fact that Mack from NC said the best river boat he ever had was an Old Town 119. If you look at his signature he lists his watercraft and he has 2 Old Town 119s. I have always been impressed with Mack's "walking around sense". Therefore I checked out the 119 and found that Old Town was making the Disco 119 for Dicks and calling it a Kaynoe so I bought one with the boot that I got for the U12. MacBass thought I was crazy when I showed up at Juliette with that boat. I tested it that day for draft, stability and so forth and declared it to exceed my expectations. macbass watched me and then wanted to test it. Just below half way shoals going toward Poep's Juliette, MacBass got in it and stood and paddled around then tried to push it over and couldn't, then paddled in water where his DRifter would get stuck an dthe 119 floated right on. I then wrote an essay on how good I thought that bought was. Other than Mack's 2 thats the only one I knew of that anybody had. Now the rest is history. Since I wrote that essay, I could name maybe 2 or 3 dozen people who have gotten out of teh Kayak usage and converted to 119s and can't think of anybody that has been disappointed. The 119 is the solo canoe par excellance"

Unfortunatly the Geogia River fishiing site is no longer available. 

Here are all 5 of my canoes -4 are plastic canoes (polyethelene) and the Mowhawk is fiberglass. I would really like a good ole aluminum square stern .

From top to bottom- Coleman Scanoe, Old Town 158, Oldtown 119, Old Town Kay-noe (119) actually my son's, Mowhawk Pack.

Mack 

#canoemodifications

#riverfishing

#oldtowncanoe

#colemanscanoe

#scanoe

September Smallies

September 20, 2011
Boat - Old Town 119
Main Outfit used- Ambassadeur 4600 with 12 lb Ande line
Main Lure used- Strike King Spinnerbait, Chartreuse
Weather- cool and cloudy


I was dying to do a float this am as it has been July since I have done a float because of my operation. Should I go after Largemouths or Smallies?....Or should I go after Crappie or Carp?.....

The decision was to go after Smallies since I Have not fished for them much this year.  Weather was supposed to be cloudy with a 30 % chance of rain from 7am -12 and 50% chance after 12.  A daylight to 12 trip it would be . I  arrived at the launch at daylight to a cool 60 degrees air temperature and no one else there. Here is a picture of my "new to me" truck at the put in.  Note- my ole Honda will be doing 90 percent of my canoe hauling as it is a lot easier to put a canoe on a lower vehicle and strap it down.  Not really bad with the truck but alot easier with the car.

This "new to me" truck is a 2002 Sierra that I told my self if I bit the bullet and purchased it that I would also bite the bullet and purchase a good canoe rack for it. I have used Yakima racks since 1988 and have them for 2 hondas but for a truck the Thule racks look better and look better made. Ouch! that hurt as I have always praised Yakima.

The water was a toasty 67 degrees and clear. I started off throwing a Chartreuse spinnerbait and was rewarded with this Smallie.  She wrapped me up twice,  but fortunately I had 12 lb ande on the Ambassaduer 4600 and 7' allstar rod..

Get Your Strike King Spinnerbait here - https://amzn.to/3VOfDuR

I then caught a bigger one but she broke my spinnerbait and fell into the water as i tried to lift her into the canoe.

The smallies were really whacking my chartreuse  spinnerbait .

Lots of these little guys.

To Steve and Jim. this ain't where u think it is.

Out of 3 smallie fishing trips this year this was definitely the best out of the 3. Next time I will be better prepared with more spinnerbaits.  See you on the water Mack

#bass

#smallmouthbass

#fishing