An ice chest takes up deck space you would rather fish from. A Reliable insulated kill bag does the same job with soft sides: lay it on the deck or the swim step, add ice, load the catch and zip it shut. At the end of the day it rinses out and drains. Reliable Fishing Products is based in Mission Viejo, just up the road from our Huntington Beach shop.

The current bags are sealed. Reliable’s newest production is sealed construction, so meltwater and fish blood stay inside the bag until you open the drain plug instead of leaking out onto the deck.

Construction

The shell is heavy-duty 18 oz vinyl-coated polyester over 1/2″ dense closed-cell foam, the insulation that holds your ice and keeps fish cold on the hottest days. The thread is UV and mildew resistant, the zipper is a non-corrosive YKK, and a drain plug in a bottom corner lets you rinse and empty the bag after the trip.

Every size has a 12″ gusseted bottom. It sits flat and opens up as the bag fills, so it holds fish better and sits more stable than a flat envelope-style bag. That wide base is the reason we have always preferred Reliable’s design.

Picking a Size

The first number is the bag’s height and the second is its length along the zipper, so the 42 x 90 is a 90″ bag that stands 42″ tall. Capacities are Reliable’s ice-chest equivalents. The 30 x 72, 30 x 90 and 42 x 90 add four carry handles.

The 42 x 90 Cow Tuna bag is the biggest in the line. Reliable developed it with its pro team to hold two 250 lb bluefin with enough ice to keep them cold for 24 hours.

Our founder has used a smaller Reliable bag in place of an ice chest on San Diego long-range trips: it stows easily in the truck while you are at sea, then gets iced down at the dock for the drive home.

Key Features

• Sealed construction on current production bags
• Heavy-duty 18 oz vinyl-coated polyester shell
• 1/2″ dense closed-cell foam insulation
• UV- and mildew-resistant thread
• Non-corrosive YKK zipper
• Drain plug in a bottom corner for rinsing and draining
• 12″ gusseted bottom that sits flat and expands as it fills
• Ten sizes, from 18 x 36″ (about 50 qt) to 42 x 90″ (475 qt)