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Reply With QuoteThe search feature is a good tool
Before I pull the trigger on one though, how is everyone's cooler holding up?
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Slabmaster
We have 2 of the 13 qt coolers. One for me up front and one for my wife in the rear. We have fished the hottest parts of summer in southern Illinois and rarely lose more than a few Minnows each per trip. I know we have loaded each of them with as many as 100 Minnows without having issue. We quickly learned that we didn't need that many on the boat and usually take around 50-60 each. I replaced the garbage pump that comes with the units promptly with frabil units which are much much quieter and put out a lot more air. The batteries seem to last forever in them too. I'm not sure of the model of pump, but we purchased them at Walmart. The engel pumps we received get hot and zap the batteries quickly. The frabil pumps are near silent and I often check to make sure they are still running because I can't hear them.
I I thought long and hard about getting two of the medium size, but for our purpose these are plenty big. They are quite heavy when full even for their small size.
We we we're introduced to these coolers when we went on a guided trip with Kyle Schoenherr. He had a 30 qt and I recall it was literally packed with Minnows. If I were to guess there were at least a full pound of fatheads in his. He may have had oxygen going to them because the line came from his boat, but it may have just been an onboard pump. Either way there was a serious amount of minnows in his cooler.
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Keeper
The search feature is a good tool
Before I pull the trigger on one though, how is everyone's cooler holding up?
Crappie.com Legend
IDOT,
I know of several people that have these and LOVE them. None of them have had any issues and have recommended them to everyone.
I have OCD "Obsessive Crappie Disorder"
Slabmaster
I just bought a 30qt to use on our upcoming fishing vacation so we can hold a lot of shiners over the course of the week. Our two 13 qt coolers are going strong after lots of use. I really like how they do not leak when traveling in the car to and from the bait shop. I've loaded my one 13 qt with 2 lbs of shiners for a 30 minute drive home to put them in the storage tank, they were all live and kicking when I got home and it was literally packed with them.
Throw the pump it comes with away and buy a frabil 10$ unit, if you are deaf then you won't mind the engel, but I find them annoyingly loud.
Crappie.com 1K Star General
I have the 13 and we get a pound of minnows and don't loose any in a days worth of fishing. Mostly fish in the spring. I am thinking of getting the 30 for blue gill for catfishing. I am like everyone else get the fraybill pump. The engle pump is LOUD.
Slabmaster II
My buddy I have fished with pretty regular turned me onto the Engel. They are indeed fantastic bait coolers. I just got a new to me boat and I went online to order one, and I got the 19. It was a $1.20 more than the 13 on Amazon. I just installed onboard air on boat as well, so I will not have to worry about batteries.
Crappie.com 3K Star General
I love mine! I got the 30qt. No problems with it at all so far! Minners live forever in it.
Keeper
I ended up getting the 30 while on vacation at Mexico Beach. Haven't tried it out yet, but it looks to be pretty solid! It'll get a work out here in the next couple of weeks.
Crappie.com 1K Star General
If the Fraybill pump is better, what is the advantage of the Engal over a good cooler with a Fraybill pump?
Slabmaster
I have a small white coleman cooler I bought from WalMart and a Quiet Bubbles aerator I have been using for two years. I lose less than a half dozen minnows from a half pound on the hottest day of the year. Does the Engel cooler work? Yes, but my setup works just as well for much less $$.
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