As anglers, we spend a lot of hots days in the sun, sweating our asses off in pursuit of fish. After a few hours of such self inflicted torture the thought of an ice cold drink starts to sound pretty damn good. You have a couple options. You can always lug a cooler out to river, which is fine if you’re in a boat, but not so much if you are wade fishing. You can always just pack up and head to the nearest watering hole but why would you want to leave if the fishing is good? Your average water bottle just doesn’t seem to cut it either. Ice doesn’t last long in a Nalgene…
The answer? A Hydroflask. Shane recently purchased one of the 40 oz models, and we have been putting it to the test over the past week. If you haven’t heard of them, they are a double insulated bottle that keeps cold stuff cold and hot stuff hot. Perfect.
The first test took place during our carp excursion the other day. Around 7am, Shane filled the bottle with an icy gin and tonic. By the time we stopped for lunch it was still icy cold. Even after sitting in a hot car in the sun for several hours, there was no sign of ice melting at all. By 5pm when we polished off the G&T, it was still nice and cold. Impressive.
An all day trip to Hyalite the next day confirmed what we already suspected. There is simply nothing better that we have found to keep your drinks cold on the water than this. True, this big size is a little bulky to put in a hip back, but it fits nicely in a backpack. Or just leave it in the car for when you get back. They make bottles in several different sizes, and a whole host of colors.
It doesn’t matter what you are trying to keep cold (booze or not), if you want something that will keep it icy without having to deal with a cooler, this is it.
