Max Bait Tray System
The Max Bait System's stackable aluminum trays feature large flat handles to conduct cold easily through the five-tray stack.
Searching for a way to carry a full day’s worth of offshore trolling baits in less space than his 48 quart cooler was taking up in the cockpit of a 23’ Pursuit walkaround, Durham’s Daniel Sykes created the Max Bait Tray System in 2004, only to be bombarded by requests from friends and fellow fishermen for a Max Bait System of their own.
“I figured I couldn’t buy more drinks offshore, so I couldn’t get the drink cooler any smaller,” Sykes said. “But I thought I could do something about the big bait cooler.”
Like many good ideas, other anglers saw Sykes’ design and wanted one of their own.
“Guys who were fishing with me wanted me to make one for them,” Sykes explained. “And then I took one by Neuse Sport Shop in Kinston, and those guys told me I needed to get a patent and market it.”
Sykes followed their advice, and the Max Bait Tray System is now available to anglers all over the state and beyond. The system consists of five aluminum trays that stack inside an Igloo 24 quart MaxCold cooler, which takes up a footprint of only 16 x 11.75” in a boat.
The Max Bait System's stackable aluminum trays feature large flat handles to conduct cold easily through the five-tray stack.
Each tray is made of heavy duty .080” gauge powder-coated aluminum and features drain holes and raised handles that are key to the design.
The trays stack atop one another in the cooler, and large surfaces on the tray’s handles conduct cold from ice bags in the bottom of the cooler to each tray, keeping the aluminum cold and the baits fresh and ready to go.
“It’ll hold 50-60 medium ballyhoo depending on how ‘medium’ they are,” Sykes continued. “And it only needs about 3 lbs. of ice to keep the baits cold all day, even in August.”
Anglers can put the ice in gallon size plastic bags to keep their baits from touching the melt water, and even if a bag springs a leak, the trays will keep the majority of the baits dry.
As anglers get through the baits in the top tray, all they’ve got to do is rotate it to the bottom of the stack, keeping the remaining baits elevated and away from the ballyhoo-destroying fresh water.
Sykes maintains that the savings in ice alone will pay for the Max Bait Tray System in about 40 trips since it requires so much less than a standard cooler with a hanging bait tray.
“I’ve never understood those hanging bait trays,” Sykes said. “I guess you’re relying on the ice to cool the air which cools the tray which cools the bait, but we’ve got a direct route from ice to each tray with this one. The baits will stay good overnight in cooler weather, but hopefully you’d need to at least add a few baits to it after a trip offshore.”
The Max Bait Tray System is available at a variety of local tackle shops and retailers, and anglers can find out more about the system by visiting www.maxbait.com.
