Arma mesh. 1st time using

[Lynnzer]

You know how many bits and pieces you have left from your bait after a trip out.
Scraps of bluey, mackerel, mussel squid etc. You can only put them in the freezer a couple of times until they all fall apart and get thrown out or you feed the seagulls at the end of a session.

I bought some Fox Arma Mesh yesterday. Gonna give it a try. It's kinda narrow at 14mm but when packed is a useful shape.
I had a small dishful of mixed and mashed scraps of all the above and now have them in the mesh around the size of a small sausage 5 - 6 " long.
The juices are oozing out all over the place. Best place to do this is in the garden to prevent the unholy smell in the kitchen.

I have 8 of these made up for tonight's session all in the freezer until I set off out.
If the smell is the main attraction for fish I guess it should produce. I intend doing a trip to the beach at the bottom of the pier at Seaham. Looks kinda nice but could be very crabby among the rocks.

My last session was on Hendon prom and I lost loads of rag to crabs and pin whities. I think the mesh will at least allow me to hold on to the bait a fair bit longer at the very least. Thinking of it, I could always use a good size rag or lugworm with a covering of mesh too.

Anyone got a success story using this stuff?

 

[magpies]

I bought the wider one to make up my Crab Cart, but tbh the mesh is a bit big and it breaks down too fast. Went back to finger bandage for that. But have caught some codling this winter using it to make up "mussel bombs". Big baits about the size of a golf ball with about 4 or 5 mussels packed into each. The codling were tearing into those up at Craster a few weeks ago.

 

[davydunn]

Beach near bottom seaham pier

Beach near bottom seaham pier

You know how many bits and pieces you have left from your bait after a trip out.
Scraps of bluey, mackerel, mussel squid etc. You can only put them in the freezer a couple of times until they all fall apart and get thrown out or you feed the seagulls at the end of a session.

I bought some Fox Arma Mesh yesterday. Gonna give it a try. It's kinda narrow at 14mm but when packed is a useful shape.
I had a small dishful of mixed and mashed scraps of all the above and now have them in the mesh around the size of a small sausage 5 - 6 " long.
The juices are oozing out all over the place. Best place to do this is in the garden to prevent the unholy smell in the kitchen.

I have 8 of these made up for tonight's session all in the freezer until I set off out.
If the smell is the main attraction for fish I guess it should produce. I intend doing a trip to the beach at the bottom of the pier at Seaham. Looks kinda nice but could be very crabby among the rocks.

My last session was on Hendon prom and I lost loads of rag to crabs and pin whities. I think the mesh will at least allow me to hold on to the bait a fair bit longer at the very least. Thinking of it, I could always use a good size rag or lugworm with a covering of mesh too.

Anyone got a success story using this stuff?

Can be very snaggy in that area

 

[Lynnzer]

Can be very snaggy in that area

Appreciated Davy. haven't fished there before but was along there yesterday doing a recce at low tide.
The beach is only shor,t curved round and looks to slope off into quite deep water pretty quickly.
The bit at the bottom of the steps seems to have a pretty rock free pathway going straight out. Am prepared for loss of leads and without trying it I'll never know.

Being inbetween rocks though I expect a good population of crabs which can strip a hook clean in no time. That's where the Arma Mesh comes in.

I'm just hoping there'll be a cod to be had for my efforts

 

[bigfella]

is this arma mesh any good at all for se fishing

 

[codster]

its spot on but expensive

 

[Davey1970]

do any of you lad's have a picture of this arma mesh...?

 

[Blankety Blank]

There'll be pictures on ebay or google images

 

[mick dunn]

Looks excellent idea.
Mick.

 

[nunthorpe mag]

ordered one on friday must be easier than tying mussel on

 

[EFC FOREVER]

Once u run out of armour mesh just use finger bandage works just as well.....get a berocca tube cut bottom off and just prod it down with a bit of wood roughly same diameter as tube

 

[Lynnzer]

Used it last night for 1st time on Seaham pier bottom stretch.
I got there to find someone coming off after 6 hours without a bite even and no other reported catches. I guess the sea was just too flat to get things moving.
Someone set up alongside me who caught a beach rockling.
Anyways. the mesh bait bundle was dead easy to use. The Youtube video shows a hok being placed at the top and the mesh bundle being allowed to hang underneath. I had sort of sausage shaped mesh extrusions so put the hook through at the bottom and tied the mesh along the hook and line as you'd bait up with a good sized rag or lug.

My efforts weren't rewarded though. I had one good bite which didn't materialise into a catch. Lost 3 leads though. Seaham is a rough area as Davy has pointed out already.

Nevertheless I feel that the fact that I did at least get a bite on it proves it works. I didn't get anything at all on my other rod baited with ragworm.

 

[nunthorpe mag]

Better luck next time......I fished Sandsend car park last night with blacks and a 5oz seascenter lead filled with finely chopped mussel in it and never got a bite there was a lot of sand blowing about and getting in me eyes that was a pain in the arse

 

[Lynnzer]

I'm gonna be making another batch of mesh today. I found that the original was absolutely oozing with juice and a lot of it was far too runny to get into the bait so it was washed down the drain at clean-up time.

This time I'll be adding some finely chopped bread to soak it up and release it slowly in the water. It also makes the bait sludge go further in making more mesh bombs.

Won't be out tonight though. Family time........

 

[Lynnzer]

Seems to work fine.

Seems to work fine.

Took a few bait bombs to Horden beach this afternoon.
The sea was flat calm so there wasn't much expectation of catching.
I had two rods. The 1st was baited with a bait bomb on a 4-0 hook and another 3-0 with prawn tipped with smelly old rag.

2nd rod was baited with a large fresh rag on one hook and a bait bomb on the higher hook.

1st cast caught a small flattie on the 4-0 hook with bait bomb. Not a fair catch though as the hook went through its eye but it had been knocking the rod on that bait to stand a chance of becoming foulhooked.

The other hook was stripped clean. Crabs. No doubt about it.

2nd rod had a few light knocks and while I was rebating the stipped rag my other rod nearly took off. The tripod almost keeled over. Didn't get to it in time so haven't a clue what it was.

Every cast with fresh rag and prawn saw them stripped off in no time. The sea was so flat I could see the nibbling of the crabs.
Caught 2 of them both firmly wrapped into the Arma Mesh.They've now become part of my next bait mash mix.

The session was inconclusive really due to the total lack of fish. However one things for sure. The crabs can strip a hook clean in no time but not the Arma Mesh.

I think that the mesh bait bombs do really attract the fish though as most of the knocks I got which resulted in me having to reel in saw an empty rag or prawn hook. Only the Arma Mesh was more or less intact with any chance of doing the business.

When I made my bombs up yesterday I added a can of pilchards in tomato sauce.

The equipment:
Arma Mesh 18mm. a syringe - the sort you use to fill a printer ink tank. The 18mm just bunches up along it beautifully. Bottom of syringe cut off of course..........

When I made my first batch I used a spoon to shovel the gunge into the syringe but being narow it made all sorts of mess.

I've now grafted the syringe into an empty toothpaste tube and fashioned a plunger to squeeze the gunge through the syringe into the mesh.

I know there's a proper tube for doing this but I think it's a few quid.

 

[davydunn]

Old tights

Old tights

You know how many bits and pieces you have left from your bait after a trip out.
Scraps of bluey, mackerel, mussel squid etc. You can only put them in the freezer a couple of times until they all fall apart and get thrown out or you feed the seagulls at the end of a session.

I bought some Fox Arma Mesh yesterday. Gonna give it a try. It's kinda narrow at 14mm but when packed is a useful shape.
I had a small dishful of mixed and mashed scraps of all the above and now have them in the mesh around the size of a small sausage 5 - 6 " long.
The juices are oozing out all over the place. Best place to do this is in the garden to prevent the unholy smell in the kitchen.

I have 8 of these made up for tonight's session all in the freezer until I set off out.
If the smell is the main attraction for fish I guess it should produce. I intend doing a trip to the beach at the bottom of the pier at Seaham. Looks kinda nice but could be very crabby among the rocks.

My last session was on Hendon prom and I lost loads of rag to crabs and pin whities. I think the mesh will at least allow me to hold on to the bait a fair bit longer at the very least. Thinking of it, I could always use a good size rag or lugworm with a covering of mesh too.

Anyone got a success story using this stuff?

I've put old bait in old nylon tights tied it to the grip lead to attract fish,tights cut into small squares bait in the middle tie with bit cotton