bait mussell or muscells???????????

[blastman]

hi all, well how many cod have we all caught this week on mussle,anyway talking about mussels might of got a few of us out fishing this week ,what about clams some seaham lads i know shell them then let them stand for a week so they are smelly then freeze they get good results with them after a stir up regards john

 

[gogs]

the name of the big mussels are clappydoos (spelling might be a bit shite there) and as a bait goes they are pretty crap they tend to be very watery and they dont have much meat for the size of the shell.
much prefer frozen mussel to fresh as a bait as they catch better.

 

[Ell]

beat me to it Gordon! Seen a Peely Wally eating Clappydo\'s on the sea front once

 

[TC]

\"well how many cod have we all caught this week on mussle\"


1X 2lb codling, So Shields little beach, Boxing Day.......also several whiting.

Got the codling 1st and thought....HoHo....good night ahead......everything else was whiting, though.

[Edited on 31/12/2004 by TC]

 

[tala]

\"well how many cod have we all caught this week on mussle\"

Had two sessions out and about this week, first sesh had 5 to 3lb, + one billet and lost a monster, all caught on mussel that had been refrozen a couple of times (stinking), second time out had 2 codling, 1.5-2lb, 6 whites and a couple of billet all but the whites caught on mussel and squid cocktail (fresh mussel this time).
Apart from crab (hermit, and velvets), mussel has got to be the best bait to use in the run up to New Year, Billet love em, after its got to be fresh blacks.
Just my preference lads

 

[Red5]

I never use anything other than Lug, Mool(mussell and Runnydown as a cocktail and have outfished people standing next to me using half a crab at the same time.

 

[tala]

\"I never use anything other than Lug, Mool(mussell and Runnydown as a cocktail and have outfished people standing next to me using half a crab at the same time.\"

That depends on the venue and time of year, where do you normally fish when you can outfish crab Red?
December/January Lug will outfish crab 9 times out of ten, the places I go (and there are a good few) lug will do next to nowt early on and after Febuary (apart from whiting).
I have outfished lads using crab when I\'m using lug and mussel, but not often.
Still its all about what your confident with.

 

[Chris_Hughes]

I\'ve never had much success with mussel and I find it a hassle to present as a bait. Scalding them with boiling water helps with opening/shelling and toughens them up but I think it also impairs the flavour. One trick I got from an old timer and I want to try is putting fresh mussels inside an empty tea bag, buy the cheapest tea bags from the supermarket, cut the bag open and bin the tea (it\'s crap anyway) and each bag costs less than a penny each. The bag of mussel is then easy to tie onto the hook. I suppose the tea bag trick could be used with various pulverized/soft baits.

Under the right conditions (i.e. after stormy conditions) shellfish baits can be very productive as the beaches are littered with exposed dying shellfish which the fish gorge on.

 

[blastman]

hi chris, these mussles in tea bags what are they like to drink as a subsitute for tea bags have a happy new year ps love mussles as bait just cant be bothered with them though we used to feed them put them in water and put flour in the water dos,nt half make them swell out

 

[tala]

I honestly cannot see what is so hard about scaling mussel, I\'ve been using it for as long as I can remember and can scale a bag of mussel in minutes. The more you do the easier it gets, it\'s like owt else.
As for putting it on the hook, again nothing easier, hook thro the white mussely bit and then throught the main body, put between 5 and ten mussel on then fasten with elastic.
Cheap easy to use and best of all codling love it.

 

[Hiram.A.Biff]

Re Mussels lads,
This is how I do it, whip a load on to plastic straws in a nice warm house. so you get like a big mussel sausage, cut into 2 inch lengths, and freeze or use, put the hook point into the length of straw, and slide the mussel off onto hook. works a treat, and saves wannying about on a cold beach.

 

[Red5]

Tala....I\'ve used nowt other than mussell, lug and runnydown as a cocktail all season. Lads I usually fish with have been standing right next to me casting same distance using same rigs but have used a couple of crab, lug and runnydown as a cocktail and I\'ve still outfished them. I don\'t know maybe it is a confidence thing. Maybe the fish can smell the confidence on me lol!

 

[TC]

Tala, you\'re dead right about \"the more you do, the easier it gets\".......but you must admit, there is a knack to it and is is difficult to do before you acquire the knack.

As far as putting them on the hook goes, I always put the hook though the \"tongue\" then through the white bit.....seem to \"sit\" better that way and doesn\'t damage the fleshy bit.

 

[tala]

Carnt fault you Tony, bang on mate. It does take a while to get the knack, but once you\'ve got it it really is a piece of pee.
What a mess I used to make when I first started (of the mussel and my fingers), but it was all worth it in the end.
Practise makes perfect like owt else

 

[blastman]

hi tony spot on shelling becomes easier thro time and i put them on exactly as you say regards john

 

[MikeR]

Tal, where do you get your hermits from? Saw frozen ones for sale once in Brid (huge bag dirt cheap) but never seen then in any other tackle shop.

I use the scalding method with the mussells, but would love to be able to do them totally raw. Any chance of someone either giving a good description of how to do it..or even better a photographic guide?

 

[Chris_Hughes]

The best thing I saw for shelling mussell was an old table knife ground down to about the size of the tip of your little finger and the same shape, with the edge ground to a cutting edge but not so sharp as to cut the skin if you ran your finger along it. This short stubby knife was easy to use for opening the mussell shells and also scooping the meat out. Pop in to Dave at Redcar Angling, it was him that showed me the knife.

Fresh or scalded, I still think that mussell presentation is a faff. They are small and soft so you need more than one on the hook and binding them on when your fingers are so cold you can\'t feel them isn\'t easy. That\'s where the tea bag trick comes in, been thinking on and you could also try a bit of gauze bandage to wrap round them and the hook then elastic thread to tie everything up.

 

[ginger]

Cut the wife tights into squares and use them for any type of bait.

 

[alan]

fishnets any use

 

[gogs]

Mike next time i am shelling some i will get some pics taking,its really easy once you have done a few