Freezing bait.

[Ankle.Biter]

Hello chaps.

After all the expense of boat, electronics, fuel, mariner costs, comes the big one. Bait.

Now last year I threw away quite a bit. So in these difficult times how do you freeze / store / prolong the life of your bait.

Any hints and tips on freezing the buggers.

I fancied trying a few Peeler this season, however I've seen them on tinternet for £150 for 100 crab. This seems a bit steep, or is ok.

Cheers chaps for the advice.

 

[tonybax]

extortion that imho, dont rate peeler in the boat at all.
most consistant boat baits on hard ground are mussell/lug anyway just my opinion.

 

[Ankle.Biter]

extortion that imho, dont rate peeler in the boat at all.
most consistant boat baits on hard ground are mussell/lug anyway just my opinion.

How do you store lug? Is it wrapped in newspaper with sawdust and kept in the fridge?

How long can you store it for before it is useless?

 

[DaveyP]

I use runnydown, squid and macky on the boat, all are refreezable.

 

[KeithB]

Crab can be deadly at this time of year on the inshore wrecks.

Going rate is about 90p / £1 per crab.

 

[volante]

Just get yourself a load of frozen blacks, squid and mussel, have re-frozen them and still caught fish ( freezer-boat-freezer). If you want crab buy it locally and bollocks to all those
rip off mechants down south/e-bay - normally crap anyway !!!!!!!!!

Davey

ps - havent forgot your engine !!!!!!!!!!

 

[steppeydog]

to keep my frozen bait i just bought a large 1.5litre stainless steel flask and just pull out i need as the session goes on

 

[canman]

Fresh lugworm are easily kept alive for 2-3 weeks in cat litter trays with half an inch of sea water in them in a fridge. Change the water as soon as it starts looking coloured with same temp water. 20 worms to a tray for good results.

Inshore fishing with fresh or frozen crab once the peel has started on the shoreline is unbeatable. To freeze, peel the crab, wrap individually in cling film, and freeze.

Wrap runnydown in glossy type paper so they are not touching each other and freeze.

Mussel, shell about 20, lay them flat on some cling film, put another layer of cling film on top, fold all sides over, and place flat in the freezer. Doing them this way helps defrost them a whole lot quicker.

 

[Ankle.Biter]

Thanks everyone. I've bough the Missus a new fridge freezer. That means I can have the old one in the garage.

Hopefully this advice and an old hotpoint diamond delux can save me a few quid and embarrassment of throwing bait in for the crabs.

 

[Kev1n]

Plenty of good advice in the posts above. I’d just add that once the mackerel show up, you can catch a bucket full of fresh bait once you’re out on the boat. Bring a few spare ones home to freeze to get you started on the next trip in case you don’t find a shoal straight away.