Nippers

[damariboyz]

Hi all

I want to get some Nippers at Maianbar and keep them overnight at home for use the next morning. I have an aerator so they should keep not to bad. I expect quite a few casualties though. My question is if my following day's fishing is ruined for any reason what should I do with them Freeze them or place them in the fridge. Keeping in mind that it may be a week before I get out fishing again.

PS..I really dont want to have to throw them out that would upset me and I would rather just spend the money and get them fresh at the tackle shop on the morning.

Russ

[Guest]

Gdayyyyyy Russ ,take a 25 litre drum with you for a top up of fresh water as well when you get home and the nippers will survive in good conditon .

Air stones and a small pump will help with their longivity.

Kept in a small amount of water and in a cool place you wont have many die and if you see any that are belly up remove them and place in clip lock bag and fridge them or freeze them in water and they will work fine.

Cheers Stewy

[jewgaffer]

Hi all

I want to get some Nippers at Maianbar and keep them overnight at home for use the next morning. I have an aerator so they should keep not to bad. I expect quite a few casualties though. My question is if my following day's fishing is ruined for any reason what should I do with them Freeze them or place them in the fridge. Keeping in mind that it may be a week before I get out fishing again.

PS..I really dont want to have to throw them out that would upset me and I would rather just spend the money and get them fresh at the tackle shop on the morning.

Russ

Hi Russ,

Stewys method is a good one and pretty easy to do.

One method of keeping them alive for long periods is to drain away all water and ensure the yabbies are fairly dry. Place a 2 inch layer of untreated wood shaving in an esky and place yabbies evenly spaced on top of the shavings. Place as many layers as needed ensuring the yabbies are not on top of each other and each layer of wood shavings as about 2 inches thick. Put the lid on the esky and keep cool preferabley below 20 deg celsius. Yabbies can be kept alive and kicking for almost a week using this method.

Russ I Hope this helps too

jewgaffer

[wildfish]

hey jewgaffer! is that freshwater yabbies or pink nippers?

ive heard that freezing them can turn them mushie! but gary browns trick is he sits them on paper towel untill they dry out completely then freezes them in chineese containers! apparently works great!

[jewgaffer]

hey jewgaffer! is that freshwater yabbies or pink nippers?

ive heard that freezing them can turn them mushie! but gary browns trick is he sits them on paper towel untill they dry out completely then freezes them in chineese containers! apparently works great!

This method worked on freshwater crayfish and saltwater yabbies and on live prawns sent to Japan to keep them alive but I don't know what they're doing with live prawns these days but I know what I do with the imported ones either give them to jetty mutes to catch toads or eat them and

Cheers

jewgaffer

[wildfish]

thats amazing! who'd of thought!

[Davemmm]

gary browns trick is he sits them on paper towel untill they dry out completely then freezes them in chineese containers! apparently works great!

Unfortunately nippers start out soft and mushy. Unlike prawns they have a very soft body and it doesnt matter what you do to them they are no where near as good dead as they are alive. As they are soft when alive they are soft and useless after being frozen.

I have the luxury of living close to salt water so it is not much effort for me to go and get another bucket of water when needed. This is the only way you will keep nippers in a manner which leaves them in a good state to fish with. When I get nippers I remove the dead ones every morning (bag and freeze them and use for burley). Every second day I use a small fine net and move the nippers to the fresh bucket of water ensuring that anything other than nippers is discarded ie pieces of nipper and crap. The trick is though you have to move them to clean water after the first 12 hrs. Like any live bait that you try and keep they dirty the water big time in the first day.

If they are kept with good, fresh, clean water they can stay alive for a long period of time. Frozen they are only good for burley.

Dave

[damariboyz]

Great advice fella's will put it all to good use.

Russ

[my03]

when keeping anything from the sea alive, a airator does help, but its not really lack of oxygen that kills them, fish will shit and piss in the water, this breaks down into amonia which is toxic to fish, it eventually makes their gills unable to absorb oxygen or something along those lines.

you best best it to do regular waterchanges, and since its overnight, it should be too much of a task.

[dazzassj6]

when keeping anything from the sea alive, a airator does help, but its not really lack of oxygen that kills them, fish will shit and piss in the water, this breaks down into amonia which is toxic to fish, it eventually makes their gills unable to absorb oxygen or something along those lines.

you best best it to do regular waterchanges, and since its overnight, it should be too much of a task.

so true, i used to catch crab and small puffer fish wen i was young and it shits and it makes the water really dirty and they eventually die. The crab that i had lasted for like 2 days. Cuz i left seaweed as food for it to eat but not knowing it needs to shit too.

[gbrown1]

Hi All

Yes they may be soft when they are thawed out after they have been frozen, but they are still a great bait to use for bream and trevally. I have even caught kingfish on them.

Maybe it is the way that you put them onto your hook. I put the point and barb section of the hook into the head (the same way I do it when they are alive) and then place a couple of half hitches around the tail.

Rigging the pink nipeer this way I have never had one fly off the hook and I have still caught plenty of fish.

I find the trick to freezing them is to dry the nipper down first, put into a container and then freeze. I don't add anything else to the container. There are other ways that it can be done, but I find this the easiest way to do it.

Scotty Lyons has been doing this for years and he is a successful charter operator.

Hope this helps

[jewgaffer]

Hi All

Yes they may be soft when they are thawed out after they have been frozen, but they are still a great bait to use for bream and trevally. I have even caught kingfish on them.

I find the trick to freezing them is to dry the nipper down first, put into a container and then freeze. I don't add anything else to the container. There are other ways that it can be done, but I find this the easiest way to do it.

Hope this helps

Hi gbrown1

I thought the old dry method might still be used.

You may be the port hacking fisho Gary Brown?

My father used the dry method in the forties in Cowra to keep crayfish alive. He put them in chaff bags with willow tree leaves and old wood shavings to separate them. He dried the small ones to go in the fridges.

He used to supply fish and crayfish to the Greek cafes in Kendall St, the Garden of Roses and the Golden Key, when the P.O.W camp was used as a troop training facilty.

I often bring this story up when talking about Cowra. During the Cowra breakout I was riding a dinky in our backyard near the river, when two escaped prisoners jumped the fence. My mother didn't know what to do but they just rubbed my head, waved and ran off. Many prisoners were later found hanged under the bridge. Pretty touching story that one. My father knew Sargeant McGuiness, a local soldier and one of the guards killed when large numbers of prisoners ran at the machine guns and over powered the guards.

Thanks

jewgaffer

[Davemmm]

Jewgaffer you are a wealth of interesting stories.

Have you thought about a book? Tales of the fishing cabbie, maybe.

Dave