Salting bait

[Bloggsy]

I used to go fishing with a mate who always bought the bait and I never took much notice or asked how he prepared his bait. Alas he has been gone now for a number of years but I thought that I see if I could find out the best way to prepasre his bait.

All I know was that he had screw top containers with chunks of bait mostly slimies or salmon which he put in the jars with salt he would then date the containers and I remember that some of the stuff was quite old but certainly worked if the hooks didn't kill the fish the smell would have.

So I have the jars I have the bait and I have a bag of pool salt any advice what to do next and where the best place is to store the jars.

[slowjigger]

No need to keep them salted permanently. Just put then on newspaper with a layer of salt in the fridge overnight to 24 hrs. Then put the bait in plastic bags and freeze.   

[noelm]

Salted bait (in my opinion) is only good as a stand by, nothing beats fresh or simply fresh frozen.

[slowjigger]

39 minutes ago, noelm said:

Salted bait (in my opinion) is only good as a stand by, nothing beats fresh or simply fresh frozen.

Some baits are a bit soft - slimy mackerel, tuna. The idea of salting is to toughen them.

[Tunastrike11]

I sometimes salt slimey fillets and when the moisture was taken out of them i put them in a bag with tuna oil and abit of garlic and put them in the freezer the reef fish seem to like it.

[Yowie]

As Noel stated, fresh bait is better than salted bait, however, in the early mornings, fresh bait may not be available.

I cut off the fillets - mainly tailor, slimies, bonito, little tuna species, yakkas but also smaller trevally and mullet at times. I use a large glass dish. Fillets skin side up, a shallow layer of salt onto them, then turn over and a thicker layer of salt applied. Into the fridge.

One day of salting is good for most of the above, except for larger bonito or small tuna then 2 to 3 days. Drain the water then each fillet separately placed into a plastic bag, labelled with type of fillet and date.

I have used the salted fillets 12 months or more later, the better ones being bonito, tailor, small tuna for that length of time.

[BaitDropper]

8 minutes ago, Yowie said:

As Noel stated, fresh bait is better than salted bait, however, in the early mornings, fresh bait may not be available.

I cut off the fillets - mainly tailor, slimies, bonito, little tuna species, yakkas but also smaller trevally and mullet at times. I use a large glass dish. Fillets skin side up, a shallow layer of salt onto them, then turn over and a thicker layer of salt applied. Into the fridge.

One day of salting is good for most of the above, except for larger bonito or small tuna then 2 to 3 days. Drain the water then each fillet separately placed into a plastic bag, labelled with type of fillet and date.

I have used the salted fillets 12 months or more later, the better ones being bonito, tailor, small tuna for that length of time.

Exactly what I do/have done, , it'll still catch fish.....

I've gone out a heap of time without getting livebait...    

It's all about presentation in my opinion,  I'd prefer live baits or fresh, BUT  they will eat pieces of plastic/rubber and even metal things painted,  We call lures, so why wouldn't they go after a salted piece of frozen fish ??   Present it well, and they will take it just like a fresh fillet... 

Edited April 6 by BaitDropper

[noelm]

Of course you can still catch fish on salted bait (and dozens of other things) but, in my opinion, salted bait is nowhere near as good as fresh, I have used salted bait thousands of times, and been salting bait for decades, but…..remember, it’s my opinion only, not necessarily shared by all!

[sashkello]

When you fish in the surf, salted bait is the way to go because it stays on the hook way better. There is no point in all the benefits of unsalted bait if it got off the hook when hitting water and you don't even know if it's there at all... Sure, use fresh at other times, but I find myself not having any fun when beach fishing with bait which crumbles easily.