09-03-2009, 03:06 PM
Salting (Brining) is extremely common, especially for offshore fishermen. Sometimes you can find a solid source of blast-frozen baits, which is the best way to go. Anyway you look at it, if your bait isn't fresh or live, it needs to be in the best and most natural shape. Would you eat a burger if it looked horrible and smelled like rotten eggs?
My experience is mostly with stocking up on ribbonfish early in the season and keeping the freezer stocked so I continue to have them throughout the season. Though, its the same case for anything from cigar minnows to ballyhoo. The best possible thing you can do, is catch your own bait or buy it as soon as it hits the bait shops. Get home and get ready to preserve it, if not done properly, a bait will "wash-out" very quickly.
I would always soak the baits in a mixture of salt water, kosher salt and ice. If at all possible (Ballyhoo) Id try to rig them after soaking. After each bait was rigged and rinsed in salt water, I'd place it in a cooler between layers of cubed or crushed ice. I'd then pour/sprinkle the ice and baits with baking soda and more salt I'd usually put the rigging in baggies "zipping them closed as much as possible to keep them from sticking to the ice. As the ice melted mixing the salt and baking soda, a near-freezing mixture (brine) is created, this strengthens and preserves the bait. The brine was maintained by adding ice and salt as necessary and periodically draining the cooler as often as possible, usually daily to make sure the bait stays in top condition.
Thawing them out is pretty simple, as soon as you step foot on the boat, lean over the side, fill a bucket with fresh saltwater, put 6-10 in the bucket to let them thaw, every 10-15 minutes pick them up, and bend their backs, moving them in a "snakelike" action, it'll keep them flexible.
[signature]
My experience is mostly with stocking up on ribbonfish early in the season and keeping the freezer stocked so I continue to have them throughout the season. Though, its the same case for anything from cigar minnows to ballyhoo. The best possible thing you can do, is catch your own bait or buy it as soon as it hits the bait shops. Get home and get ready to preserve it, if not done properly, a bait will "wash-out" very quickly.
I would always soak the baits in a mixture of salt water, kosher salt and ice. If at all possible (Ballyhoo) Id try to rig them after soaking. After each bait was rigged and rinsed in salt water, I'd place it in a cooler between layers of cubed or crushed ice. I'd then pour/sprinkle the ice and baits with baking soda and more salt I'd usually put the rigging in baggies "zipping them closed as much as possible to keep them from sticking to the ice. As the ice melted mixing the salt and baking soda, a near-freezing mixture (brine) is created, this strengthens and preserves the bait. The brine was maintained by adding ice and salt as necessary and periodically draining the cooler as often as possible, usually daily to make sure the bait stays in top condition.
Thawing them out is pretty simple, as soon as you step foot on the boat, lean over the side, fill a bucket with fresh saltwater, put 6-10 in the bucket to let them thaw, every 10-15 minutes pick them up, and bend their backs, moving them in a "snakelike" action, it'll keep them flexible.
[signature]