Thread: Salted bait

Used to fillet and salt bait for a commercial bait supplier couple of years back. I would fillet between 60 to 100 kg wet fish per day three or four times a week. Bait was stacked in aluminium trays about 1100 long and about 500 wide with a 50 mil up stand with a layer of salt (Farmlands) then a layer of fillets followed by another two layers depending on the fillet thickness usually two or three layers high. The trays were stacked with a 4x2 block@one end so the liquid would drain out the holes drilled in the trays downhill end. Curing time 1 to 3 days depending on fillet thickness and degree of salting wanted. No racks, no resalting, no refrigeration, no stink, no flies, unless you were a messy prick. Kahawhai, skippy mullet mackerel barracuda trevally and bullet tuna were main victims. Whole pillies took about 3days. All frames and heads went into Berley.
Cheers MG

I lie my baits (pre cut pilchard/squid/trevally/mullet) in rows in an empty ice cream container, and salt each layer. I drill holes in the bottom of the container to drain the fluid off, and add fish oil to keep the baits moist. Using baits of up to 3 years old, I regularly catch fish. The baits stay on the hook.

this sounds like a lot of effort when koi carp stays on the hook well and is fun to shoot with a bow!

When in the BOP I bought skippies or mackerel by the box for bait, filleted and salted before storing in lidded icecream containers. Once ‘cured’ it went into the freezer. The saline content was so high, most fillets remained pliable, so easy to cut into bait sizes. The heads and frames were smashed up using a heavy X shaped plunger guided down a large pvc pipe section. The end product was scooped up and frozen in double bread bags before being used as berley.
Although many suggest iodised salt should not be used, it has only a few parts per million on iodine. I used pool salt from Dominion saltworks at the Mount.

I am not sure why one would drain the moisture off when salting baits, I would have thought it was part of the cure to leave it in the container...I had thought of salting for a period of time and then laying the baits in vacuum packing plastic and vacuuming it....has anyone done this?

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

this sounds like a lot of effort when koi carp stays on the hook well and is fun to shoot with a bow!

No koi in Northland! At least not enough to make them a viable target. Even if I had koi, I would still salt them for the reasons above.

Originally Posted by DavidGunn

I am not sure why one would drain the moisture off when salting baits, I would have thought it was part of the cure to leave it in the container...

Bacteria need water to grow. Removing the fluid reduces the amount of bacteria that can grow and prevents spoiling. That is the basis of salting. Regardless, water is pulled out of the bait by the salt via osmosis, so it just makes a sticky mess around the bait rather than enhancing its attractiveness.

Originally Posted by Ranger 888

I lie my baits (pre cut pilchard/squid/trevally/mullet) in rows in an empty ice cream container, and salt each layer. I drill holes in the bottom of the container to drain the fluid off, and add fish oil to keep the baits moist. Using baits of up to 3 years old, I regularly catch fish. The baits stay on the hook.

Can up the production by not shagging about with ice cream containers and layer all your baits in one 20 litre container, holes in bottom
and put the thickest fillets as first layer, at the bottom of the bucket. Then put them in the ice cream punnets, or vac seal them and freeze them.
I always rinsed excess salt off baits before packing. Salt can always be reused if clean enough. Just sun dry it first.
Cheers MG