How Tasty Is Your Bait?

Stizzla

Crew Member
Do you care to share your recipe?

I take the desired amount of anchovies, and plop them into some pro cure brine mixed with extra rock salt and add a little squirt of pro cure blue colouring which shines them up nicely.
 
Do you care to share your recipe?

I take the desired amount of anchovies, and plop them into some pro cure brine mixed with extra rock salt and add a little squirt of pro cure blue colouring which shines them up nicely.
When I fish bait I use the Pro-Cure Complete in Chartreuse Glow and coarse salt. They are so bright they are like radioactive lol. They last several days if kept cold as well. I’ll take a picture next time and show you how bright they are in the water. I also prefer the Oki JDF heads for Anchovies. If you see the color ‘Limon’ pick it up as it’s a proven bait head for big springs.

WW
 

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Do you care to share your recipe?

I take the desired amount of anchovies, and plop them into some pro cure brine mixed with extra rock salt and add a little squirt of pro cure blue colouring which shines them up nicely.

Considering trying out this radioactive-like stuff this weekend.... Just a bit worried about what it would do to the deck of the boat if it spilled etc... does it stain?

Thanks!
 
When I fish bait I use the Pro-Cure Complete in Chartreuse Glow and coarse salt. They are so bright they are like radioactive lol. They last several days if kept cold as well. I’ll take a picture next time and show you how bright they are in the water. I also prefer the Oki JDF heads for Anchovies. If you see the color ‘Limon’ pick it up as it’s a proven bait head for big springs.

WW
I’m going to pick some up today. I’ve been wanting to try it!
 
Considering trying out this radioactive-like stuff this weekend.... Just a bit worried about what it would do to the deck of the boat if it spilled etc... does it stain?

Thanks!
Hi Soup Knot.... I use the radioactive stuff... Chartreuse.... no staining... but I do hose it down within a minute or two of spilling..
I usually mix up 3 bags of Anchovies when I go for a few days... one in Chartreuse, one in the Blue... and one with just rock salt... the Chartreuse is usually the proven winner out of all 3. I use it on my extra large herring for Halibut as well... and it outperforms..
Buy it on line at Amazon... they sell the Chartreuse.
The stuff has proven itself with me for sure... and the anchovies and herring will last for days in it if you keep them cold....
 
BTW..... I mix it with bottled water... you don't need much.... I put about 1/4 of the bottle in with 2-3 bottles of water and some rock salt from Bulk Barn with 20-30 Anchovies..... Let them brine at least overnight before you start to use them.
 
Hi Soup Knot.... I use the radioactive stuff... Chartreuse.... no staining... but I do hose it down within a minute or two of spilling..
I usually mix up 3 bags of Anchovies when I go for a few days... one in Chartreuse, one in the Blue... and one with just rock salt... the Chartreuse is usually the proven winner out of all 3. I use it on my extra large herring for Halibut as well... and it outperforms..
Buy it on line at Amazon... they sell the Chartreuse.
The stuff has proven itself with me for sure... and the anchovies and herring will last for days in it if you keep them cold....
Perfect, thanks!
 
Funny story, i came home from work & the wife was cooking up the salmon belly strips i intended for halibut.
Good thing they weren't procured.you don't have to worry about the chartreuse dyes staining your boat but every other colour can make a big mess
 
Do you care to share your recipe?

I take the desired amount of anchovies, and plop them into some pro cure brine mixed with extra rock salt and add a little squirt of pro cure blue colouring which shines them up nicely.
Scents/colors etc can be a pretty personal thing and lot's of time/comparison's on the water you'll find yourself leaning certain ways with what color's/scents work best for you where you are fishing.
But saying that there is a desired "texture" of bait that will hold on to your hooks and keep it's shape much longer than poorly or not cured bait does. And that's a "leathery/rubbery" texture.
To get that texture you will want to start to cure your bait a couple days (2 to 4 days) ahead of time. after adding your color to the bait layer the bait in a container with rock salt below, on top, and around every piece with paper towels between each layer. Stacking in even layers. Every 12 hrs or so remove the bait and see how wet the paper towels and rock salt has gotten. Then re pack and re stack the bait with new paper towel and the rock salt. After repeating this a few times you will find that even the rock salt will need to be changed out cause even though the paper towel gets wet the rock salt will also become heavy and saturated as well. This will slow down the full ability of the rock salt to continue pulling the moisture out as effectively as it was doing when you put it in fresh. So after the first day and half or so I also replace all the rock salt and re stack with new paper towel and new rock salt then continue to do this till you find the rock salt and paper towel isn't holding any more moisture. You keep checking the bait till you get the perfect texture. Then when you reach that point you wanna make sure if you have a lot of bait and will be using it over a couple days that you don't continue to keep it in too much rock salt or it will become too dry and can crack the skin of the bait and actually dull the look of the bait over time. So If I am gonna be using it on a longer few day trip I keep it in the fridge or cooler with just very little rock salt in paper towel after I have fully cured it. Once it looks like it may get too dry you can keep them hydrated by rolling them in moist paper towel. I keep bait perfect like this for a month at a time.
 
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Do you keep the bait in the fridge for the 2 days of curing before you leave for your trip? I usually just cover in salt the night before trip as I find by the second day that the bait doesn’t look that nice. Maybe I’m just not keeping it cold enough.
 
Do you keep the bait in the fridge for the 2 days of curing before you leave for your trip? I usually just cover in salt the night before trip as I find by the second day that the bait doesn’t look that nice. Maybe I’m just not keeping it cold enough.
Yes I keep in in the fridge while curing. If it gets warm it will get soft and slow the curing down.
You can also play with adding sugar to the cure too in order to tweek the rubberyness of the cure. It also helps keep it from over drying with the added bit of sugar. The main thing is to swap out the moist paper towels as soon as they are saturated with moisture then to replace and re stack the bait and when the rock salt is too moist then replace that too. Even when on my boat the bait stays in the fridge the whole time. If I keep it out on the fish deck it's in a small lunch cooler on an ice pack. Warmth is not the bait's friend.
 
I haven't found the right bait cooler or container yet.The brine/salt usualy ends up spilling everywhere in the boat during travel to the fishing grounds. I just take frozen from the frezzer bait ,add salt to cover in the bait cooler .travel to the launch and add sea water to the bait cooler once fishing.now remembing to drain the bait box before heading back home is another thing.
 
Yes I keep in in the fridge while curing. If it gets warm it will get soft and slow the curing down.
You can also play with adding sugar to the cure too in order to tweek the rubberyness of the cure. It also helps keep it from over drying with the added bit of sugar. The main thing is to swap out the moist paper towels as soon as they are saturated with moisture then to replace and re stack the bait and when the rock salt is too moist then replace that too. Even when on my boat the bait stays in the fridge the whole time. If I keep it out on the fish deck it's in a small lunch cooler on an ice pack. Warmth is not the bait's friend.
I’ll give that a try next trip. I was actually going to start a post to see what people do for multi-day trips. Don’t have the luxury of a fridge so have to keep cool with ice. Nothing worse than having bad bait halfway through a trip when you can’t get more.
 
I haven't found the right bait cooler or container yet.The brine/salt usualy ends up spilling everywhere in the boat during travel to the fishing grounds. I just take frozen from the frezzer bait ,add salt to cover in the bait cooler .travel to the launch and add sea water to the bait cooler once fishing.now remembing to drain the bait box before heading back home is another thing.
Have a look at the Engel 13 quart bait cooler. Waterproof, won’t leak, two nice snaps and Engel quality to keep things cool. I’ve seen good reviews on YouTube.

I’m gonna get one...

WW
 
Chasing dreams.....as a bait professional I find your post spot on. Glad to hear it the minute details..
Cheers!
Right on thanks Whitebuck. I love my spoons too but bait is my go to most of the time. Have played around with so many ways to cure bait and this is what I find the best overall. I have a few different ways I scent and color but that's always done prior to the curing for me.

I'll post a picture tomorrow of the bait containers I use that have seals on the tops and snap closed. I get them from Canadian tire and I like them the best out of the ones I've used over the years.
 
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