RAW PRAWNS

Hi, i am doing a bit of research on using prawns as bait, and wondered who uses them and results from using them.
Been told to try them but i used them years ago in Scotland off the boat and only had coalies on them.

Hi nicki d, been thinkin along the same lines myself lately as worms are hard to get, thanks for asking this, lookin forward to seeing the responses.......

A number of the guys fishing the beaches in the Western Isles this year have had good results with the shop bought prawns

Years ago I used to float fish them off harbour walls and rocks and had a fair bit of success

Paul

they are quite soft ,fine bait elastic will help ,you can also salt them to toughen them up ,not a bait you could power cast miles as your hooks would be bare by the time they reached the sea bed ,live ones fished under a float will get hammered by wrasse and pollock ,i used them on holidays last summer on a charter boat one good hit from a fish and the hook was stripped (you could see the little fish down 15 feet hammering your bait)

did you take the meat out the shell of the tail or leave it on?

I used to buy raw king prawns in the chinese cash and carry in cork. Fairly cheep for the amount you get and I found them good and bought them a good few times. We used to use them off the quays in cobh. We peeled off the shells and popped off the head and whipped them on with loads of bait elastic. They're brilliant at picking out the larger whiting in the shoals and they caught a few codling for us too. Well worth a try. They stink after a while though so don't leave a half bag of them in the boot of your car for a weekend .

thanks mate, will defo try them over the winter. i have a freezer full of mackeral and squid and a few packs of frozen lug but was told to try them and now i wil

Had lots of wrasse, coalies, rockling & pollack on both raw & cooked prans ovet the past few years. Lots of guys use them as a last minute stand-in bait (every Tesco's has them, I buy them when they are on the "Reduced to clear" shelves & freeze them for use later).

I general cut then into segments which are then threaded 2-3 per hook (size 1) this stops them being ripped off in one go by a wrasse.

Sea Angler magazine this month has a good article about a gadget for presenting small, soft baits such as prawn & mussel on small hooks.

i use them quite often with good success and have had lots of different species on them, even taken thornies on king prawns. a few years ago my wee girl had seven different species in a session off lenen pier using only prawns.

Nicki
I have used them in cocktail baits and aslo on their own. As the lads have said, Peel the Raw prawns and take off the head if they are the whole ones. Then use Bait elastic to secure to the hook. Tipping with Mac also helps. I have had rockling and Codling on them in the winter months. Good to have in the freezer as a backup bait. Baiting up when they are semi froozen also helps to keep them on during a cast.

Mick

Thanks Mick defo getting some to put in freezer. I normally do well with my normal mates but I have been told to try them and after your reply and others I will be using it this winter. Thank you very much
Nick

they work for ray and smoothies. had other kinds of smaller species on them. codling seem to have a liking for them. definately worth a shot

Prawns are fantastic, i was fishing in the Humber Estuary a little while bag using raw cooked and shelled prawns put on like a worm, sprayed with WD40 managed a 2lb whiting!

i havent used them myself but i've met quite a few guys on local beaches using them.

i've seen turbot, spurdogs and bass on them so worth a go i'd say.

did you see the new sea angler with the little bait tool in it - shows a good idea for mouting prawns on smaller hooks??

excellent bait for smoothies, thread them on whole then bind with elastic

great all round bait that most species will willingly take. i buy the cooked peeled prawns and discovered a handy tip for keeping them on the hook for power casting. open them up the night before you want to go fishing and give them a good sprinkle of table salt. that toughens them up and makes them stay on the hook a hell of a lot better and dose'nt effect how readily the fish will take them

good tip Al. i do that myself with mussels and wrap in newspaper

I use mussles and limpets right of the rocks when i was younger for wrasse. even slaters crawling about i float fished and the wrasse loved them

nice one mate, i think slaters were the only thing i never tried. did you ever try little trout hooks on the line straight outta the packet with bits of limpet in rockpools for small species. used to do that when out for family drives round the coast lol