Tips for getting razorfish?????????

I have found a place close to home where razorfish are but dont know the best way to collect them eg. tide, weather, digging, salting????????
Any help would be great.......

SALT!,pour some down there borrows, it can take up to 10/15 mins. for them to pop up.

pick a line you want to walk say about 30 or so yards. you must walk backwards, when you do this you should see the razor squirt water up into the air at that moment pour the salt down the hole about 3 seconds of salt should do it ie your pouring for three seconds.
keep going till you have done you desired Lent of a walk then turn
around do the same back down. if you want you could bring someone to collect them so you can keep going with out stopping. i do bring the young lad jacko with me he loves it.
hope this helps.

bru

steve, a word of warning, be careful, as they have very sharp teeth, and can give a nasty bite if handled incorrectly. :P

Hi,

If you want a fun way of picking razor I was out in Dingle with Bob Moss years ago and he went picking razor with his fingers! It works and no poxy messing with salt either.

Just jam your first and index finger down into the sand about an inch away from the hole and down at an angle, 9 times out of 10 you'll trap the razor against the side of his burrow just hold him there with finger pressure for a few seconds until it tires of trying to escape and then pull it out.

I know, glass, bits of shell etc. can damage fingers and salt is the traditional and more likely better way but there are other ways to skin a cat as they say and it's a lot of fun.

Liam

FWIW The way we used to 'salt' them was to take a soft plastic bottle e.g. washing-up liquid, and put in a good amount of salt. Fill with sea water and shake well; you should end up with a thick gooey liquid. Then point the nozzle down the hole and give it a good squirt. This gets the over salty water to the fish immediatly. Just pouring the salt down can be slow as the salt takes a while to sink.

FWIW The way we used to 'salt' them was to take a soft plastic bottle e.g. washing-up liquid, and put in a good amount of salt. Fill with sea water and shake well; you should end up with a thick gooey liquid. Then point the nozzle down the hole and give it a good squirt. This gets the over salty water to the fish immediatly. Just pouring the salt down can be slow as the salt takes a while to sink.

Nice tip mate. Guys who collect a lot could also use a pumped garden sprayer. A few pumps and you have enough pressure to spray a lot of razor burrows.

Kev

try and pick a mild day, this cold nor est wind is a killer and sometimes they only barely come up. Have a look for some white rag while your there. You will often get the good big ones on the banks where you get razors. But you will have to dig for these unless someone knows a trick.

Those in the know as it were tend to use proper salt and not a salt solution. As far as winds go, it might have been bitter this weekend but there were plenty of people having considerable success locally,myself included.

Hi petekd
any north in the wind certainly helps a certain bank down your way to strip that little bit extra.

It does indeed.... :wink:

What does a razorfish burrow look like? How do you recognize it in the sand? Anybody got an videos/pictures? Searched in Youtube and although they have some interesting videos it's not really that useful. Thanks.

What does a razorfish burrow look like? How do you recognize it in the sand? Anybody got an videos/pictures? Searched in Youtube and although they have some interesting videos it's not really that useful. Thanks.

Try this [url]http://www.wirralseafishing.co.uk/learningzone/razorfishcollection.php[/url]

Not great pictures but better than a slap in the belly with a wet mackeral.

You could also ask petekd to point you those those in the know... :roll: :shock: as it were..... :D

Hi grangebellew,
look for a small hole in the sand that looks like an old fashion key hole. You will know exactly what it is when you see it. Sometimes you will get a spurt of water out of it as you step closer to it. Always walk as lightly as you can. Pour a small amount of salt into the hole and wait for the razor to stick up. You will only get them in places that are exposed on the larger tides.

I was fortunate enough to be shown by the local bait gathering machine that is Donal Domeney. There is a particularly odd looking dance that accompanies razor gathering in these parts. Basically involves walking backwards whilst stamping on the sand from one foot to another. What this does is scare the razorfish into diving down. As it does this, this is when you get your water spurt and "keyhole" opening. The key to this method of gathering is speed in getting a quick squirt of salt into the burrow ASAP. Doesn't take too much salt either for that matter if you get it in quick enough, a little squirt is enough.

Slowarm, I wasn't having a pop at your suggestion about the salty water, I have seen that advocated in many an article, however, the weapon of choice and from those who gather regularly in these parts at least is that plain salt is best. Maybe thats laziness on our parts..... :D Leave them to come up by themselves btw, as I found out initially to my cost, if you reach for them too fast, away they will go. Once popped up properly they tend to stay up and you can gather them at your leisure.

Beats the hell out of digging lug for handiness sake :D .

Hi Keeper, Thanks.
I've been out with recently with my SAXA table salt and had some sucess. The 2 issues for me were:

Hi Keeper, Thanks.
I've been out with recently with my SAXA table salt and had some sucess. However, the 2 big issues for me were:
o Finding the borrows
o After they dive under the sand the salt doesn't help in getting them back up again...
Althought reading here it seems that I need to squirt a liquid solution of salt down the burrow rather than pour the grains over the burrow

Pete,

Didn't think you were having a pop, just seeing if I could jerk a chain or two. :evil: :twisted: :D


I've also heard the argument for pure salt and the salt mixture; the salt mixture should be more than salty water, as I said it should be more like gooey - almost a paste. I was shown how to do this by a guy who used to long-line on Sandymount Strand - not commercially I don't think, just walked out, left the baited line and came back out at the next low tide. His argument was that the dry salt did it's natural thing when dropped in the burrow and soaked water from the sand and then sank down the burrow; all he was doing was speeding up the natural process. But there were others who said 'dry salt was yer owenly man'.

I'm intrigued by the picture of Mr Domeney dancing backwards; I can't explain why!

Steve

PS how does he see the squirt? :shock:

Thanks for all the suggestions lads ill be out at the weekend so ill see how i get on..........................

If your very lucky the razorfish will already be lying on top of sand. This has happened me a couple of times, then it is a matter of running around picking them up as fast as you can before the tide starts to turn. Has anyone else experienced this? I think a mild muggy day or night helps.

I find that it is far easier to collect razor from dry sand that from wet for the simple reason you have a better chance of getting your salt solution down the hole before it fills with water. However I found that some days the sand is wet and you have to put up with it. If the razor hole fills with water before you get your salt in then stick your finger into the whole and it will open up again for a split second or just long enough for you to get your solution into the hole.

Never had any real success on razor but I believe that it can be good on the east Cork beaches.


Stevie forget about the weekend, the tides are too small. you need a big spring tide like we are after having, even with that a strong onshore wind can f*** things up. The next chance might not be until the 6th/7th May.