skewered mussel

mussel can be a great bait. but it can take time to prepare. when the weathers bad the last thing u want to do is wrap another freezing mussel to your hook. so do it at home! simply use a baiting needle or straight piece of stiff wire, ie. from coat hangers, and thread up all the mussel you require for a session. do this over a bait bucket for obvious reasons. now whip the whole lot with elasticated cotton until its nice and tight(but don't overdo it). wrap in cling film and a then a roll of paper and stick in the freezer. the next time u need mussel on the beach simply slide the required lenght of mussel off the wire, cut and put on hook. with a bait needle u can just slide the mussel straight onto the hook. use as whole bait or for tipping others. u can add other baits to the mussel after it has been placed on the wire and whip them altogether to give the fish a treat. it can pay to cut fish pieces up at home and put them on a baiting needle -it makes a fishing session more enjoyable because u can spend more time looking at the rod tips. * shop bought mussel must be thawed out first.

I took this a stage further once by actually baiting hooks with mussels and using elastic thread to keep them in place, then the same routine with the cling film and newspaper.

Once fishing I didn't have to footer about with transferring the bait to hooks - I simply tied the already baited hook to my trace.


............................... didn't catch anything though!!!