Antrim rock mark 29 Dec 10.

4pm to midnight. High tide at about 6pm, Very mild conditions, nice, wee bit of a wave coming in.

Just another fairly predictable session off the rocks, no joy with the codling, 4 dogs, 3 coley and 5 whiting. One of the coleys was a bit over the pound, didnt measure it.

Was using squid strips, sandeel and also tried raw fresh mussel bound up with bait elastic. It looked the part but the squid out fished it. The tiny doggie below took a sandeel.

Are mussel supposed to be boiled out of their shells for use as bait? Not easy to get out in one piece when alive.

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well done mate good session, nice wee mix of fish...i cant seem to use mussel either as bait. its like putting soup on a hook as you said i might try to slightly cook them first....

Boiling the mussel for 60 secnds or so will toughen them up a bit, but I feel your losing some of the scent by doing it.

I use a baiting needle and put 10-15 raw mussel on, then wrap the entire lot in bait elasctic to form a sort of sausage, slide it off the baiting needle when done and just cut off pieces to the size you require.

This can be done at home and put in the freezer to save time fishing.

Id say we might get some Codling after the next decent blow, keep an eye on the weather.

good advice there from shamoo - a quick boil sounds the answer.
i saw a video link here somewhere for using them baiting needles, great job. i will have to get a hol of one of them there yolks hey

Baiting tips here

http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Sea-Angler/S ... 1z13kd3Zer

More here

http://www.planetseafishing.com/tutoria ... /bait/P10/

Probably worth a youtube search aswell

Thanks for the links shamoo, must have a look, would like to get some confidence in using mussel, theyre alot easier got than worms.

Some great ideas for preparing mussels (& other "supermarket baits") on the following site:

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/s ... hp?t=93069

nice pics and report mate

I find the best way to present mussels is the sausage method Shamoo mentioned once their on the hook get some plumbers freeze spray ( the stuff they use for freezing pipes for emergency repairs ) it comes with a straw like WD 40 then put them into a marg tub hook and all with a small hole in the top and spray in the freeze spray it freezes them instantly then give them a quick whip with elastic ( easier when their frozen ) and then they can then be cast as hard as you like they defrost quickly on the sea bed and it does'nt deminish the bait any like boiling will try it out you ll be supprised how effective it is, the spray can be brought in B&Q for £9.99 or on Ebay for around a fiver hope this helps.

well done on the fish

Thanks for the mussel prep advice and the respones, gonna have to gather a few more to try that thing with the freeze spray lincolnedd, I just boiled up what I had left over an hour ago. Theyre comin out of the shells nice and easy now, didnt cook them long, just til they openned, they still look tempting and theyre a bit more robust now. I'll try that bait needle technique shamoo,with these one Ive cooked, and with raw ones soon too.

Theres a bit of work in takin them out raw, connective muscles to both shells, but when raw I do think they look a bit more juicy and attractive to fish?

Hopefully I'll be reporting a decent codling on them in the near future.

Thanks again.

Good variety fishing mate... nice to see!

nice fishing and great pics again man . that must be a pretty decent camera you have as your pics always come out well. i use the mussels as well and the flatties and codling all readily take them. but i just prep them at home by wrapping 6 big ones round a drinking straw with loads of elastic into the sausage then freeze them down. i prefere not to let them thaw completely before using them thow as that way all the good scent rich juices slowly release on the sea bed instead of in your bait tray