Salting vs Freezing baits.

My question for the evening.

Frozen baits will turn to s##te very quickly and will not stay on hook.Are salted baits any good?

I would imagine salted black lug (ungutted) would be better that frozen(gutted) black lug. (on a side note, could anyone explain to me why lug need to be gutted?)

I know the crab/lobster potters use salted fish, because it attracts more shellfish.


I only want to hear from people that have used salted bait, cheers.

i salted mussels a few weeks back. i got a tupperware box, put in a layer of mussel, a good layer of salt, more mussels, more salt etc.

for firming them up, it worked. for helping me catch?? it didnt but thats just me.

I wonder if it didn't work because it was salted or it didn't work because of the time of year.

i reckon it didnt work cos they were on the end of my rod.........

i reckon it didnt work cos they were on the end of my rod.........

firstly the qaulity of your frozen bait must be very bad if its not staying on the hook, even good qaulity sandeel doesnt need to whipped on when lobbing out, frozen baits such as lug, mussel, crab, razor etc are all very effective, frozen lug (standard blow) will often outfish fresh lug for the likes of flounder, dabs and whiting. the reason its gutted is because its guts and juices can turn the bait soft when their frozen or left to go off, im assuming they are basically digesting themselves. in summery gutting them makes them a tougher bait. i have used salted lug and mack but personnaly im more confident in frozen as opposed to salted.

[anthony2carr]

Gutted lug are essentially just a piece of skin. No oils, no juice.
However salted lug is skin,guts and added flavour of salt.

For years salmon anglers have used salted prawn/shrimp to great effect.

Crab/lobster potters use salted fish to great effect.

As far as mackeral goes, I would be very dubious that it would work as well. After all salt extracts the water and more than likely the oils that make them so attractive.I would imagine this would apply to peeler,mussels, basically anything that contains oils.

I have heard that salted rag is a killer bait.

In america they are actually advertising rubber baits as being 'salt impregnated'. This is due to the fact that fish blood contains various salts.

At the end of the day, you will catch more fish with whatever you are confident with. Simply because you will fish longer.

One more thing. Salt must be Kosher. Iodized salt and the fish will shun you.

Last edited by anthony2carr on Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ok then, but i have a lot experience when it comes to beach fishing have a little faith in what im saying, we are not fishing for crabs, lobsters or salmon true gutted lug has less juice than fresh but its far more scented then fresh when allowed to go off or frozen. and to be honest salted lug doenst have much juices either, salt dehydrates stuff to preserve it but it doesnt remove the oils. im confident in my baits not because if fish them longer but because ive done all the experimenting to find out what fishes best for my particuler quarry, ive used salted lug and i caught fish on it but wraps and fresh lug has always outfished it.

i watched some fish over a week about 2 years ago and did a wee test to see what worked better, the fish were tompot blennys,, sand gobys, flounder, one tiny pollock about 3 inches, shrimp, hermet crabs, oh and butterfish gunnel,,,

salted lug was crap to be honest they didnt eat much of it even the shrimp

fresh lug and frozen lug were very close to each other,,, some days the fresh was eaten more other days the frozen,

all i took from my experiment was to not bother with the salted, but im sure some people have had good results with it,

Just to add one or two points:

1. the salmon boys only add salt to the prawns after they are cooked (and dyed). They don't add salt to fresh prawns.
2. some guys salt bait just to toughen it and use it within a short space of time, rather than salting it as a preservative. I've seen guys fillet a mackerel and salt the fillet to toughen it, then fish strips for seatrout (and this worked!).

sk

should you not change the bait anyway after 15/20 minutes?
To keep a scent trail going?
So do you want bait to last longer than this on the hook?

I think the idea with toughening certain (soft) baits with salt is to get them to last form more than a few mins (maybe up to the 15-20mins) on the hook. Also, maybe some species are more inclined to strip the bait from the hook and it might help there.

Personally, I use fresh bait where possible and then frozen. Its rare I would salt any bait - unless I'm collecting razor!