Capt. Brian’s tips on how to preserve bait
Ballyhoo
- Keep frozen until rigging for fishing
- Thaw in sealed bag
- Do not place in water unsealed, water will soften and cause ballyhoo to lose its firmness
- When thawed, take fish out of bag and place on drainboard, moist towel, moist cardboard or moist newspaper (this will sit on top of ice)
- Keep bait from getting wet
- Coat with kosher salt (i prefer turning ballyhoo on back, coating stomach – all prior to rigging)
- This preparation will help longevity when trolling
Silversides
- Break bag or box in half – keep one frozen
- Plan ahead – predict how many you might use
- Thaw the other half
- Do not let silversides rest in water
- Thaw in bag
- Lay out on moist towel and spread kosher salt over thawed bait
- This will keep silversides firm and will stay on hook longer
Shad/pilchard
- Split bag/box in three
- If you have a food vacuum packer, then place in three vacuum packs
- Thaw one pack in water
- Lay fish on moist towel and spread kosher salt to firm bait as much as possible
Glass minnows (mojare)
- Break box in four while frozen
- Vacuum pack, or if you do not have one, the alternate is to place in freezer plastic bags
- When ready to use, thaw one bag
- Lay fish on moist towel & spread with kosher salt
- You can chum with them much better and you can even place them on small hooks because they will be firmer
Frozen shrimp
- Split a one pound bag in half
- Keep frozen until ready to use
- Open one thawed bag of shrimp and keep on ice
- Make sure to use when ice cold
Block of chum
- Cut block in three equal parts
- Keep frozen
- Take one third out and keep remaining two thirds in ice to stay frozen
- Place one third in chumbag (this makes it easier to pick up when moving boat to different spots and will make your chum last longer)
Squid
- Split bag into two bags
- Keep frozen on ice
- Use one bag, one squid at a time
- Keep the rest on ice
Captain brian leibowitz, uscg licensed
