Deadbait preferences

well i know where he is coming from but just try go on just try and cast a lovely fresh unfrozen sardine anything beyond two rod lengths

i did get runs quicker with fresh baits, as im sure the time its taking to thaw does slow the baits effectivness down so unless you drop the bait on a fishes head it wont be recognised as quickly as food

take some frozen and a couple of tough baits fresh is the better option
macks will be good fresh herring ok sardines useless

I voted frozen as I do this purely for convenience.

I can see where he's coming from though and as noodle says, while the frozen bait is thawing, mr/mrs pike might not even realise it's there.

ditto noodle regards casting out a sardine

i feel like im cheating posting in this now as my top deadbait is made out of dead wood these days

I say fresh because given the option, I would prefer to catch a bait and use it immediately after dispatching with it.

Normally though, I use frozen baits but I still got to extreme lengths to keep them as fresh as possible. If I collect baits, I inject them, put pop-ups in them and get them frozen ASAP.

If I buy frozen baits, I take old newspapers if the shop doesn't go to lengths to protect them when bought.

I suggest you line your cool bags with some sheets of Techni-Ice or Chillerz (same thing). I've been using them for a few years now and they really are the mutts nuts for keeping your baits frozen solid, even on the hottest days.

The chillerz....when you activate them, just lie them in lukewarm water and weight them down with a couple of tins or something. Leave them for a couple of hours and they should be fully expanded. Now here's an important tip. Put each sheet inside a poly-bag. The sheets absorb water but they also absorb fishy liquids and believe me when I say, they end up stinking so it's best to just wrap them up. Also, they'll eventually lose their water through evaporation but you simply give them a soaking again to recharge the cells.

I normally line the bottom and sides of my cool bag with a few sheets of newspaper, then a layer of Techni-Ice with my baits in the centre. I then cover them over with more Techni-Ice and paper. Keep the bag out of direct sunlight and make sure you zip the bag shut after you remove a bait and you'll find you can keep your baits frozen for anything up to 24 hours+ depending on how vigilant you are at closing your bait-bag once you've taken a bait out....and that's not a wild exaggeration.

Click HERE for Chillerz Homepage

any one use rank baits?

i did until i made myself ill

there were some old friends in my bait fridge that had caught a few fish

Rank eels and rank lamprey but that's it really. It has to be fresh otherwise.

Why were you eating your smelly baits anyway Noodle?? Forget your sarnies??



...andy...

Andy Macfarlane wrote:Rank eels and rank lamprey but that's it really. It has to be fresh otherwise.

Why were you eating your smelly baits anyway Noodle?? Forget your sarnies??



...andy...

nope forgot the alcohol gel and ended up in hospital after suffering a seizure

tip if you get ill with the abdabs then drink plenty of isotonic drinks not just water
better still clean your hands when handling yellow herrings

A seizure! a seizure! We all fall down.

No, actually I shouldn't laugh. I once had gastroenteritis and it was quite horrendous. I really thought I might die. I've never had vomiting like it and I only stopped when my Mom & Dad took me to hospital after 4 days of expletives and general moping.

It turned out I had contracted a virus that kids normally come into contact with by the time they're about 8 but if you don't and then you get it when you're an adult (lol...me...an adult) then it can cause serious problems and they warned me it might not just go away and could flare up again come Autumn time....and it did and the following Spring. Jeez....I hated it. I wouldn't wish on my neighbour's dog, unless he bit me or something.

Still go fishing and handle all kinds of manky stuff when I go fishing mind you. Alcohol gel you say? Desn't that taste horrible?

...Andy...

no mateit wasnt funny i woke up in hospital with iv's in both arms thinking id been run over or something daft.
the missus called an ambulance when my eyes rolled up apparently and i stopped breahing for a spell and was just twitching on the sofa

i dont remember anything about it like but it shook dawn up big time

Yummy. Did you get something called 'Hutchison's Feed' I think it was called. It isn't made by Van Den Eynde. It was an IV drip of liquid food in a bag for skinny vomiters with diarrhoea like me. It was truly horrible. Apart from the massive 3mm bore they stick in my skinny wrist to get this stuff into my body, they took it out of the fridge. The fridge! At least heat the stuff up a bit Nurse.
I hadn't managed to pass a bit of liquid passed my throat in about 4 days without retching so they decided I might die and I need food and drink quickly but through my mouth this stuff was not going. I can still feel it going up my arm and across my chest and here's the really odd bit. I could taste it and my mouth started to feel moist, without having taken a sip. Then, I decided I needed to pee because I hadn't done so in like 3 days and this stuff was cold. I had a temperature and I asked for my blanky and the nurses wouldn't give me blanky because I was too hot! Too hot you say. I'm freezing missus and what's more I need to pee and I can't move for this big bag of liquid and the needle in my wrist, so they gave me a trolley. What's more, I could barely walk because I was as weak as a kitten, so I had to drag my own bodyweight in fluid and metal to the toilet and that's obviously 200 yards away. Probably just the 20 (like people's casts) but it felt longer. I got some stuff to stop me puking and crapping and then they made me eat eggs and dry toast for 2 days.

If I ruled the world, I'd make nurses give me blanky.

(this is me ruling the world)