T
The Jackel
Guest
Mine taste and smell like herring, i cut open a tray of semi frozen herring, cut the head off hook it up with a single hook and Bob's your uncle, works good for me
Thanks for the response, but I was looking fo more detailScents/colors etc can be a pretty personal thing and lot's of time/comparison's on the water you'll find yourself leaning certain ways with what color's/scents work best for you where you are fishing.
But saying that there is a desired "texture" of bait that will hold on to your hooks and keep it's shape much longer than poorly or not cured bait does. And that's a "leathery/rubbery" texture.
To get that texture you will want to start to cure your bait a couple days (2 to 4 days) ahead of time. after adding your color to the bait layer the bait in a container with rock salt below, on top, and around every piece with paper towels between each layer. Stacking in even layers. Every 12 hrs or so remove the bait and see how wet the paper towels and rock salt has gotten. Then re pack and re stack the bait with new paper towel and the rock salt. After repeating this a few times you will find that even the rock salt will need to be changed out cause even though the paper towel gets wet the rock salt will also become heavy and saturated as well. This will slow down the full ability of the rock salt to continue pulling the moisture out as effectively as it was doing when you put it in fresh. So after the first day and half or so I also replace all the rock salt and re stack with new paper towel and new rock salt then continue to do this till you find the rock salt and paper towel isn't holding any more moisture. You keep checking the bait till you get the perfect texture. Then when you reach that point you wanna make sure if you have a lot of bait and will be using it over a couple days that you don't continue to keep it in too much rock salt or it will become too dry and can crack the skin of the bait and actually dull the look of the bait over time. So If I am gonna be using it on a longer few day trip I keep it in the fridge or cooler with just very little rock salt in paper towel after I have fully cured it. Once it looks like it may get too dry you can keep them hydrated by rolling them in moist paper towel. I keep bait perfect like this for a month at a time.
I’ve used the pro cure blue colouring. It doesnt really turn the bait blue like the chartreuse I tried yesterday as per your suggestion. The blue does seem to add a nice shine though.Any of you guys use Mrs. Stewarts bluing agent? That's another that I haven't tried...some guys just add the bluing agent to their coarse salt to add a tinge of blue to it.
When I fish bait I use the Pro-Cure Complete in Chartreuse Glow and coarse salt. They are so bright they are like radioactive lol. They last several days if kept cold as well. I’ll take a picture next time and show you how bright they are in the water. I also prefer the Oki JDF heads for Anchovies. If you see the color ‘Limon’ pick it up as it’s a proven bait head for big springs.
WW
Someone can correct me but if you are using it in conjunction with coarse or rock salt and more for color then you can just keep topping up, adding salt, adding color. If you are using straight liquid Pro Cure Complete brine the strength will weaken over time. For me adding the Pro Cure to the salt to make a bit of a slurry lasts a fair time but all summer I'm not going to say you'll have luck with that...Might seem like a obvious question but I'll ask anyway. How long do you keep the Pro-Cure for? Can I keep in the 'bait fridge' in a container and add anchovies as the summer goes on?
I agree, that's why mine is mostly a dry brine with enough Pro Cure to give it that Chernobyl look. Next time I'm out I'll try and take an underwater pic of how bright that green is.i like drying mine out to a stiff leather, rig em, break the tail/backbone to the inside, smear a lil blue or green on it....you wanna see a bullet roll!!!
i like drying mine out to a stiff leather, rig em, break the tail/backbone to the inside, smear a lil blue or green on it....you wanna see a bullet roll!!!
Any of you guys use Mrs. Stewarts bluing agent? That's another that I haven't tried...some guys just add the bluing agent to their coarse salt to add a tinge of blue to it.
Just some coarse salt in a dry brine.
I more concentrate and presenting different rolls and leader lengths for different times of year than adding all the value added, after market stuff
Ever use wire to shape the roll? I thought I might try it when I get out there come August.