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My wife and I are off for couple of weeks over Christmas crabbing at our spot just south of Gladstone. I don't want to try to keep the bait cold or frozen this time, so I've been thinking about brining.
I will have 100 good sized mullet heads. Can anyone tell me how and what to do please? How long should it take? Do I start a month or so in advance etc?
Haven't done this for money years, but we used to use a very coarse salt that the old man got from a produce shop(where you buy your horse food etc).
Anyway, he would put a couple of cm in the bottom, then some bait, then some more salt and so on.
I am pretty sure he would only do this the day before we left. And after a few days to a week, he would do it again with fresh salt.
I wouldn't do it a month in advance, maybe a few days. If you did it a month in advance, they would be pretty dry and woody, with nothing left in the bait to attract the crabs.
if you do it in a bucket type of container and add plenty of salt and there is some meat left on the bait, it will form a sort of "soup" from the juices that will leech out, it will not be great fun dipping your hand in to get a bait out, but it does not stink as such, but it has a strong smell (if you get the difference) the bait will only dry out of you keep the meat in the air on (say) a rack, or, you drain it away every day, that is what happens with that dried out Fish you see for sale in shops, but stored in a sealed container, it will certainly make juice.
Have you considered using tins of cheap cat food (the 'pilchard' type). We use this everytime we bareboat charter. Its easy to store and you just have to poke a few holes in the tin with a screwdriver then chuck it in the pot. Easy, clean and doesnt need refrigeration/preserving.
Never done a side-by-side comparison but I do know we've never been short a feed of crab when using the cat food on our bare-boat charters. You should see the tins after a big muddie has been inside the crab pot for a few hours. For me - the fact that they are easy AND effective wins hands down over 'smelly bait' on a 2 week boat holiday.
Plus remember that you'll (hopefully) have no shortage of fresh frames and heads. after a day or two of fishing.
Vacume paks sucks all the air out keeps fresh for ages. I prefer mackeral skins or a whole trevor seem to attract the big muddies. PM me if you have the round collapsable pots and i'll give you the good oil on making them catch heaps of crabs. how is the other half ... all the best mate
I think some of the help posted here is more about 'salting'. I've done that and it works ok, but the baits do tend to end up very shrivelled. I was thinking more of 'brining', getting to the island and making a brine of salt and water in a rubbish bin for my baits. How do you think that would work for a couple of weeks, and does anyone know the right formula?
Hey Big fella, I've sent you a pm. Thanks!
how is the other half ... all the best mate
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