Preserving / Saving - Eugarie / Pippis

[Peter Gerke]

Hi everyone.
Thanks for reading this post.

I'm at Straddie at the moment and the Pippis are popping so I grabbed a few down Main beach with my son this morning.

Wife drove in the comfort of Air Conditioning with two other sleeping kids in their car seats as we walked along and dug enough for a night of fishing. I doubt I will be able to convince the MRS to drive down the beach again tomorrow or the next few days so ..

I would like to know your suggestions on how to best preserve Pippis for later use.

We are mainly chasing Whiting, Bream and Dart and any suggestion ywould be helpful.

I have read about how to preserve my worms ( yes.. I have finally grasped worming [pardon the pun]) and I have heard of salting pipis but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance
Tight Lines

Pete

[deepfried]

Sorry i am not answering your question and i am not having a go at you but it might pay to check the legalities of removing pipies from the beach and taking them away from there natural habitat zone. I am pretty sure that in NSW we cant take pipis home to use later or even use them in river systems unless picked up within 100m ? from the river being fished. Not sure about Qld but it may pay to check the regs. It all seems odd to me but both states have some weird regs.

[wags on the water]

Pete,

The limit for Pipis is 50. I'm not 100% whether it's in possession or per day. Check with a reputable bait/tackle store.

The way too keep them a little longer is to keep them in a bucket of sand/salt water in the shade, replacing the salt water regularly. This has worked for me in the past.

You can't be expected to get up in the middle of the night to forage for pipis on an outgoing tide.

Best of luck.

Wags

[Aunty Jack]

Pete,
We use to fill a vegimite jar 2/3 & throw in a hand full of salt.
They tuffen up real good if not better than fresh to use.
Store in the fridge they'll keep for ages.

[rids01]

I usually freeze them but they end up pretty soft so salting would be a better way to go

[rando]

Swampman is right on the money, take them out of the shell, put them in a jar with a handfull of salt, keep in the fridge they will last for weeks

[sheridan]

Hi pete
Take some back with you, drop them in some fresh water until they open up, clean them out of the shell then saute them in a pan with butter & garlic BEAUTIFUL im sure your wife will take you back to get more

Geoff

[chiefsimo]

i like to keep pipi's fresh in water and sand - but not much water - more the wet sand. Change the sand each time u go to the beach. Get a few days out of em.

agree with others on the salting of pipi's - shell and put into container with loads of salt - i usually freeze - they come up well. Trialling a new method of salting overnight, then freezing - seems to toughen even better so far!

awesome bait on the gold coast where the poor fish haven't seen a pipi in years!

[chiefsimo]

i like to keep them fresh in wet sand - find a good long / wide box - like from a fruit shop - keep sand wet but not too much water - change over the sand / water each time your at the beach!

Agree on preserving as per above - i like to salt overnight in sea water, then freeze to get the extra toughness!

Gold Coast dart luv pipi's - they haven't seen one in years and go hard for them... once they have worked out what they are!

[Peter Gerke]

FANTASTIC info here from you all !!
Thank you very much for all your contributions.

I'm not too sure about the Pippis in Butter and Garlic - But I love Oysters so they are on the Entre' menu tonight

I will try the salting this arvo.
Pete.

[4x4frog]

There's no size limit on them obviously but the possession or take limit is 50.
Be careful because we've all heard the stories about Hervey Bay last year and the inspectors checking up on people.

[Peter Gerke]

Thanks for the tip re the bag limit. I am aware of this as I live for fishing and want it there for ever !

I am vigilant. I have my son with me and I need to teach him about looking after our future. I model responsible fishing behaviour ... and I must admit, I love to see the Fisheries on the beach !!!

Tightr Lines
Pete

[Freeeedom]

That bag limit is 50 per person and is an in possession limit. I'm not sure at what age a child becomes a person - there has been some discussion on this forum regarding this (related to how many crab pots you can put out).
I much prefer worms instead of pipis as a surf bait. My 50 pipis always end up left in a cool bucket of sea water overnight, then refreshed again in the morning to check for any dead ones. This allows them to spit out all the sand that the fresh ones contain. They are then shelled, washed, rolled in flour, then egg wash and breadcrumbs and deep fried. They are fantastic!
Just a word of warning if you're going to try this - they explode quite spectacularly when being fried - to prevent (or minimise) this use a skewer to poke a few holes through the black part of each one before you coat and cook them
Cheers Freeeedom

PS Pete - your PM mailbox is full. You need to delete some messages before you can receive any more

[PumpyChowdown]

Hi pete
Take some back with you, drop them in some fresh water until they open up, clean them out of the shell then saute them in a pan with butter & garlic BEAUTIFUL im sure your wife will take you back to get more

Geoff

I would love to try pipi's. The Kiwi's love 'em! Anyone else eaten them?

Geoff: I would imagine they're sandy little bi-valves; does the fresh water purge the sand?

[Peter Gerke]

Well I'm preparing for my trip to straddie again and I just want to thank all those who have posted suggestions on my thread.

Firstly NO, I don't take more than the bag limit
and Secondly WHY NOT take the limit and if you don't use them one day then after a quick change of water and sand save them a few days for another cast.

This trip I'm going to take some techni ice and freeze them with some salt to make them nice and firm !!! nothing better than a tough pippi on a hook ! I've used the same bait on the hook and caught 3 decent swallowtail dart in succession.

tight lines
Pete