# Bait Curing Discussion



## CANEYEGO

I need some ideas on natural bait use. During the (Erie) spring die off, I'm thinking about collecting a bunch of LARGE Shad/Smelt/Mooneyes etc and preserving them to use for muskie/northern/bass fishing on the inland lakes.
1) First issue would be transporting (dead, frozen, cured) bait from one water to another? (invasive species, etc)
2) Secondly, I guess I would freeze them, but should I treat them somehow first?
3) Transport on fishing day...Dry ice? Re- freeze leftovers for another trip?

-pls redirect if this is addressed somewhere in forums, couldn't find any 
-Any and all thoughts appreciated- Hank


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## baitguy

Hi there Hank ... Minnows or small bait fish can be preserved using salt. The process for making salted minnows is quite simple and can result in high quality bait that can be used later. 
It's a bit of a process, but works pretty well. It involves first soaking them in brine made from canning salt for a couple hours, then drying them and covering them in the canning salt for a few hours, rinsing the excess salt from them and freezing. That's the short version of the process, it's a little more involved but can be done in a few hours while you watch a ball game and have a couple cold adult beverages  and you can have a bunch of minnows to use when you need them. Salted minnows can be kept in a refrigerator for a month or more and a freezer for up to a year or even longer. A bonus is they are much tougher than the live version, especially some of the more fragile species like Emerald shiners, they stay on the hook better and can last for several fish. I have a recipe if you'd like more detail.
I'd check about the regs regarding transporting them to non-native waters, but if they're dead they can't breed so I don't see why that would be a problem.


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## eriewalleye

I had a fellow fisherman/boater tell me, this summer, that he takes his leftover emeralds, pat dries them, and puts them and some rubbing alcohol into a ziplock freezer bag and puts it in the freezer. I tried it and the bait stayed nice and firm and it worked as good as fresh bait when we tried it. Also, when I purchase bait (emeralds), I don't put them in a bucket of water because they die and tend to get mushy; I have the bait shop just put them in a ziplock bag and keep the bag on ice, and remove the shiners as we need them while fishing, and they stay nice and firm.


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## tagalong09

quick and easy, use flake pickling salt and mix 1 gal of cold water with enough salt to float an raw egg.

put this mix into a 5 gal bucket [ a must] using a net scoop the live minnows into the salt mix. they ingest the mix and die. they will jump around a lot!!

put on paper towels to drain and slightly dry, then store in zip lock bags in freezer until you need them. put in small batches and take what you need,
tagalong


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## Misdirection

eriewalleye said:


> I had a fellow fisherman/boater tell me, this summer, that he takes his leftover emeralds, pat dries them, and puts them and some rubbing alcohol into a ziplock freezer bag and puts it in the freezer. I tried it and the bait stayed nice and firm and it worked as good as fresh bait when we tried it. Also, when I purchase bait (emeralds), I don't put them in a bucket of water because they die and tend to get mushy; I have the bait shop just put them in a ziplock bag and keep the bag on ice, and remove the shiners as we need them while fishing, and they stay nice and firm.


We pat the emerald shiners dry and put them in a zip lock bag with cheap vodka and put them in the freezer. I never tried rubbing alcohol, but Vodka works really good.


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## Mr. A

Misdirection said:


> We pat the emerald shiners dry and put them in a zip lock bag with cheap vodka and put them in the freezer. I never tried rubbing alcohol, but Vodka works really good.


Just out of curiosity, when using this vodka method, do you tend to get a more erratic retrieve of the minnow? Like a Scatter Rap versus a buzzbait line of retrieve? LOL


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## Misdirection

Mr. A said:


> Just out of curiosity, when using this vodka method, do you tend to get a more erratic retrieve of the minnow? Like a Scatter Rap versus a buzzbait line of retrieve? LOL


Nope, but I have challenged a few friends to try one. No one has taken me up on it yet!


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## Mr. A

My dad's friends used to talk about salting minnows for Canada trips to someone's cabin. They were always complaining that there wasn't any bait shops around that would allow then to pre-pay and salt their minnows for pick up.

I bet this is what they were doing.


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## Nate In Parma Hts

The salt method works well. Especially if you're fortunate enough to locate some large Shad to use for cut bait. 

My uncle does it with some fairly coarse sale, and an old cooler. puts a 1/4in layer of coarse salt on the bottom of the cooler, lays out chunks of Shad, then covers them in another layer of the coarse salt. He closes the lid so it's still cracked open a bit, elevates the end of the cooler that doesn't have the drain, opens the drain, and sets an old mason jar under it. Then he leaves it in a cool dry area for a few days.

It not only cures the bait and toughens it up, it extracts the natural fish oils, which drain into the jar. He'll separate it all into gallon size ziplock bags, freeze some, puts some in the fridge. When he's going fishing he gets a bag out the night before, pours in some of the extracted oil, seals it back up and gives it a quick "mix," and it's ready for fishing the next day. 

Just make sure you don't do it while it's hot out. Seems like 50-70deg is the ideal temp. I tried doing it once with some medium Shad and smaller Bluegill when it was 85 or so, and it turned into a sloppy gooey mess.


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