# Bait



## The Skink (Mar 9, 2009)

A lot of people looking for live bait right now. I can get live bait but they will die as soon as they hit this 48 degree water. I do have a lot of frozen finger mullet, salted cut mullet and salted creek shrimp


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## steve2 (Jun 2, 2013)

Steve met you a coulple years ago on Garden City Beach. You showed me how to tie a two drop rig, how to find sand fleas, how to catch pomps,ok, you caught them and i watched,and gave me enough fleas to last all week.I was wondering why it is not good to salt clams but is ok to salt shrimp. Or is that not a good thing. Did it on last trip to beach and they seemed to get bites and sure casted better than fresh.


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## The Skink (Mar 9, 2009)

steve2 said:


> Steve met you a coulple years ago on Garden City Beach. You showed me how to tie a two drop rig, how to find sand fleas, how to catch pomps,ok, you caught them and i watched,and gave me enough fleas to last all week.I was wondering why it is not good to salt clams but is ok to salt shrimp. Or is that not a good thing. Did it on last trip to beach and they seemed to get bites and sure casted better than fresh.


 Salted shrimp (Kosher or sea salt) keeps the shrimp from freezing solid and helps keep it from getting mushy when it thaws. An OK idea when you hafta freeze bait for a long period of time. Clams can be over-salted, get tough and lose their natural scent. I just use a small bit of seawater when I open a bag of clams. Of course freezing breaks down the muscle tissue and they can get mushy too. Fresh clams will stay on a hook. overalting a clam is like pouring salt on a garden slug. It withers down and all the juice inside it is drawn out. all that is left is a piece of wet looking shoe string!

I am, and will always be, an advocate of fresh bait, but sometimes ya gotta make do with whats available. When that happens, I prefer to "treat" the bait as little as possible.
The best option is a bit expensive to do just for bait, and that is to vacuum seal baits before freezing.


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## GaryM (Oct 22, 2013)

The Skink said:


> A lot of people looking for live bait right now. I can get live bait but they will die as soon as they hit this 48 degree water.


Take a tip from the ice fishermen up north...acclimate the bait. Dump water from where you will be fishing into the bait bucket a little at a time to get them adjusted to the temp change. Takes about an hour, and is best done while drinking a flat fish of brandy so you don't even care if it's 20 below outside.


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## steve2 (Jun 2, 2013)

Ok well I bought local shrimp and salted in layers and never froze them. Used all in one week.


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## surfmom (Nov 3, 2012)

great advice Gary! not that ill be freezing by but off anytime soon in this freeken cold as freeken flippin weather. UGH


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## RjTheMetalhead (Dec 3, 2011)

Not much of anything to do but wait...

Or go bass fishing or fish for catfish in the rivers, or spottails at the bridge in Gtown.


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