# salting bait ?



## vacationfisher (Feb 14, 2015)

After your bait, I'm going to do some shrimp, cures in the salt in the fridge a few days, what then? Do you remove it from the salt and store it in the fridge in a ziplock, leave it in the salt, store it unrefridgerrated? I read the post in the Bible section but didn't see anything about storing the bait after it had cured.


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## pods (Sep 10, 2013)

I usually take mine out of the salt and store at room temp with some new salt. I have some shrimp left over from last year and it is in the pantry. If the salt you use to salt it is fairly dry I would just leave it in the salt. When I did it the first time I salted shrimp and ray chunks and I had too much bait to salt, so I changed out the salt and stored with new.
It is worth it for shrimp, stays on the hook much better.


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## SmoothLures (Feb 13, 2008)

Doesn't matter. I'd leave it in a little bit just in case it's not completely cured. You can put it in the freezer but it won't freeze, or you can throw it in your tackle box, or keep it in the fridge.


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

Fresh KOSHER salt after a few days. Takes up very little space in a tupperware box,
so why not keep it in the bottom drawer of the fridge???
Zip-Top bags are more convenient when fishing - don't have to mess with a lid.
TIGHT LINES !!!!

After you get a few pounds of salt, you can reclaim it by washing quickly a couple of times in cold water
then air dry on a board or something outside. It will still smell like shrimp, but will be clean.
LOL you probably can use it for cooking at your next Low Country Boil !!!


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## Elgreco (Aug 12, 2014)

Yeah I lost a lid. Blew right off the pier lol.


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## pods (Sep 10, 2013)

BarefootJohnny said:


> Fresh KOSHER salt after a few days. Takes up very little space in a tupperware box,
> so why not keep it in the bottom drawer of the fridge???
> Zip-Top bags are more convenient when fishing - don't have to mess with a lid.
> TIGHT LINES !!!!
> ...


I had a lot of extra used salt that I just couldn't part with. Came in handy when we just had a sleet/ice storm. Must have drove the neighborhood cats crazy.


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

hahahahhhaaa that's funny right there - I don't care where you from.


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## vacationfisher (Feb 14, 2015)

That's funny!!! Thanks for the help guys!


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## boomer (Jul 1, 2009)

I always salt mullet , shrimp and squid and then place in freezer in small bags. When I head out to fish I grab a bag of each and no need for ice etc for bait.


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## Manlystanley (Sep 22, 2010)

I have had bad luck salting bait. Never had as much action compared to fresh. Seeing that I fish so infrequently, I go with the best bait I can get.


Best Regards,
Stan


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

Manlystanley said:


> I have had bad luck salting bait. Never had as much action compared to fresh. Seeing that I fish so infrequently, I go with the best bait I can get.
> 
> 
> Best Regards,
> Stan


Use non iodine salt. Use sea salt


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## saltwaterassasin (Dec 30, 2014)

Use two plastic containers ..stack then inside each other . The one that's is inside the other one punch small holes in to let water/moisture drip through. Put your salt / bait in the top one..The bottom one is there to catch all the moisture/water. No need to fridge after wards or freeze and yes you can reuse your salt after s light rinse..... very simple and cheap ..


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## rabbitdog2 (Aug 20, 2011)

saltwaterassasin said:


> Use two plastic containers ..stack then inside each other . The one that's is inside the other one punch small holes in to let water/moisture drip through. Put your salt / bait in the top one..The bottom one is there to catch all the moisture/water. No need to fridge after wards or freeze and yes you can reuse your salt after s light rinse..... very simple and cheap ..


When you put up 5 to 10 lbs at a time it's easier to use zip lock bags. Just squeeze the air out and lay in the bottom of the freezer


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## saltwaterassasin (Dec 30, 2014)

Only time I salt is when or if there's bait left over from a trip or when winter comes and bait is harder to come by so I might prep some small batches. Plus you can still use the small plastic containers over and over, I use the plastic Chinese soup containers pint or quart size . Thus way it also easier on the salt used vs bags . I just shake the container every now and then. I like to hold onto my money when I can .bags only last so long which becomes a cost Plus the Water/ moisture can escape better and faster in the container method .. Otherwise I'm using fresh bait. Plus when I'm not salting with the container you can use to freeze water and make nice size ice blocks...so comes into use. Plus helps keeping bait from getting squished....

With this method is easier to reuse the salt , and containers... 

Everyone has used gulp bags once opened they never seal the same and cause a mess. What you think salt in a bag does .... on the seal?


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

in *MY* opinion - putting the salted bait immediately into the freezer does not allow enough time for
the meat to absorb the salt into the cells. I would give it a few days, shaking the
box or bag a couple times each day to get as much fresh salt touching the meat as possible. Then freeze.
and yes I agree, fresh bait is always better !!! But, I have had good success with salted, sometimes better than fresh.
Right now, I have bags upon bags of salted clam strips, squid, shrimp, cut bait strips (spot) sand fleas and fiddler crabs.
The salted sand fleas and fiddler crabs were vacuum sealed last summer and frozen. You have to wrap them in paper towels or newspaper
to prevent the shells from puncturing holes in the sealed bags. Just checked them, they are still as tight as they were when sealed.

Jus my dos centavos


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## ez2cdave (Oct 13, 2008)

BarefootJohnny said:


> in *MY* opinion - putting the salted bait immediately into the freezer does not allow enough time for the meat to absorb the salt into the cells. I would give it a few days, shaking the box or bag a couple times each day to get as much fresh salt touching the meat as possible. Then freeze.


Very interesting point . . . After all, the purpose of the salt is to toughen the bait and, in order to do that, it needs to penetrate.


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## Digger54 (Sep 11, 2012)

FYI I am too cheap to toss out the salt and I wasn't about to pop it in the oven to dry it out due to the lovely aroma it would have placed in the house. So I happened to have a black plastic pad that I laid out in the sun. After the pad had absorbed enough solar heat I placed an aluminum pan with the salt in it on top. I stirred the salt and moved it around on the pad a few times and after three hours it is now dry even with a high humidity outside.

Now to figure out what to do with the yard full of raccoons, possums, and cats.


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## 1thofa87 (Jul 23, 2011)

Great thread! Ive only salted bloodworms ... and caught 4 big juicy channel cats this morning on it. I was hesitant to use what i salted last year but after reading this thread ill give it a try. But im also gonna go out and purchase and salt a bunch of different baits tonight! Thanks so much!


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## Colinspop (Nov 10, 2013)

I salted shrimp last year for a fall fishing trip and had great results but a question before I do it again for this fall. When I put a couple of layers in a shoebox I notice that after a couple of days the bottom layer seems to sitting in a very wet salt. Can I leave this or do I need to change the salt. Fishing friends emptied the box into a baggie before I got to it so I could not see what the difference might have been.


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## IPNURWATER (Aug 20, 2013)

Colinspop said:


> I salted shrimp last year for a fall fishing trip and had great results but a question before I do it again for this fall. When I put a couple of layers in a shoebox I notice that after a couple of days the bottom layer seems to sitting in a very wet salt. Can I leave this or do I need to change the salt. Fishing friends emptied the box into a baggie before I got to it so I could not see what the difference might have been.



You did everything right but this.
Put hole in the bottom of the box with a catch pan under it to catch the moisture that runs through and you won't have that problem . it will speed the salting process up as well.plus it won't stink as much ...


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

Welcome Aboard !!
A shoe box is kinda big !!! is there a ziptop bag or plastic container in the shoe box ???
Or, just plain old cardboard shoe box filled with salt and shrimp ??
If you use the search feature, you will find many good recipes for Salted Bait.
Here is what I do . . . cut off the head and tail. Cut the body into 1" or equal pieces.
do not peel. Place in tuperware container in layers with a 1" layer of salt in the bottom to start.
After the 2nd day, I shake it up.... so there goes the artwork of gently layering them out all pretty LOL.
after about a week, I drain the shrimp, quick rinse in fresh water and pat dry with paper towels.
Then either back into a clean tuperware container or ziptop bag with fresh dry salt and this will
keep for years in the fridge. Some reports have had good success even after a full year in a tackle box.
To address your question - - - the juice that accumulates after a couple of days only ADDS to the curing process.
IMO, it does not take anything away. Actually, IMO, you get more coverage with the salt brine mix.
Note that I said the container is shaken every day or so . . . . not just stack neatly and forget it.
The day prior to going fishing is when I rinse again, pat dry and fresh salt just for the ease of handling for fishing.
Good Luck and Tight Lines !!!

and, you will see several different ways of how to reclaim the salt instead of just throwing it away.

On salting other baits, just follow the same procedure as you do for shrimp.
When doing squid, I like to clean out the body, remove the plastic thing,
rinse well and cut into different size pieces. The head, I trim the tentacles to about 2" and salt them too.
Cut bait, such as spot, croaker, mullet, etc. Scale, filet into 1/4" slices like thick bacon, with the skin side and cut into different size pieces.
Clam strips, same as squid.... clean well, cut into different size pieces.
And again, shake the container often to get a full coating of fresh salt while in the curing process.
Personally, I do not mix different types of bait together . . . keep everything separate.


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## dudeondacouch (Apr 6, 2010)

ez2cdave said:


> Very interesting point . . . After all, the purpose of the salt is to toughen the bait and, in order to do that, it needs to penetrate.


salty science incoming! :beer:

the bait toughens because water is diffused through the cell membrane by osmosis. as long as the solute concentration (saltiness) is higher on the outside, water will continue to diffuse out as long as the molecules can move.

this is why bait shrinks when you salt it; it's losing most of it's water content. it's also why it swells back up when you put it on your hook and in the water.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. stirring/shaking doesn't really help speed the process because it doesn't alter the concentration.
2. draining and/or adding more salt DOES help, because you're increasing the difference in solute concentrations and thus increasing osmotic pressure. 
3. if you freeze it too fast, the process won't take place, because the water can't pass through the cell membranes.
4. fun fact: this is also why drinking seawater will dehydrate you, as it's about 4x our normal salt content.


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## John Smith_inFL (Nov 22, 2009)

*"stirring/shaking doesn't really help speed the process because it doesn't alter the concentration"*

That is correct - the only reason I do it, and recommend it, is that it provides a more uniform physical contact
with the salt - so you don't have some pieces that may have uncured (or insufficient curing) all over. Everything is equal.

jus my Dos Centavos


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