help for people who dont know how to keep bait !!!

[mickeyfish]

there is a lot of talk about Maddie's and whites

but what is the best way to store them over a long period of time (weeks/months)
all of below inside a fridge

Ive heard
1. refrigerated sea water in a tray changed every second day
2. stored in compost
3. fermicilite
4. shale
5. weed/moss

and im sure there is many more ways
please give us your opinion

[paulocallaghan]

mick,
if you use formaldehyde surely you will kill anything you put in it, is it not used for preservation of tissue

[mickeyfish]

mick,
if you use formaldehyde surely you will kill anything you put in it, is it not used for preservation of tissue

the stuff im on about i think paul means (excuse the spelling) fermicilite

its like a white foamy substance

[paulocallaghan]

tried it once and liked it but couldnt source it myself, i use water for long term storage and then transfer to shingle/sand mix when im going to use it to toughhen up the maddies but leave whites in water.
id b interested to hear others opinions too about what they do, especially the match men out there (no offence to others but match men really appreciate the importance of high quality bait)

what i tend to do is put all worms into a cat litter tray of sea water and check them regularly and remove any of the silt they pass out, i have found that maddies in particularly tend to ball themselves around the silt and rot. if i take the silt out and remove any damaged ones i can keep them for a few weeks, i havent bothered trying to keep them any longer but iv been told that you can keep them indefinately.

whites have to be kept in water, i recently tried to kep them in newspaper and found that after not even a day that they had dried out and died

[boycie89]

hey , this is just for the anglers out there that dont know how to keep bait for long periods of time !! iv been asked advice on this about all baits so now you lads can share your knoledge on how to keep rag , lug , maddies , whites , crab etc.... i know that there are websites on how to keep bait n stuff but everyone has there own way of doing these things !!! should be interesting !!!!

[EoinMag]

Best bit of advice I've seen so far is http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/peeler-crabs.php

[teacher]

You can keep rag for a couple of weeks fairly easily with some careful attention.

First, thay have to be in good condition to start with. Red is good. Green is bad. They should tense up when you poke them. The ones in sand don't keep too well. Very big worms don't keep too well either.

Keeping them in a fridge is best. (Not too cold, maybe 6-7 degrees or so, but that's not scientific).

The key thing is to manage them properly. Keep them in 20's or less. Start by sorting them according to how healthy they look. Every day, check them and remove any dead, sick or broken worms from the packs of better ones.

Keep them wrapped loosely or in boxes. Keep them damp but not too wet. Avoid soggy newspaper. If you're using newspaper, wrap them as loosely as possible and avoid big clumps of worms.

If you don't have a fridge, you can keep them very effectively in a large insulated cool box. The key is lots and lots of ice blocks. You probably want to have at least 3 or 4 blocks in the box at a time. Rotate the blocks once or twice a day, depending on ambient temperature, replacing the thawed ones with newly frozen ones. Don't have the worms pressed up against the blocks. They will get too cold and newspaper will get soggy.

Only take out what you're going to use. Even an hour out of the fridge on a summer day will kill them.

[corbyeire]

if you keep them at 6-7 in a normal fridge - most of the other stuff there will go colonial on you :?

[paulocallaghan]

get yourself a bait fridge, usually can pic them up free or nearly free in the buy and sell etc

[teacher]

if you keep them at 6-7 in a normal fridge - most of the other stuff there will go colonial on you :?

Would you want to keep ragworm in with your ham and cheese? I've found usual fridge temp (3-4??) is too cold. All I know is my fridge is at the right temp :D

[round_ourway]

I have kep ragworm up to a week and a half with careful care as described above. by removing any rotting or dead worms everyday and placing them back into the fridge.
I actually find they come out of the fridge ready to eat your fingers for disturbing them

[yappo]

Sounds good teacher, I can only add that I change paper every day on anything I keep that way. :)

Yappo

[boycie89]

Red is good. Green is bad. !! just to note , never keep ant green rag when digging !! these green rag are spawning !!

[teacher]

Red is good. Green is bad. !! just to note , never keep ant green rag when digging !! these green rag are spawning !!

Good point.

I was thinking of the ones that start out red but then loose their colour when they start to go off.

[paul mason]

If you can get your hands on sea peat it is good for keeping maddies put them in open trays check them regular and keep them moist (not to moist or they will rot) keep them in the fridge at about 5deg they should last about two weeks any longer and i think they start to go off. If you cant get sea peat try organic peat for woodies at 7euro a bag it will last you years. when useing it dampen down with sea water its great stuff. As for whites they can be heart breaking unless you have a good set up and plenty of room in your fridges, if you are storing whites in a fridge make sure its at 5deg and constant with noting else stored in the fridge because whites can be come contamanated through other baits.

[roger de dodger]

when i dig lug it gets rinsed out down where i dig in sea water then at home i wrap them in 10 s in newspaper and into the fridge change the paper every day usually get 5 days out of them oh yea dont touch em with your fingers when changing the paper as this will make them blow within hours ,all broken worms are best gutted and frozen or stored seperate for ground bait

[pookie5488]

trying to find a post about salting lug and rag can anyone find it i cant cheers

[toenyo]

i yous a hydrophonic aerator to keep my live bait alive for a couple of weeks, ive seen bubblator mini air pumps converted over to 12 volt for use on boats. the pumps are 45 euro

[m.b3]

i have no fridge :cry: u dont need one, but it would be nice!

but! have kept rag for a month, maddies too with whites only a week- but never needed to keep them longer. blow lug will keep a week. i reckon the rag would have kept longer had i not of used them all!

dig rag. layer of newspaper on bottom of bucket, new layer after every 20 or 30 worms. leave the mud on them! wrap them as they are if using within four days. they will toughen up and go red.
if i need to keep them longer or have some left over then i use stacking boxes. wet newspaper in seawater and place it on the bottom of the box. new just empty the worms and mud included into the middle of the bottom of the tray. job done. u just want to keep the worms wet. this way when one dies it does not affect the rest. they will make there way out of the mud and live happily for weeks. dont overdue the quantity. less worms if big kings and more if smaller. maddies will keep the same although it is messy, but helps seperate them from the mud withouth having to pick each one individually. transport maddies in kitchen towel to toughen them up.

lug placed in bait trays, half dozen at time. wet newspaper placed over them, again just to keep them wet. i keep them in a cooler box or bag with a freezer pack. keep two on rotation. change once in morning and again in even. place a cloth or newspaper ontop of worm trays and then place freezer pack on top. this stops the worms being exposed to severe cold.

dig most perishable baits closer to time of fishing.

stacking boxes are handy for crab to. place wet rag over them. watch for hairline crack. keep crabs ready to pop in one stackin box and ones that need bringing on in another. u can leave them out in the sun with a bit of water to encourage them but an aquarium heater and aerator is supposedly the biz
:wink: !

crabs almost ready to pop can be kept in cooler box again with freezer packs to prolong the stage they are at and keep them perfect for fishing. otherwise they can be frozen down.

hope this helps.

[m.b3]

sorry posted twice, computer actin up or site on-the-go-slow? :? :?