supermarket bait?

[jonnyarchi]

while browsing the supermarket i noticed that they sell mussels and squid(prepared i think) so my mind started wondering...... has anyone used these for bait? how does the squid differ from tackle shop stuff?
might be a stupid idea but i thought i would ask!

[blowin]

Not a stupid idea but don't buy the ready-meal stuff !
Buy packs of frozen whole squid pretty cheap at many ethnic shops . Good luck .

[eoghanb]

The raw frozen stuff is ok ,they have scallops for about 4euro in tesco there ok,and the bags of fresh mussles are cheep enough but the cooked shell fish is crap,as for squid buy it in any chinese supermarket,most suoermarkets will have enough bait to keep the last minute sea angler happy

[kevin o connor]

I bought a bag of mixed frozen sea food in Aldi last year, it consisted of a mixture of squid, crab,mussel, cockel and one or two other things that I did not recognize. It was grand for tipping off Lug and rag. I caught on it. I think it cost about €5.00

[jonnyarchi]

i have used squid before but never mussels squid or cockels- is there any special way of useing these?

[immunecfg]

Go to the local market i found that the St Georges Market do great big squid and £7 a kilo which isnt too bad.

Supermarkets tend to have squid cleaned which i would say would make it less potent.

[corbyeire]

a lot of the supermarket stuff is blanched or par boiled - meaning a lot of the scent is gone

that said cooked mussels have worked for me in the past particularly when other baits havent been working, have had dogs, pollack and wrasse on them

never had much faith in the cockles but youd try anything to beat the blank

[originalsin]

I used to get raw tiger prawns from my local supermarket whilst I was living in Scotland, i couldn't say for sure if they worked or not as one day I would have great results from them then other days I would blank ..... One day tho whilst fishing with a mate, we were having a rotten day, getting no bites whatsoever on any baits we were trying, my mate decided what the hell and baited up using some cooked ham from his sambo, his first chuck he had a 2lb wrasse!!!! He continued on with some success for the rest of the day and I only managed a few catches using 'normal' baits, again, I would love to say cooked ham works as an alternative bait but when I tried the following week I blanked!!!!

[Eddiewamblambbam]

ha, was it denny ham or lidle ham ?

[kevin o connor]

That must have been some pack of sambos. Was there mustard on it ? Or maybe even brown sauce ?

[varadero]

I used to get raw tiger prawns from my local supermarket whilst I was living in Scotland, i couldn't say for sure if they worked or not as one day I would have great results from them then other days I would blank ..... One day tho whilst fishing with a mate, we were having a rotten day, getting no bites whatsoever on any baits we were trying, my mate decided what the hell and baited up using some cooked ham from his sambo, his first chuck he had a 2lb wrasse!!!! He continued on with some success for the rest of the day and I only managed a few catches using 'normal' baits, again, I would love to say cooked ham works as an alternative bait but when I tried the following week I blanked!!!!

i'd say it was the pickle

[originalsin]

That must have been some pack of sambos. Was there mustard on it ? Or maybe even brown sauce ?

i'd say it was the pickle

It was just plain ham, in moments of desperation you try whatever you have available, in this case it was the contents of a ham and cheese sambo! Didnt try the cheese tho, he had to leave some filling in the sambo......

[BigPhil]

the mussels are grand, just heat them slightly to make them easier to open and shell them, put the meat on the hook with a bit of bait elastic.
squid is expensive to buy via tackle shops and supermarkets, as has been said try the likes of asia market in belfast for bulk buys, in our club we used to buy 5lb boxes and let them thaw a bit, split them out into small bags for a session and freeze them down.

[jay1]

DONT LIKE THAT STUFF ITS COOKED

[roger de dodger]

if your short on bait the pin whiting will take most speices its skin is as tough as old boots fillet it and cut it into strips if your hooks arnt razor sharp you will have difficulty getting through the skin why buy loads of bait when most of us are throwing dead pin whiting back ?you can freeze them for your next session its the toughest tipping bait known to man

[Al and Jordan]

we always have a look in tesco and asda chilled reduced counter before heading out on a trip
depending on what time of day you look, there is usually a few boxes of cooked peeled prawns reduced in there for around £2 a box. we have caught all sorts of species on them and had one very memorable day out on the boat when they outfished all the usual baits like rag and mackerel the other lads were using over the reefs the wrasse went mad for the prawn and then over the clean ground the flats did the same

[varadero]

we always have a look in tesco and asda chilled reduced counter before heading out on a trip
depending on what time of day you look, there is usually a few boxes of cooked peeled prawns reduced in there for around £2 a box. we have caught all sorts of species on them and had one very memorable day out on the boat when they outfished all the usual baits like rag and mackerel the other lads were using over the reefs the wrasse went mad for the prawn and then over the clean ground the flats did the same

dont thay come off on casting i mean thay are soft

[JAFFUSMAXIMUS]

I was wondering the same about getting my bait from a supermarket today, would the mackerel fillets on ice I see in Dunnes used as stripes do as a reasonable as bait for winter fishing?

[Preston]

if you wait till the end of the day tesco usually sell off the scraps cheap . If you know Anyone working in any supermarket you should get sorted . It does catch fish but I used to only use it as a last resort as i find whole frozen packs are cheap enough

[Al and Jordan]

we always have a look in tesco and asda chilled reduced counter before heading out on a trip
depending on what time of day you look, there is usually a few boxes of cooked peeled prawns reduced in there for around £2 a box. we have caught all sorts of species on them and had one very memorable day out on the boat when they outfished all the usual baits like rag and mackerel the other lads were using over the reefs the wrasse went mad for the prawn and then over the clean ground the flats did the same

dont thay come off on casting i mean thay are soft

if you can get them the day before you plan heading out just open the packet and give them a good coating of table salt. after 24hours they harden up and become like rubber. but ALWAS use bait elastic when fishing with them to make sure they will survive a 100+ yard cast. that's just a fishing basic, the same with distance casting most baits.