Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Aussie Salmon, Bay Trout, all info for Australian Salmon
KgWhiting
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Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by KgWhiting » Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:08 pm

Caught 20 salmon of the portarlington pier tonite just wondering the best ways to keep and preserve them for bait instead of putting them in a bag and then getting freezer burn. Maybe salting??

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by Lightningx » Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:09 pm

Vac seal.

Spook
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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by Spook » Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:23 pm

definitely salt them. Otherwise they go mushy.

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by KgWhiting » Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:36 pm

Spook wrote:definitely salt them. Otherwise they go mushy.
Yep going to try salting the whole fish then vac packing

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by Kimtown » Thu Jul 06, 2017 8:36 pm

Any guides on salting them properly?

I'm assuming you don't just dip them in a bucket of salt..? Lol

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by gregmaka » Thu Jul 06, 2017 8:51 pm

You done well KG catching 20,they are really a nice feed or for bait or what ever.Ice ice ice,well done.

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by mazman » Thu Jul 06, 2017 10:42 pm

I had a bit of a play with salting them last year, didn't do it too much because I don't bait fish too often. I found the best method was to knock the fillets off (cutting them into steaks would probably work too if this is how you want to use them as bait) and pop the fillets into a zip lock bag with a bit of salt, it's definitely worth hanging onto the frames for burley and the heads as shark bait. Roll them round in the salt a bit and leave them somewhere dry and out of the way. In a day or two drain all the juice and add a bit more salt repeat this until you stop having the sludge come out of them. After that they just went in the freezer in zip lock bags. Worked a treat and got me some very firm baits.
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Jay375
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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by Jay375 » Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:25 am

I just block the salmon up into steaks, of quite large sizes and freeze into bags, It depends on what you want it for as to the size, I do it as soon as caught and put them straight in the freezer, I use it for mulloway and shark and I like the baits big because i present the bait on a snelled sliding rig

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by Basti » Fri Jul 07, 2017 10:17 am

Your aim is to pull as much water as you can out of the fish flesh before you freeze. The water forms ice crystals that rip apart the structure of the meat which is why it goes mushy.

You want a high surface area for the salt to do its work so fillets and steaks will work better than whole fish. Drain and resalt it a couple of times before chucking them into zip lock bags and freezing.

If you don't want to salt, vacuum sealing is the best option.

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Re: Best way to preserve salmon for bait

Post by purple5ive » Fri Jul 07, 2017 10:28 am

do you still get freezer burn if the fish is vaccum sealed and then put in the freezer.

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