bait season

[Dano]

whats the best way to keep your bait fresh? i heard that port melbourne piers are swarmed with bait fish and small barracudas, so ive decided to stock up and get ready for the coming winter. i usually fish from dawn till dusk, so keeping the fish alive with aerator is not an option. whats the best way to keep your fish fresh until you can go home and put them in the freezer? is there anything better than esky filled with ice, dont wanna walk down the whole pier with 10kg and come back with no fish. and are breams good bait? can i use them whole or fillets only?

cheers dano

[shazdoggg]

Maybe get yourself a keeper net! Compleat angler have a few on sale atm. I picked one up today for $30 and its massive. You could keep a 3kg snapper live and it wont touch the sides!

[hornet]

Are you asking about bait or the catch or the ice ??

or

am I having a twilight zone moment ?

[Dano]

Are you asking about bait or the catch or the ice ??

or

am I having a twilight zone moment ?

im catching bait fish like salmons, mullets etc.

[hornet]

Are you asking about bait or the catch or the ice ??

or

am I having a twilight zone moment ?

im catching bait fish like salmons, mullets etc.

Like shazdoggg said, a large keeper net in the water for the day keeping everything alive

OR

truck the ice out in an esky with you.. lots of eskies on wheels now, add some water to make a slurry ..

[cobby]

1 bag of ice in 25L esky, add water when setting rods up to level of ice. All fish wish to be kept goes straight in the slurry and not removed until home ready for the freezer. Do not bleed, cut etc. the fish at all, and handle with care. If the water is cold enough they "sleep" fairly rapidly. There's no need to keep them alive unless you need to use them alive. And Bream aren't that crash hot for bait, I'd rather 1 Trevally over 5 Bream for bait

[cotte]

Just adding on the ice slurry, use salt water, the ice won't melt as fast as it would with normal water

[Plas-Flicker]

Just adding on to the add on to the ice slurry LOL, definately use salt water, it lowers the freezing point so everything stays ultra fresh (and beers get literally ice cold).

* edit * unless you like bait fish flavoured beers, do not put a pack of pillies in with the beers, use something to separate them like beers in a clip sealed bag or something...

[Omer]

Watched an episode of Mythbusters where they cooled down beer in a few different ways. Iced salty water cooled the drink down ridiculously fast! Around 5 minutes i think it was and was good to go!

[Basti]

Watched an episode of Mythbusters where they cooled down beer in a few different ways. Iced salty water cooled the drink down ridiculously fast! Around 5 minutes i think it was and was good to go!

haven't seen the episode, but if i need an "emergency cold one", i'll either wrap the bottle in a wet paper towel and into the freezer or chuck it into a bowl with a handful of salt, ice and stir. gets it drinkable at least. I have no patience :cheers: