Bait Storage

[nottskev]

I hesitated to post this; it felt a bit like one of those domestic hacks (when did people start using the word in that sense?) that litter the internet. How to organise your sock drawer, tidy your cupboards etc. But I've found this useful. I have a food-only fridge in the kitchen, and a bigger fridge/freezer in a lean-to conservatory, which doubled for bait and food. I tried to keep it clean, but the odd maggot would get out and track red dye around the inside, the shelves would get a bit grimy from the base of the tubs, you could smell the bait when you opened the door and so on. I replaced it with a new one over Christmas with one that will work even in very low temperatures, and I thought it would be a shame to spoil its pristine cleanliness with bait. I started isolating the bait in a large lock-top container, and that has solved the problem. The reduced air has proved better than other ways of keeping maggots; they slow down to a near standstill and keep condition well.

In this box there's a pint of casters, half a pint of maggots in an open tub, a tub of chopped luncheon meat, a small bag of expanded pellets, the remains of a tin of corn and a small bag of dampened micros.

I don't generally have big quantities of eg maggots - I'm frugal with feed - but if need be I can add another container and still only take up half of one shelf. Keeping live bait in a family fridge can be a bit of an issue, understandably, so this might be of use to someone.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

As so often the best solutions ree the simplest ones.

For baits like corn, luncheon meat, hemp and pellets I tend to use Ziploc bags to keep them in the 'fridge. you can lay the bags down so they take up very little space and if necessary can be used to freeze the baits too.

On fishing days I simply put the bags into my bait cooler bag and off we go.

 

[nottskev]

As so often the best solutions ree the simplest ones.

For baits like corn, luncheon meat, hemp and pellets I tend to use Ziploc bags to keep them in the 'fridge. you can lay the bags down so they take up very little space and if necessary can be used to freeze the baits too.

On fishing days I simply put the bags into my bait cooler bag and off we go.

Good idea. After years of putting bags of hemp etc in the freezer where they become space-eating solid lumps, I started putting the bait in ziploc bags and flattening the bags so they stack up neatly.

 

[rayner]

I try very hard to have no baits left. Last week I emptied my freezer of all the bait that had been in there since October 2019.
The lot was binned, I used all my maggots on my last trip, the trip before saw me throw the paste I had mixed in the bin. If I have baits leftover, I give them away on the bank or they go in the bin.
I am forcing myself to save nothing in the way of bait.

 

[nottskev]

I try very hard to have no baits left. Last week I emptied my freezer of all the bait that had been in there since October 2019.
The lot was binned, I used all my maggots on my last trip, the trip before saw me throw the paste I had mixed in the bin. If I have baits leftover, I give them away on the bank or they go in the bin.
I am forcing myself to save nothing in the way of bait.

I like that! There's a concept in religion, kenosis - you give up all inessentials and stand clean and pure. Trouble is, I'd be skint if I kept giving all my unused bait away

 

[rayner]

Locally maggots are £2 a pint, casters £2.50. If I use paste £4. 65 a bag of Special G for paste will do me twice. Can of hemp £2.40. Luncheon meat is only £1 a tin, corn is taken from the freezer.
Through the summer I typically use one of the baits mentioned
Not that expensive paste fishing about £4.50 for paste with hemp, £8 for maggot or £10 for casters is not too much for a days fishing.
Worms are used when it turns cold with groundbait.
On the whole, not a lot.

 

[markcw]

Bags of groundbait pellets , hard and soft are in a plastic container, with click down lid ,and are put in wall cupboards in the garage.
Luncheon meat if cubed goes in ziplock bag and laid flat in freezer, sweetcorn either kept in tin or ziplock bag in freezer, Tins of meat or corn also go in wall cupboard along with snack packs of peperami, an ideal bait on some waters
Maggots are kept in a beer chiller, my partner says I can use the "overflow " fridge in the garage This is where food goes if it wont fit in the house fridge.
I now that as soon as I do that, some of the little buggers will escape. And that's me done for.
Liquidized bread usually a pint at a time gets put in ziplock bags and into the freezer, I can get nearly 9 pints from a couple of large loaves. Take what I need and anythats unused goes back in the freezer, same with corn and meat the bags are dated so I have an idea how long they have been there,
Worms normally a kilo are kept in a couple of stacking containers ,one inside the other, fed and the medium is covered with damp cardboard, checked regularly for dead ones .

 

[nottskev]

Through the summer I typically use one of the baits mentioned
Not that expensive paste fishing about £4.50 for paste with hemp, £8 for maggot or £10 for casters is not too much for a days fishing.
Worms are used when it turns cold with groundbait.
On the whole, not a lot.

I'm only being semi-serious. But casters here are £3.95, maggots £3+, other baits a bit dearer than round your way. If things are going ok healthwise, I might fish several times a week, and I wouldn't want to be throwing bait away and buying fresh every time. I don't mind a bit of extravagance (I've got the gear to prove it) but I try to avoid waste, whether it's food or bait. My bait gets looked after like some people look after their pets.

 

[rayner]

I estimate the hours I will fish then buy bait to cover my time, things can sometimes not go to plan. Generally, they do, I consider it a good day if I have no bait left.
I omitted baits like tares and wheat because I rarely use them now but still have the option if need be. Roach are very hard to find at my chosen fishery with the inclusion of Ide and F1s.

 

[markcw]

I'm only being semi-serious. But casters here are £3.95, maggots £3+, other baits a bit dearer than round your way. If things are going ok healthwise, I might fish several times a week, and I wouldn't want to be throwing bait away and buying fresh every time. I don't mind a bit of extravagance (I've got the gear to prove it) but I try to avoid waste, whether it's food or bait. My bait gets looked after like some people look after their pets.

Dont go to the extreme of what @mikench does Kev..
He names his maggots, puts small sticking plasters on them when removed from hook to use again if no fish caught on them. ?

 

[nottskev]

Another angle on keeping bait: if I buy bait on Friday and chuck what I've not used on Sunday, the bloke in the tackle shop will sell me on Monday more of the bait I bought on Friday. I don't know a shop that has bait fresh in daily. It's odds on my remainder bait will be at least as well cleaned, kept etc as his. I'd be crazy to buy it unless I needed more. I've also got into the habit of freezing small packs of maggots with some flavouring, since finding that these dead ones work better than live at one or two places.

 

[mikench]

I share my magots ill have you know.

 

[108831]

I buy my pellets from titmuss's in the main,not by the sack because they have a use by date,after which they are not so healthy for the fishes system,so I buy 5k bags in micros,4/6/8mm,so when I fish I put required amounts in bait boxes,meat corn are kept in water after opening,drained and fridged for another session,hemp the same,maggot(when I use them)are kept in the bait fridge when not on the bank.
On pellets I went to AD a couple of weeks ago and bought some mainline cell pellets in 2/4/6mm,I used he 2's yesterday and was very impressed by them,the smell is excellent and the pellets seem very attractive to fish,they are £2.99 a kilo bag and when I bought them was 10% off....

 

[rayner]

The only maggots I save are deads, if I have lives leftover they are frozen. I draw the line at giving maggots away. Typically I try to use all my live maggots. Baits I do give away are paste and mixed groundbaits, meat also I give away freezing make the meat float, I can't be bothered to make it sink.

 

[108831]

It does make meat float Gary,as I say I keep mine in water during a session,which removes a lot of grease,then drain it and fridge it for up to three days,then the birds get it...

 

[john step]

To hell with the expense. I have a bait freezer and a bait fridge in the garage. Actually on reflection its fairly cost effective to save everything as the nearest tackle shop is about 20 miles away so a return equates to nearly a gallon of juice.
So very convenient when one fishes 3 times a week.

 

[seth49]

I too have a fridge and freezer in the garden shed, very handy for bait as well, although I only use the bottom drawer of the freezer for bait, my wife uses the top two shelves as an overflow for the main house freezer.

It’s brick built with a concrete roof, so it did get very hot in summer, so I painted the two sides that face the sun and the roof cream which reflects the heat of and keeps it a lot cooler, saved quite a lot of electricity doing that, they were working hard in ninety degrees heat in hot weather.

 

[Philip]

I do the hemp freeze thing too. However another little tip to avoid any freezing..

You can also prepare hemp in a thermos flask. Just half fill it with dry hemp and then fill it with boiling water the night before and you should have split hemp by the morning. Just leave the thermos in your car boot & take it direct to the lake with you the next day. It gives you a pint or two of bait & avoids all the messing about, soaking it, boiling it, transferring it to a bait box and so on plus of course no fridge or freezer space needed and only takes a minute or so to prepare.

Added bonus - no cooking smells to annoy the household, the hemp will still be hot and pumping out oils when you use it (so at its best) & finally you also have some hemp water to mix your groundbait with.

 

[rayner]

It does make meat float Gary,as I say I keep mine in water during a session,which removes a lot of grease,then drain it and fridge it for up to three days,then the birds get it...

It's all to do with the fat, I could take the fat off, I like the fat on it causes meat to sink at varying speeds.
I know some like the fat removed by putting it in hot water. I think meat fishes better because of the fat not in spite of the fat.

 

[rayner]

Hemp too can float after being frozen. It's easier to cure floating hemp by putting it in water the night before.