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Salting Bonito For Bait


Simonator

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Hi all

I am going to be getting some fresh Bonito for use as bait for beach fishing here in the Solomons.

Can anyone tell me how you treat it to be able to use it later? I will be using it fresh but I want some ready for 'sudden' trips as well.

Cheers and thanks in advance

Simon

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G'day mate, I use alot of salted fish baits, I prepare it this way,

I fillet the fish, then I salt it on both sides ,I just use table salt , then wrap it in newspaper , after a day or 2 of being in the fridge the paper gets a bit wet and soggy from fish juice, so I repeat the process with more salt and fresh newspaper and put it back in the fridge.

Now this works great as Ihave been doing it for years, in the fridge is fine, no smell and you dont have the problem of freezing and re-freezing.

If I use the same packet of salted flesh a couple of times and the newspaper gets a bit tatty, just wrap it in some new stuff , you can give it another sprinkle of salt as it wont hurt the fillet.

You can keep it for months , still good and still catches fish..

Hope this helps..

These are a few pics of bonnie and stripy fillets, approx, 4-6 weeks old, Ihave just rewrapped the stripy fillet and the old bonnie bits..

post-3371-1238282428_thumb.jpg

post-3371-1238282451_thumb.jpg

post-3371-1238282474_thumb.jpg

Cheers..

Edited by Ray R
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can you do this with Tailor fillets? and are they worth using as bait?

Yes you certainly can, the tuna's, bonnies, stripy, etc are probably a better bait though, but for sure tailor would be worth a go..

Cheers..

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Yes you certainly can, the tuna's, bonnies, stripy, etc are probably a better bait though, but for sure tailor would be worth a go..

Cheers..

ok thats awsome ty, it might not be the best quality bait but it would be alright for me when i just wanna pick up a rod on short notice and have a fish.

Cheers

Cory

P.s do i scale and Gut the fish first before filleting?

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Hi all

I am going to be getting some fresh Bonito for use as bait for beach fishing here in the Solomons.

Can anyone tell me how you treat it to be able to use it later? I will be using it fresh but I want some ready for 'sudden' trips as well.

Cheers and thanks in advance

Simon

Another way of salting your fish would be , get yourself a 5 litre rectangle container ( $2 from go lo , reject shop ) . i use rock sea salt .

Layer of about 10mm on the bottom of container ,then place your fillets skin down .

Then cover the fillets with about another 10mm of rock sea salt . you can place another layer of fillets again & then cover again with 10mm of salt.

Continue this process until container is full .Air seal the container ,place in the fridge .

The next day pull out the countainer & tip out any liquid that has settled in the bottom of the container . Repeat this procedure for 2 days , your fillet will be very firm .

You can use this procedure with whole fish too.

hope i haver assisted you

happy fishing

nick

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  • 2 months later...

G'day All,

caught a few Bonito's and have fillited them and now have them salted and wrapped

in newspaper in fridge.

Now the question is what do i do with them. I fish from a kayak mainly between the Spit Bridge and the Heads.

What should I target and on what type of rig do I use.

Any assistance would be great.

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Make a salty saltwater brine mix in a tub, ALSO add sugar, this really keeps the bait in one piece, fillet your fish and leave it in there overnight or two, take out and leave on paper and then wrap and freeze, basically what has been said in a few posts but the sugar is what really helps it, this is coming from a pro fisherman my mate is friends with, they swear by this.

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Make a salty saltwater brine mix in a tub, ALSO add sugar, this really keeps the bait in one piece, fillet your fish and leave it in there overnight or two, take out and leave on paper and then wrap and freeze, basically what has been said in a few posts but the sugar is what really helps it, this is coming from a pro fisherman my mate is friends with, they swear by this.

first time I've heard about using sugar

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