savit Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 Hi All, Just wondering if someone has experience using salted prawns (same way as pilchard can be salted) as a bait. I purchased 1 1/2 kg raw prawns at low price from fishmarket and put them in a freezer a while ago. However struggling to catch anything on them once they are defrosted. My wife is claiming the part of the freezer if I do not do anything about the prawns. Thank you, savit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 I buy prawns from the super market when they are on sale also. I find they make excellent bait ( better than the bait bought ones) I do peel them before using them and often need to cut them up a little as they are pretty big. I mainly use them for shallow water fishing in estuaries or the shore, where they will catch almost all species. I've never salted them as I like them quite soft and mushy. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDory Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 I buy prawns from the super market when they are on sale also. I find they make excellent bait ( better than the bait bought ones) I do peel them before using them and often need to cut them up a little as they are pretty big. I mainly use them for shallow water fishing in estuaries or the shore, where they will catch almost all species. I've never salted them as I like them quite soft and mushy. Jon JD My be you should be eating your bait rather than the dogs food. JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 JD My be you should be eating your bait rather than the dogs food. JD You're a card JD. You should be dealt with. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savit Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 I buy prawns from the super market when they are on sale also. I find they make excellent bait ( better than the bait bought ones) I do peel them before using them and often need to cut them up a little as they are pretty big. I mainly use them for shallow water fishing in estuaries or the shore, where they will catch almost all species. I've never salted them as I like them quite soft and mushy. Jon Thanks Jon. You did not mention whether you freeze them. I do usually fish estuaries and the shore where whiting, bream, flatheads, mullet and tailor are usual catch. These prawns are also soft and mushy and even have some smell when defrosted. However I can get more bites even on chicken than on these prawns. I purchased them from Chinese fishmarket , they are smaller comparing to those from Wollies or Coles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 I've used them from frozen but have to admit most of the fish we catch with them in my area we can actually see. Even mullet and garfish love the mushy stuff under a float infront of our house. With most of this kind of fishing we burley up old left over bait such as pilchards then use the prawns as they out fish the burley and fresh prawns. There's a sand bank drop off across the lake infront of our house where we stand knee deep and watch whiting, flathead, bream etc come almost to our feet which makes it very exciting for the kids. As for eating the prawns, I developed an allergy to them and most other shellfish which is pretty annoying as we do very well on lobsters down here. At least the old people who live around us make us good cakes in exchange, though I would prefer a bag of dog biscuits!!! Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savit Posted September 23, 2016 Author Share Posted September 23, 2016 I've used them from frozen but have to admit most of the fish we catch with them in my area we can actually see. Even mullet and garfish love the mushy stuff under a float infront of our house. Jon What depth do you set under float for the mushy stuff? Do you use some small split sinker? Sight fishing can be very entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted September 23, 2016 Share Posted September 23, 2016 What depth do you set under float for the mushy stuff? Do you use some small split sinker? Sight fishing can be very entertaining. The float fishing is mainly for gar and mullet, the bait sits quite close to the float 20-30cm without split shot. I find slowly retrieving it back towards us will entice fish that didn't seem overly interested. The bream and duskys tend to turn up under the surface action where we will often put a live gar or mullet to catch the flathead. In Wagonga inlet ( Narooma river) we fish deeper water with prawn for just about all bottom species including snapper and flounder In the deeper water we use very small ball sinkers with light line, the lighter we go the more fish we tend to catch ( 6-8lb). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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