Just got back from the beach. Went out trolling down there and ended up bringing a box of frozen sardines back. Has anyone used them for cut bait for cats? If so are they worth messing with or just stick to cut shad and white perch?
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Just got back from the beach. Went out trolling down there and ended up bringing a box of frozen sardines back. Has anyone used them for cut bait for cats? If so are they worth messing with or just stick to cut shad and white perch?
I don't know how well fresh frozen sardines hold up once thawed,but creek chubs turn mushy when frozen then thawed.I would do the old test tank experiment ( five gallon bucket ) or go to the water and toss one a few times to see how long they hold up,lm feeling they will get mushy pretty much like a chub.
Yep. I hate frozen shad for same reason. They are only 6 or 7 inches. Might could use the whole.
There only one way to know. Fish them and see what the catfish think. I salt my baits to make them firm up.
Going out tonight. Will take a few and see what they do. Using mostly shad tonight. Tons in the coves right now.
Be sure to give us a review,couriosity killed the cat ,:popcorn
try cheap hotdogs cut crossways x5 , soak in cherry kool-aid .
Not a good test. Only had three bites total. Caught one small blue on live shad, had one other bite on shad and one on the cut sardines. Could not find them. Started out in about 20 fow and nothing moved to 40 under a bridge and got the two bites that didn't connect. Probably smaller cats. Finally hooked up with the one blue in about 30 fow slow trolling.
That just gives you a good reason to go again,the other plus side......you can always take some crackers and eat your left over bait.....commercial stink baits smear on a cracker well ,but they don't taste as good as sardines.:puke
So did you use up all the sardines? I know what you mean by not finding them.
My grandmother used to eat sardines with onions. whew! Good night! That turned me against sardines for sure.
lol. Might go back out tonight.
Sardines didnt do so well. Soft like frozen shad and hard to keep in the hook. Fished shrimp and them and never got a bite on the sardines. Caught about 5 on the shrimp. Honestly don't know how long the sardines were staying on. They were gone everytime I checked bait.
Thanks for the update.
When I lived in Jacksonville Fla--- several Grocery Stores had Frozen Smelt.. I found it stayed on the Hook pretty good and caught lots of fish with it for Bait ... I do not know of anyone that would eat Smelt ... But if Sardines are on the Table, anything else could be Fair Game ..... Squid, Octopus to mention a few
Man I use to eat those smelt ....breaded and pan fried. My Mother in law fixed em. I thought they were pretty good for a change. I have fished a lot in the Mississippi,Ohio,and Tennessee river systems. And I'm telling you sometimes they would just key in on a specific bait and you had to figure it out. I have seen them get picky. We used mooneyes,herring,gizzard,and threadfin shad. We always tried to catch fresh bait...but when bait gettin was good we always took some home and froze it. We would bring it along and if we had trouble gettin bait we would use the frozen...never let it thaw out completely...always kept it on ice. Use to be a lot of guys would fish around each other...you would be sittin' there and not catching anything and a guy anchored 20 yards away pulling in em left and right...You'd holler what you using ? And he might say "Mooneye chunked" and you'd be using Gizzard shad and hardly a bite...next week different story different bait.Generally speaking local bait is usually best..but hey sometimes other stuff works too. Caught em on everything from salami,to hot dogs and shrimp,livers,corn,worms,mussels,grasshoppers,craw dads,cut bait of all kinds of fish...asian carp work.
About that Guy fishing 20 Yards away !!!! there can be something different about the Bottom of the River that he Anchored on. You might be on a hard Bottom and he is on a Mussel bed. If they are not nibbling at the bait another spot could make the difference... same thing if only small fish are stealing the bait
Not always ....you switch bait to match and start catching them...we all already know what we are fishing over. That's the whole point...when you make the assumption that any decent bait is going to catch them you're stuck. You have to realize how picky they can get.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish on Line
People keep thinking these are just mindless fish that will eat anything if they just come across it. It's to hard to be changing up your rig,presentation,bait that much...why if they don't bite with what I am doing where I am at they just ain't biting.
Okay.....I like that thinking.. you stick with that...I ain't selling nothing