Well lol i talked my dad in to letting me use his old meat grinder and i was gonna grind up some smelt i have to use in my Pvc pipes for coon. Well i am woundering is if i can just grind it up stick it in a jar and refreeze it untill it is time to use it? Also should i add anything to it like some pieces of apple or maybe some Vanilla exstract?

Oh also i do have some Evaporated Salt should i add some of that in to keep it from freezeing and to make it stable and not get rotten on me?

check with adc he has a thread out on it

How much smelt are you planning on putting up? The answer to that quantity/volume question may direct which will be the most practical and economical route for you to go with.

This is ADC's rendition from the Archives:

Fish For Raccoon Bait

There are different ways of "preservation," including freezing, salt, bait solutions and sodium benzoate.

Jonathan

No smelt here in Kansas. I use a cast net and catch shad. I grind them up whole and freeze in gall bags. Just thaw a bag as I need it. You don't need to add anything to fish.

Thanks Jonathon. In addition to that link this one has even more info on it... link

~ADC~

Rob, eat the smelt and grind up some suckers or carp, smelt is OK, if you have available some tonquin musk, a few drops[only a drop] will enhance it. Steve

some people add stuff like sodium benzoate for a preservative. mabey some kind of additonall flavoring(something sweet mabey) might help

rob you get that many smelt this year up in the wilderness??? another ??? are those lake superior smelt or lake michigan smelt? ive been goin to the fish cleaning stations around frankfort and getting garabage cans full of silver carp. (salmon) so ive been out chumming a few new areas with those to see what will hit on them. i am dyin to set some steel.

These are all lake superior smelt I ended up with around 12 gallons of them lol. I have a bunch that is put up for fishing they have borax on them and a bunch with out. Now that i see how lil i fished this year i wish i would of left the borax off the rest of them. If push comes to shove tho im sure i could rinse them good and still use them for coon and mink.


Man i cant wait to set some steel in the ground we can set dry land on the 15th so imma put a few traps out then. I plan on taking some of the smelt and some coon candy and putting one of the pvc pipes out with the trail cam to see what i get.

Hey Robert!!!

Long time no talk

If I go up to the UP before bear season ends i am going to set for coons if its after the 15th!!! because ours opens later down here...

I cant wait i am about to order some more traps... you got everything you need?

and i still dont know about the Colorado job yet waiting game now

Well well if it isnt Craig. Man i thought your women took away your comp.

Lol man i still dont have everything i need but i did pick up some fish oil and stuff to finsh my stakes so that should be here soon. Got tags on the way also.


I still need to pick up some body grippers lmao nothing like waiting till the last min.


Man i cant wait to set some traps i need to get outta the house and spend some time alone in the woods.


Man you need to come in to chat some time.

Well i made up some ground fish tonight lol was kind of fun to do really. I made up a couple different batchs to see which one works better for me.


One has crick chubs and the liquid off of salted suckers. The next back has the chubs and the same liquid but i added a lil Anise oil to it.

The third batch has smelt the lil bit of left over Anise oil that was in the bucket which wasnt much because i rinsed it out and 3 apples lol. We have alot of apple trees around so i thought why not a lil apple smell and a lil fish smell. The next batch is gonna be just smelt and honey and then maybe just a batch of just smelt to use around water.


So how does that all sound to you guys?

Sounds like a coon catcher.

All of it togeather 5 jars or bait all of them are different.


This is chubs and lil extra added.


This is smelt one is just plan smelt and the other has stuff added to it.


Yummmmmmmm



Rob

haha....yummyyyy!!!!! no thanks man... good work though... i am proud of ya!!!

I have a 5 gallon bucket filled with carp chunks that i have waiting at home for me... might just use it as the chunks though... not really sure yet!!!

good work on the bait! hope you actually get out and trap this year

looks lip smackin good there rob-o dang now i gotta go make myself a samich. lol i'll take a ground smelt on whole wheat please.

lol well dang man that smelt really does look good enough to eat really some ground smelt with apples mmmm mmmm good.



I also have a 5 gallon bucket of suckers that was chunked and salted lol. Man i better get out and set some steel if not im in trouble i have a full freezer 90% is some type of fish to be used as bait.


I can say that i am 95% sure i will have me a coon or 2 on the 16th lol.