Mussels

Bought some fresh mussels from local supermarket, now in my freezer
R they any good bait and how do i prepare them :roll:

[steve devon]

some people on here use them but iv never tried them

everyone says they are good though

[Ben]

i have used them 2 times and in an hr i caught a coddling and a small ling
i dont know how much of thins was down to the bait though because i was in N yorkshire in a place called robin hoods bay near whitby and its good for fishing around there
it was also the middle of the night and it was raining but i was getting bites within about 30 secs of casting each time but wasnt making contact because hooks were abit small for the size of bait
i tiped it off with squid/sandells
i got them fresh with no shells and they were masive things

[flounder_al]

I use them all the time up here in the north of Scotland and i think they are cracking bait. I mostly use them when i go boat fishing (cod, coallies, wrasse and ling love em) but i do occasionally use them from the shore . You have to use bait elastic to keep them on the hook but i find they are really good bait especially after a good storm.

[Ben]

to prepare them just stick a butter knife (or even 1 of the special mussel knives) in them and open em up, then scope em out with a tea spoon

[flounder_al]

Easiest way of getting mussel onto your hook is to use an old apple corer. Firstly get your apple corer and take off the point unless you find it easier to do it with it still on. This then gives you the perfect tool for making a mussel package. Place the required amount of mussel in the grove of the corer and then wrap bait elastic around the bait/corer until sufficient. Insert the hook and then when ready to, remove the corer from the mussel/bait elastic. The bait should neatly come away from the corer. There you go you have a nice mussel package ready for lobbing out to sea. I use this method all the time and it works great.

[Ben]

that sounds like a pritty gd idear

[upnorth1]

great bait for cocktails...

up here in the north east, cocktails of crab, mussel, salmon roe, and lug / ragworms , all make great combinations for catching cod in the rocks and kelp.

Big hooks, and big baits..thats the trick, mussels make a great scenty bait, fresh or frozen, but in the winter, make sure you shell them before you go fishing, nightmare on your hands when its cold...

[Ben]

yeah, used them up in the north east and caught codling, i have always wonder though when fishing in kelp beds isnt tere abit of a prob with all the weed???

[upnorth1]

...sure is a problem, Ben.

you need a lot of umph, to rive them fish through the kelp, and tackle to match...