I got out this morning for about an hour or so. Using my Killer Bream Bait, cooked and shelled prawn head. This was the result ---



The middle one measures 28cm.

well done on the bream front. Some nice fish. How'd you do get on with your injured finger?

Thanks, yeah I am pretty happy with the results.

I will not be fishing again until this finger heals. It was not easy. I was using a little 6 foot Ugly Stik with a 2500 size Shimano reel. But after an hour, well maybe 90 minutes, the finger had had enough. It is looking good thou. Not as bad as I thought. About 1/3 or maybe 1/4 of the nail was sliced off along with 2 or 3 mm of flesh. Holding a fishing rod is interesting and an hour or so is enough at this stage . Bandage is off for most of the day now. So wont be much longer and I will be back into my finger waving road rage...haha

Yeah, it was good. Got a couple of under sized and these 3 keepers.

I still have prawn heads left (I salted them). So I was thinking of trying a couple of spots along the Bidgee...I will be back out west in just over 1 week from now. Yep, cooked prawn head works good in fresh water.

Sounds like the bream (and the Australian road users) have to watch out once that finger is back in action.

Salting bait is a great way to preserve it. I've just recently collected a bunch of mussels and salted them for bait.
Was planning on writing up a post on how to do it.
Much easier than trying to put fresh mussels on a hook.

Oh, yeah, once my finger is back in action...

I tell ya...You think it is bad in NZ ?? I have driven right around Australia twice...The worst drivers in Australia, with out any doubt, with out any question, are those that live and drive in the Illawarra. People of the Shaolhaven are starting to follow suit. Bad scene man, grow up !!!

I could tell you a story about South Australian drivers which is so bad you would not believe it...I have no choice, I witnessed it, so I have to believe it...but I digress...

A tutorial on salting would be good. It is a great way of prolonging bait. I would be happy to do the tutorial when I get out west...Another long and cold winter land locked ...may as well do something useful and salt some bait. Your call, you or me?

sounds good. we can do one each I was just gonna look specifically into mussels.
Took a few photos while I was at it.

Yeah...sounds good.

I don't have any mussels. But I do have some pilchards which I salted when I was house sitting in Lake Bunga. Vacuum packed and frozen in the Engel.

Actually, the prawn heads I have, are going to be vacuumed and frozen. I will take some pics and start to put together a tutorial.

Mate, great article. what rig/set up do you use?

Mate...Murray...Welcome to Fishing Reminder

Well, the bait was cooked prawn heads as per this - https://www.fishingreminder.com/fishing-talk/4-fishing-talk/3550-killer-bream-bait...

The rod I used was an Ugly Stik. 6 foot. To be honest, I don't know what reel I used. It was a Shimano 2500. I just opened my storage unit and there was an Ugly Stik with a Shimano on it...Honestly if you saw my storage unit...It is just fishing gear..Yeah some car parts, a couple of Sony speakers, a few bottles of wine ...

The rig was just a standard bream rig. A sliding sinker above a swivel. I used a long shank hook only because there might have been some flathead in the area.

Are salted prawn heads also good for other species? Looking forward to your tutorial on how to prepare them, the rig and how to hook them.

Glad to hear other fisho's have discovered the value of prawn heads - have been using them foe some years here on the southern end of Lake Macquarie with good results. The conditions allow me to use them on a rig with no lead and that makes them even deadlier.
Pretty economical as far as costs goes too - the last 50gms packet of green bait prawns I bought cost $8.50 and on my rough calculations that works out at about $170 a kilo. Need to catch a lot of fish to pay that off.
Was put on to chicken thigh/breast pieces rubbed with parmesan cheese - anyone else tried that?

Yes, they are.

You will catch just about anything with a cooked prawn.

Over the years I have noticed that leaving the shell on does not work as good. Leaving the shell on the head does not work at all. But removing the shell is an absolute killer

Next time I go to Wagga I will get some prawns and show you how to salt them. Wagga is a 200km round trip so it is to far just to get prawns. But maybe in the next week or so.

I might get a small bag of pilchards too (if they have any out this far west) and put together a tutorial as I promised above

I have been using them for about 35 years.

I started using them in Lake Illawarra. Now I use them just about every where.

Yeah...you can't beat the price

Have not tried chicken rubbed in parmesan. Would it be used for a particular fish or just as a general bait ?

Bream in particular go for it (biggest has been just on 42cms) but also flathead (biggest just short of 95cms). There was one pan sized reddie (must have lost his way) who seemed to enjoy it as well.

I'm very close to Lake Petite (have a look at Google maps) and the locals here tell me it's a renowned flattie breeding ground which could account for the above average flatties we get. We have an unwritten rule that anything bigger than 60-65cms goes straight back

Re the chicken breast - if thighs are cheaper I use them with no difference to the results. Splashing a bit of fish sauce over them also works well.

Cheers

I make my own fish sauce...

It is just a bi product of salting.

I use it to dip bait and lures before casting. Works and works good !! I seem to remember talking about it on the Forum some years ago.

Basically, you collect the fluids from salting and that is your fishing dipping sauce.

You can make it for eating too if you want. The big brands make it the same way. Little Boy is regarded as the best, but I have never seen it in Australia. Squid Brand (which I am sure you would know) is regarded as the second best in the world. Squid Brand is widely available in Australia...and it is cheap...$2 to $4 for 750ml.

Of course, making eating grade export quality fish sauce is a bit different to making home made bait dipping sauce. But the process is exactly the same. Take fish and cover with salt. Put in bucket with drain holes and collect liquid as it drains...fish sauce

If you want to make it for eating, it is basically the same. But add in some wine making thinking. Eating grade fish sauce has "pressings" just like wine or olive oil. You should use a single fish just like a single malt whiskey or a single grape wine.

But for bait dipping sauce any old fish off cuts, prawn shells, crab shells, seaweed....Couple of hand fulls of Bunnings $7.50 for 25kg of pool salt...and unces your bobble

Something to think about when you're out with your grand kids in a few decades and there's no bream biting.

News out this week (very unsurprising):

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-02/prawns-carrying-white-spot-discovered-in-queensland-supermarkets/9914610


https://blogs.csiro.au/ecos/white-spot-disease-in-prawns/

Don't believe me. Don't believe the Inspector General of Australian Biosecurity's review, and don't believe the senate enquiry, don't believe our national science organisation the CSIRO, don't believe the investigative journalists from 4 Corners, don't believe the independent lab that verified their results, don't believe the professor from the Sunshine Coast and many other organisation that have spent decades studying such viral diseases in aquaculture.

itsaboat knows best. As he alluded to, it's all just a big conspiracy by bait suppliers to rip us all off.

Continue to follow an unverified process to make supermarket bought green prawns 'safe' (30% of which are STILL infected despite tighter biosecurity restrictions since the outbreak traced to 2016). Feel free to use them guilt free as bait to infect our local stocks. It definitely won't cause irreparable damage to our local seafood industry, destroying the livelihoods of the families that own and work for them. And there's absolutely no way it could possibly affect the food chain and the odds of catching as many fish as we enjoy today.

We have a Topic (thread) for discussing White Spot Virus here -

https://www.fishingreminder.com/fishing-talk/4-fishing-talk/3550-killer-bream-bait...-cooked-prawn...and-the-white-spot-debate

Posted by Cucchiaio

Continue to follow an unverified process to make supermarket bought green prawns 'safe'