Brine Recipe?

[offshore]

Does anyone know if you can over brine ? Will salt burn a bait ? I see some baits done by some of the major bait co's that look yellow or burnt.

Capt Rick

If they have a slight yellow tint they might have thawed out a little and some blood might have leached into the scales. I order mine from BaitMasters and have always received great fresh baits clear eyes and no blood. Baitmasters pre-brines their baits and most of the time I wont brine their baits. If I have some left at the end of the day I will brine them over night and use them the next day....Mark

[Chasin_Tail]

Heading offshore in a couple weekends. I want to pre-rig my ballyhoo(naked & sea witches, etc...) with hooks and leaders.

I’ll get 4-6 packs of Frozen Baitmasters and thaw them in a bucket of water. Once thawed, make up a brine solution (1/2 kosher salt & 1/2 baking soda). Rig the hoo, dunk /soak in the brine and set on newspaper in layers of newspaper and hoo. Once done, store in a crab bushel box in the fridge in the garage.

I want to pre-rig Thursday, travel to the shore on Friday (store the rigged hoo's in a cooler w/ ice) and head offshore Saturday.

Do you see any gotcha’s here? Will the hoo's hold up this way? Should I freeze them once rigged or is the fridge good enough?

[Glenn W]

Heading offshore in a couple weekends. I want to pre-rig my ballyhoo(naked & sea witches, etc...) with hooks and leaders.

I’ll get 4-6 packs of Frozen Baitmasters and thaw them in a bucket of water. Once thawed, make up a brine solution (1/2 kosher salt & 1/2 baking soda). Rig the hoo, dunk /soak in the brine and set on newspaper in layers of newspaper and hoo. Once done, store in a crab bushel box in the fridge in the garage.

I want to pre-rig Thursday, travel to the shore on Friday (store the rigged hoo's in a cooler w/ ice) and head offshore Saturday.

Do you see any gotcha’s here? Will the hoo's hold up this way? Should I freeze them once rigged or is the fridge good enough?

Oh my. Well, I ain't gonna say that'll not work but it sure wouldn't be my first choice of an arrangement. Forget the silly brine for Baitmasters ballyhoo--- they were properly brined when caught (that's one on the beautys of this brand). Now rigging on Thursday to use on Sat. will work, but two days is a right long time--- not the worst thing though. I would recommend rigging Friday morning or evening if possible, but hey, we all gotta work with the time we have available.
Now onto what I see as the most important things for ballyhoo. Thaw the pack in salt water (not tap or fresh water). Forget the newspaper, it will promote bacteria growth and make for a wrinkled yet mushy bait. and NEVER, EVER let fresh Ice or water come in contact with the bait if at all possible. If you don't have a stainless bait tray, run to Wally World and getcha one of those $7.00 metal baking pans with the sides about an inch or so high. Drill ya a mess of holes on the bottom, and bend, cut, whatever to fit neatly in your cooler. Now, in a pinch pastic will do, but metal will keep the baits much, much colder ( more on this in a second). Put your baits (rigged and un-rigged) belly up on the tray nice and neat. Sprinkle generously with Bionic brine or salt/baking soda. Now the real trick--- fill a good cooler with shaved or cube ice and sprinkle a hellova lot of salt on top of the ice. Put your bait tray on the ice and you are good to go. The salt and ice will make the temperature go WaAAAAY down (below freezing) and will radiate onto the metal tray. Those ballyhoo will now be kept at just above freezing at just the right humidity. Water, temperature, and air are the biggest enemies of ballyhoo as these create decomposition. the salt simply draws out more water from the fish making the flesh tougher and drier (less water in the meat to promote rot). However, too much salt for too long makes a wrinkled ungly bait that just don't swim worth a shit. The baking soda helps reduce the multiplication of bacteria by keeping the PH up and keeps the baits nice and silvery---- Air circulating in a frig, just drys the baits out too much.
It's really that simple and alot less headache.
Don't forget to thaw your hooters beak down in the bucket.---- and don't go peaking at your pretty baits every 5 minutes once they're in the cooler---- keep the lid closed, so as to keep em cold and let em rest--- they got lots of work to do.

[Chasin_Tail]

Makes perfect sense, thanks Glenn!