How to Brine?

[Squidnation]

I have seen a cooler full of SPANISH macks behind Marty's old shop in a cooler and know Reel Fool has sold bally before. So how do you guys brine and freeze your stuff. Just got the wheels turning here.

[Sea Draggin]

I got some orange stuff used in embalming. Its not formaldihyde, but like it. It locks in color. You put a cap full of that in your brine and your spanish will keep their color for well over a year. You can pull them out and it looks like you caught them the day before.

[southshore30]

I freeze herring vacuum sealed in Karo syrup. Just saw some in my freezer as I was doing spring freezer cleanup over the weekend and they look like I froze them yesterday. And they are from last spring. An old timer told me about using Karo. After letting it thaw slowly rinse it in a bucket of salt water and it rinses off nicely.

[Cowboy]

Bill back when we could catch a good run I always mixed a brine slurry in a large cooler and frsh caught went straight into that as they came over the side. When I got them home I would pat them dry and vacuum seal them in sigle packs discarding any that looked crappy. trick was to freeze them as fast as possible.

[Bert Rodgers]

Bill back when we could catch a good run I always mixed a brine slurry in a large cooler and frsh caught went straight into that as they came over the side. When I got them home I would pat them dry and vacuum seal them in sigle packs discarding any that looked crappy. trick was to freeze them as fast as possible.

Garry, you didn't cut the gills and gut them 1st?

Bert

[Glenn W]

I'm no professional, and frankly there are probablly better tweaks. My experience is limited to Spanish Macs, mullet, and Menhaden. The process I use is very simple, but does require quick attention to the bait (the fatal flaw of those who don't achieve success).
Handle the hook caught bait as gentle as possible. It is imperitive to get the fish in an very salty ice slurry immediatley. This super cools the fish's meat and starts wicking out water from the flesh through osmosis. I am not that good about gutting my macs right then (or as soon as the fish is dead), rather I deal with the gutting process after I get back to shore. I'm sure it would be better to gut them right away, however. It is critical to keep the ice slurry a slurry (don't let the ice met) and to keep the slurry very, very salty. After getting back to shore, I gut them and let them soak in the salt/Ice slurry untill late in the evening. I then put the fish in the fridge, belly up, sprinkle liberally with salt, and cover with aluminum foil. Mid day next day, I vacuum seal and freeze.
I do not add baking soda to Macs as I don't want to bleach out any color.
This process works well for me and makes all the differtence in the world.
From my experience (good & bad) the biggest factor in preserving macs and keeping color is to get them in an ice/salt slurry immediatly. Simple putting on ice until you return to shore will get you mush for bait that has no color.

Not exactly rocket science.

[O-SEA-D]

I do pretty much what Glenn does w/ 1 exception.

I add Baking soda to the Salty ice slush mixture. I have found that it helps keep the color in the Mack's better IMO.

Then I wrap them in ceran wrap.

My mix consist of Saltwater, Lots of ice, Kosher salt and Baking soda. When I get back to the dock the fish are gutted and wrapped.

[Squidnation]

wonder if that would work with squid?

[Cowboy]

Bert I found that the less handling the better with fresh brined and freeze ASAP to preserve color, I can guttem when I riggem because they are tuff as nails and I always had less handling damage.
My colors always stayed good but I never added baking soda?

[Cowboy]

Bill the problem with squid would be the inking?? I wouldn't see why brining wouldn't work. I truely believe that the brining is just the coldest way to hold them till you can freeze and of course it toughens them up.
Maybe we can borrow Glenns new portable freezer and take along a vacuum packer on the boat and pack and freeze as we go?