How to freeze Ballyhoo?

[Andaman Andy]

Cannot get Packs of Ballyhoo in this neck of the woods so i was planning on packaging my own, not sure how to do it, so was thinking of putting ballys in a cooler of ice/water to get the temp of the bait right down then vacuum packing / freezing em.
Has anyone got any tips? do i need to brine before freezing or do i need to freeze before vacuum packing?
Any help would be apreciated.

[gofshn]

large cooler filled with an icy brine and baking soda solution as well as some formaldehyde, let soak for 12-20 hours then freezer pack carefully. you can use pickling salt/kosher salt fromt he market. do not use regular iodized salt.

[Capt. Brian Daley]

Hay Andy glad to see our back how are you doing I'd would brine them in a ice
cold salt water soltion vacuum pack them and freeze I'am sure the box will
chime in

[Andaman Andy]

Thanks guy's, finally made the move over from the UK, had to do some building etc. to get settled so been tied up.
Starting on a 4 villa project this year to rent out so not got that much time to fish, hope to get my own CC when this is done and get some Meat'n'thebox.

Ok back to the Ballys..... in a 70L Iceytek how much salt/ baking soda would i put in?

[reel fool]

Get setup to properly care for your ballyhoo b4 throwing the net. How much ice & water, etc....depends on how many ballyhoo you want to prep. I use a 70 qt cooler. If I am planning on capturing 100-150 baits, I use 4 lbs kosher salt, 30-40 lbs of ice & about 3 to 3.5 gallons of saltwater. Add about 16 ounces of baking soda. I don't have access to formaldehyde, so I don't use it. BUT if you do, be conservative. Have never used it, but those who do tell me it takes very little to get it right. too much--and they are sticks, not baits.

As you lift the net, drop your leads into the brine solution & work the baits out of the net, directly into the brine solution. a second set of hands helps here. grab your live ballyhoo off the ground immediately & get them into solution. You want to get them cooled off. Keep pushing them down into the solution. Do not let them sit on top of the brine. get them into it. keep them there for about 8-12 hours.

Vacuum packing. Have another 50-100 qt cooler ready, with 10-20 lbs of ice. Pick out your baits & sort as you go (I like to pack similar size baits together, like you would buy them). DO NOT DUMP THE LOAD, SORT & PACK. They will warm up on you. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, use 1 gallon sealable ziplock bags. Wrap your baits in a paper towel to dry them. Dispose of that towel & wrap them in another, dry paper towel. Place them in the sealable bag & submerge the bag in a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of saltwater (or drain some of your solution into the bucket--leave out the ice, this will make it easier to do your work) as you close the seal. Try to not get the water solution into your bag. Put that bag in the cooler with 10-20 lbs of ice in it.

good luck.

[Andaman Andy]

Thanks Jeff, Very clear, i will give it a go.

[FASTWATER]

One of the things I like to do before vacume packing is sort and lay out my baits on a cookie sheet and prefreeze nice and flattened out before vacume packing I buy alot of bait but also put up alot of bait and save my styrofoam trays from store bought bait to put up my own bait on it seems to hold better and stay longer by doing this!!!PEACE