coon bait, sardines or filleted fish

[jeffc]

In the past my coon bait consisted of a ton of sardines all ground up with glycerine, shellfish oil and some other ingredients. Would bullhead and channelcat and carp and bass fillets ground up with the same ingredients work as good? Or should i stick with the sardine base?

Jeff

[trappnman]

I think that ground up fish is ground up fish. Some have more oil than others, but let it taint for a bit and its the "same".

Trouble with most fishy baits, is they have no anti freeze in them- and for coon, I do beleive that unless all your coon trapping is in 40 degree or warmer weather, you do need an antifreeze to keep that fishy smell going when its colder.

One of the better coon baits I had as a few 5 gal buckets full of VERY tainted clams. Stuff was like acid, but it worked.

[mustelameister]

"VERY tainted clams"

LOL!

Now that brings back memories. My brother and I ran setlines on Pool 7 back in the 60s, and we baited with clam. Ran the lines in the morning, make a run to Epstein's fish market in La Crosse before noon, eat lunch, then go clamming on the beds.

Come back to the house about 2:00, and shuck all those clams we tossed into the boat. Cut 'em up, and baited all 800 hooks by 5:00.

I remember hot summer days when the flys would be massed on every hook, laying eggs, with the goo dripping down onto the dock. Put a whole new meaning to stink finger! ;D

Seemed like no matter how hard Mark and I would wash our hands, Mom never did think we smelled "right" at the dinner table.

After dinner we'd run the setlines back out, eight boxes, 100 hooks to a box, 3' feet apart, products of the ol' black, yellow and red Herter's catalogs.

No doubt about it, clam has got a lingering smell . . .

[trapn1]

My favorite coon lure is fish oil and procoon mixed. Its easy to just squirt and go and works in any temp. I used to use all that other bait like jack mack, sardines, but it was messy. Once I found fish oil I never went back. Trapn1

[trappnman]

mm- I had a couple of clammers ask if I wanted a bunch of clams. This was at 8 in the morning. I live 5 blocks from where they were- I said I'd be right down. Went there, nothing and nobody there- waiting a half hour and left.

Well.... apparently a half hour after I left, they set the buckets of clams outside for me- in 90 degree weather.

When I picked them up that evening...they were..... tainted...

and yes, it does linger...LOL

[trappnman]

tran1- I agree- fish oil and ProCoon has replaced all my other lures and bait for coon.

[Heavymetal]

I was going to say fishheads. just freeze in gallon ice cream buckets until ready to use. Corn works well.

[briankroberts]

While some of the "Rotted" baits work very well for coon .
I'll have to differ here on the use of fish and shellfish oil.
If I'm adding shellfishoil to baits I want the "host bait"already preserved, RK660's coon bait is a good example of this and a very good bait for the money!.
I used to take carp and chunk it into 2" pieces and than add 1 ounce of shellfish oil to the gallon and than freeze it in quart bags.
Then I would thaw it out as needed during season, it made a fine coon and mink bait.
If I was making a bait that didn't need to be frozen I would grind sardines out of the can add some corn starch to thicken than some shellfish oil( say 1 ounce per pint) than I would store in glass jars.
Shellfish oil will quickly disapate out of plastic( 3-4 months)....
.....B.....

[trappnman]

The problem with most coon baits- is they freeze. I've used Reds bait and both types of Matt Jones bait- and they all work well in plus 30 degree temps. Get below 30- and not worth using, in my opinion.

I've never used Richs bait so don't know if that freezes.

On the above baits I did use- bulk was the recommended way to go.

Stef btw makes a coon/mink bait that is freezeproof and shellfish based. A very good bait, and I use it during late winter when coon aren't a problem in my mink sets and as a change up for my coon pockets. But for every time I use bait, I use lure 20 times or more.

[bblwi2]

Interesting reading the remedies and thoughts on fish for coon.

I will be entering into a heavier coon trapping mode this fall , not due so much to great value as to having more time to trap and thus will trap coons harder and in more inclement weather.
The last 4 seasons about 60% of my coons were in trail sets with body grippers and thus no bait or lure..
My coon lure (bait) if you will for the last 5 years has been a mixture of fox, and mink urine, fish oil and MTP moonshine. with marshmallows.

I will be returning to a bait I made several years ago that worked well for me on a smaller but later season line. I will be modifying this bait this year. My plan is to have the following
1. Several quarts of HMSC in a five gallon bucket filled with water for a few weeks in the summer with a lid on.
2. Add about 50% of that drained and ground corn mix with the fish meal that is being talked about on other posts. Lots of dairy farms feed this stuff so is available and costs about 20-25 cents a lb.
4. I will add animal fat or tallow that my farmers feed to cows. This costs about 25 cents per lb. I will add enough to make a good mix and that should help the freezing down to where I will quit trapping.
I will then decide how to utilize my other ingredients that I have been using. I would be looking for something with a sharp oder for the later season trapping, maybe fish oil. I 5 gallon pail of this mix should be able to make a couple hundred sets and be reasonably easy to handle on the line and while re-baiting etc.

Bryce
3.

[jeffc]

Sardines have went up in price 25 cents a can here from last year. Not very economical so I went fishing this morning and in a couple hours ended up with just over a gallon of meat after I cleaned them. I'm just going to grind the meat and use that in place of sardines in my bait recipe. I only use this bait in pockets for just about 3 weeks or however long the weather cooperates so don't have to worry about it freezing plus with the added glycerin it shouldn't freeze at 30 degrees and alot of my coon won't run when its that cold in the beginning of the season anyway. Also got to watch a bunch of muskrats swimming around and that was pretty cool. I was surprised to see them swimming in that spot as there are some HUGE channelcat there guess they don't bother them.

Jeff

[briankroberts]

Hmmm huge channel cats, coyotes, cats, dry weather, lots of wide open spaces??
And I'm still in IL?
.....B.....

[jeffc]

On the carp fillets I left the scales on do you guys think I should get rid of them before grinding or do you think it will be an added attractant in the bait with the added smell and eye appeal?

Brian get an extra day or two when you come out this summer and we'll go fishing.

Jeff

[rk660]

If you want to freeze proof a coon bait made from fish, just add 25% glycerine to your bait, some temps will require more, just add as needed.

[mustelameister]

JeffC--I filet all my carp, buffalo, cats, etc so the skin/scales don't jam up my electric grinder. Everything else goes into the garden. I try to stick with carp, as it's a stinkier, bloodier fish than say bass or sheephead.

My recipe: Into half a 5-gallon pail goes ground up fish, 3 cans of jack mackerel, 3 shots of shellfish oil and a couple of shots of anise, the good stuff.

Into the end of my electric drill goes a paint stirring rod, and I churn the daylights out of it, 'till it turns into a mush. The reason I only fill half a 5-gallon pail is so it's not so hard on the drill.

Then I pack this mush into ice cream pails, label the lids, and stack in the freezer. With some batches I keep the anise out, just as a change up. Others I'll omit the shellfish oil.

I like to change the bait formula weekly on the riverline, most of it going into pockets and pipes, so the 'coon don't associate the smell with their buddies in the sets, though most the 'coon are down the slider.

What I like about homemade bait is this: 1) it's cheap, and 2) after filling a pocket or pipe, you can "wipe your hands/gloves off" on the bank, thus keeping the 'coon at the set longer.

Sometimes, if the top of the bank is accessible from where I'm standing in the water, I'll grab a handful of fish mush and smear a trail down to the water, especially if I see a 'coon trail kicked out in the leaves say a couple feet up on the bank and I think maybe these 'coon aren't going to get into the water to check out the set. I need to add that what's left on the bank in this smear is not visible as sight exposed bait. Most banks here are grass covered, and it's easy enough to smear this into the grass so all one sees is a greasy smear going down the bank.

For fish mush in pocket sets, I "prepackage" a wad of the fish mush in cheesecloth, spin, and knot the top off. Pack these in ice cream pails too, and freeze. When setting, I've got another ice cream pail of left over cooking oil from summer fish fries on the boat seat next to this pail. I grab the cheesecloth fish bag, spear it with a big nail through the knot, then dip it in the cooking oil. Then I reach back into this pocket and skewer it in the roof, back in so the 'coon can't reach it.

The fish cooking oil will drip off, the smells of this and what's in the cheesecloth bag will move out of the pocket, and the visible white bag hanging in the back of the pocket should further encourage Mr. Bandit to check it out.

This is what works for me.

[jeffc]

Thanks for that reply

Jeff

[rk660]

sardines are a darn good bait, and if one could find cheap enough I'd rather use for a base instead of raw fish. something about sardines really makes them lick their chops, it lasts alot longer than fresh fish too. Clams are dang good too, I always pick up clams I find in water around sets, crack open shells and wedge in mud, coon wont quit till they pull it out or get caught. Ive got a no bank set I use with clams or clam shells and shellfish bait. the visual of the clam shells combined with smell is what makes it work so well.

I wish I could still get/ or had time to get a bunch of clams to rot some oil/juice down with, makes a heck of a good snare lure to use in volume.