coon bait

[mr. finch]

with all the buzz about coons here lately i was wondering where would you guys rank sardines in the grand sceme of coon trapping?worth buying up a bunch of cheap sardines in oil?or do you guys buy the comm. baits and trust you are getting what ya pay for? so lets here the sardines guys is it a good cheap coon bait or just can the idea and buy the comm. stuff?

[trappnman]

sardines work well- what wroked even better for me, was jack mackeral. A can used to cost 89 cents (last I used it, I'm sure higher now). I like to mash them up, and add lure to it.

I do however, think that cost wise, commercial bait is cheaper, and does have al ittle more punch to it.

but i've run many a line on sardines and mackeral.

[foxcatcher1]

I still use sardines and mackeral. I like the oil the sardines are in for bait sticks they will eat every part of the stick that has the oil on it. Though not practical for long lines. My favorite mix though is in a gallon glass jar mix 4 cans of jack mackeral, 2 cans of cheap clams and alittle anise. Mix to a good paste and use some form of perservitive. I use salt.

Don

[garman]

Commercial Bait-RK660 on this site has on heck of a longliner coon bait he calls it wonderful stuff, or the best bait I have used other than commercial bait is if you can get your hands on fresh or this years fresh frozen herring or herring heads.

[romans117]

I mix 14 cans of sardines and mash it up good. I add shellfish, cray fish oil and a shot of musk. Makes half gallon. Works well for a yote attractor too.

[robertw]

Sardines? You guys need to quit messing / playing around and get serious.

Jack Mackeral by the case can still be purchased for .50 -.60 a can for those of you running Grizz Getters and Egg traps. The rest of us use carp, buffalo and gar, runs about $15-$20 per hundred weight.

[trappincoyotes39]

Beaver castor alone or mixed with fish take your pick, back in the day no coon would pass up beaver castor. I would mix ground castor with any rough fish and made a great bait for coons and mink.

[mr. finch]

May 3, 2008 19:57:42 GMT -6 @robertw said:

Sardines? You guys need to quit messing / playing around and get serious.

Jack Mackeral by the case can still be purchased for .50 -.60 a can for those of you running Grizz Getters and Egg traps. The rest of us use carp, buffalo and gar, runs about $15-$20 per hundred weight.

ouch!

[foxcatcher1]

Wee the hell do you store that much bait Robert. I have a chest type freezer and that would not hold that much carp/ buffalo. How many freezers you use??

Don

[jwr64]

May 3, 2008 22:38:50 GMT -6 foxcatcher1 said:

Wee the hell do you store that much bait Robert. I have a chest type freezer and that would not hold that much carp/ buffalo. How many freezers you use??

Don

I run about 200 lbs. through the grinder friday nite. (shad, carp and drum) Grind and preserve, no freezer needed.

[trappnman]

Straight castor, is going to leave a lot of coon in the woods. Fish, if not made freeze proof, is poor during cold weather.

[trappincoyotes39]

Tman I have caught plenty of coon on just castor and glycol mix. Land or water. It is also killer on bobcat in the dead of winter. If you have a cat open a jar of good castor lure by it and watch reaction and then you will see why it is great for bobcats at the right sets. The fish is ground and then add castor and glycol and mix it up makes a nice workable bait. Slight taint for later on use all preserved with SB.

[robertw]

I gut then freeze the fish whole. Then after they are frozen saw them into chunks (while frozen and store in 3 gallon square buckets stacked in a freezer, normally a 23 cubic foot freezer stacked full will last a season.

Since the chunks were already frozen when pout in the buckets, they do not need to be defrosted to use as they don't stick together bad.

The only preservative I add is to Jack Mackeral and that is table salt, it helps keep it thawed out in the dog proof traps BUT....You definitely need to WASH the traps after season.

[raynard]

I've used sardines with pretty good results but have found two other baits that work really well for me; trout, and a shellfish bait I make myself.

We have good trout fishing here in Pa. so I can put a hundred or so in the freezer after hitting the streams throughout the spring and summer. I've used the trout preserved in a brine solution or just by thawing out what I need and using them raw.

As far as the shell fish bait I make, I get about 10 dozen of the big chowder clams and roughly 10 dozen muscles and 10 pounds of shrimp. Bought in season you can get them at a pretty reasonable price. Steam everything and course grind and mix it all together. I then add a good dose of shellfish oil and mix it in real well. Preserve with sodium benzoate. I add about an ounce of muscaro, then store in a refrigerator till needed in the fall. I could possibly buy shellfish bait cheaper than I can make it but I like to make my own and I like to know exactly what's in it.

Keep the clam and muscle shells. They work very well for eye appeal at sets and you can put a gob of bait in a shell and stick it back in a pocket set. The shell helps keep the bait dry. The shrimp shells make good eye appeal also. A tablespoon of bait per set goes a long way. Works well for canines too.

[trappnman]

Tman I have caught plenty of coon on just castor and glycol mix

me too, without the glycol. And I've caught 25-30 coyotes on just coon lure.

but that doesn't mean it outperforms a multi based lure. In my opinion, it does not. Which is why I quick using castor mixtures on coon.

bottomline, it works, and works good at times- but why not use something that works well, most all of the time?

[trappnman]

raynard.... nothing taints like clams- and they work very well on coon.

[raynard]

Agreed

[briankroberts]

I've been working on a good coon bait solution, this will be the 3rd year testing it, it has been working out well, add 8 ounces of solution and 1 cup of sodioum benzoate to a gallon of ground fish/clams, pretty nice stuff...B.

PS:Steve you can smell from a long way off!!