need some ideas and help

[luked]

ok fellas...took my boy fishin today.
we caught a bunch of panfish like blue gill and pearch.
want to use these for trap bait this winter.
got home put them in gal freezer bags and jsut put them in the deep freeze for now.

what can i do to them to make them into bait.
just lookin for some ideas from you all on what would be the best way to make some good bait out of them.
i had thought at first to jsut freeze them and when season gets here jsut thaw them out and cut them up and use them that way but wanted to hear some other ideas from you all on what to do with them.

[mofotrapper]

I more less did the same thing. Caught some fish, crappie, blue gill, bass ect. Kept the scapes from them and froze them. All I was gonna do is run them threw a grinder come season and have fresh ground fish scrapes to use for bait... Don't know it that is right or not...

[tylercraiglow]

Might wanna watch using game fish....

[trappingfarva]

I use blue gill tainted and fresh both ground up.

[robertw]

A helpfull hint would be to actually gut the fish and throw away the guts. The guts make up to uch of the volume when grinding the remains of dressed fish.


There is a law about using game fish for bait but once it ground....pretty hard to say what species it is.

[mmaxwell]

I do the same, save all my fish scrap. I see no reason to throw it away.
I have found that crappie heads are excellent bait for big blues on the Missouri river.
Jar them up and sun render some fish oil.
Grind em up for DP trap and PVC set bait.
The uses are endless.
I know you cant use game fish for bait,
I will have to check and see what the regs say about using the guts and heads of game fish, again if its can be used why throw it away?
There is a word for the warden that would write you up for doing that but i cant say it here.
I cant see many that would ticket you for " not " wasting a resource.

[tylercraiglow]

I agree, but I'm just putting it out there.

[krank]

Code reads: •Game fish or their parts may not be used as bait....So do as you will with that.
Thats a shame because Channel cat make good fish oil but see how they worded that.
I guess you need to slay a big carp......
A word about fish scraps. I lay my fish scraps in a box between layers of paper in the freezer. That way they are not a big frozen blob when I need them.

[robertw]

Funny how fish scraps (including catfish) are commercially used for cat food, fish food and as fish meal which is used in numerous other feeds.

[krank]

Fish makes good fertilizer also.

[trappingfarva]

Didn't Indians bury whole fish under there crops?

[bigjohn]

I think the whole thing about no game fish for bait is mainly aimed at fishing as that is where it is found in the regs.I used small fresh bluegill in pocket sets for coon and mink for years and was never any beef from the 2 GW we had for years.I guess it would depend on the GW you had.That's his job to answer questions like that,so I would ask him.
Some of the game laws are a little silly at times.For instance,using bighead or asian carp for fish bait.The regs say they have to be dead.If your fishing the Mo. river,it's plumb full of them things and it isn't like you'd be introducing them to that environment.Big flatheads prefer their food live and fresh.

[mmaxwell]

I guess i have a freezer full of gut and heads that are going into the ditch.

[tylercraiglow]

I don't believe bluegill are considered game fish.

[catmando]

im gona try some shad for trapping bait this year. i found a winter kill shad one year and took it up on a small ridge and made a dirthole set with a log as backing next morning there was a big boar coon waiting on me