What do you think is best? Storing your lines dry or in the bloody juice left over from a thawed box of chicken necks? I use lots of salt of course to make sure the juice doesn't go bad. I think that when you store it in the juice the line soaks it up and actually helps attract the crabs, but I wonder if it messes up the bait? Just wanted to see what everybody else thinks.
Still waiting for the crabbing to pick up in the Choptank,
Chris
I think most freeze their line dry. Some of the other guys can comment further. I always use fresh and rebait and typically topless traps. Chop should working now.
If your freeze your line in liquid, it will take forever to thaw, especially in cooler weather. I live an hour from the drink so I always go with fresh bait..................Gary
I have stored my lines with both used and new bait frozen and refrigerated, Never in a blood soup only because I never had enough to cover the entire line, because it would be too heavy to handle, and because it would take way too long to thaw thoroughly.
However, I have saved the juice from several boxes of necks and poured it on the line minutes before the line was placed in the water. Can I say it caused me to catch more crabs? How would I know? I doubt it caused me to catch fewer. It was an experiment that had no way of determining if the results were favorable or not. Just something to do.
Salted chicken necks last a long time and once I get a box of necks I thaw them out, cut them up and salt them down. Then I can store them in a big plastic container in my shed, without freezing them, untill I need them. I bait my lines with the salted necks, put them in large containers from Wal Mart and store them outside in my shed untill I'm ready (up to 3 weeks or so ). Salted chicken necks will last for months (at least some of mine stored all winter long). I just thought I would ask since we are all about ready to get out there and catch some.......
If you were a crab, which would you rather have..........fresh necks or ones salted down stored in a shed for months:eek2: It's your time out there on the water. Make the best of it...................Gary
Gary, good point. obviously my bait is normaly fresh, I go through a box every 2 weeks or so. I crab a lot during the summer, just thought I would see what everybody else does. I guess most on here have the room to freeze there lines, I never have. Temps are supposed to warm up soon so hopefully we can all get out there and start catching them instead of just talking about it. Good luck to all......
I've put necks in a brine of beef lip blood, stored in the fridge, and man they turned red as a radish. They worked great. If i had a source for beef blood I'd do it again, after switching over from clams during mid-summer.
I brime my necks and bait 2 days before I go crabbing.
I'm satisified with the crab count results.
Same with eels.
Back in the day sailted eel was all that was used.
I brine my entire line in the Patuxent. No problems so far.
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