Fresh Chicken???

[Eddie]

My mate was telling me he went fishing Otterspool last week with a few lads, one of them was catching and most of them hadn't even had a sniff. Turn's out, the guy catching was using fresh chicken as bait.
He took a 2lb codling and many whiting using this. Have I missed something here, has anybody tried this or do you know of it being used before.

[martinw]

Dunno about chicken, but a bloke had a codling off colwyn bay prom using chips!!

[fester]

Why bother fishing if chicken and chips is your bait? You might as well eat your bait!! I once caught a bass on a curry! ;D A Flounder an baked potato ;D and a ling on scrambled eggs ;D

[predator1]

my grandad got a trout on a strawberry

[The Image ™]

I once caught a bass on pasta. However, none of these examples prove that they're good baits. If you're lucky enough to have a half starved fish reach your hook it'll probably eat anything but the idea of fishing is to maximise your odds by using baits that are most likely to appeal to the fish most of the time rather than relying on a half starved one to make do!

Interesting that someone caught on chicken while other didn't on normal baits but this could have been due to other things like sharper hooks, casting, different position and so on.
It would be interesting for someone to try chicken and mackerel on seperate hooks on the same line and see what happens!

[predator1]

would be a good exparament to do wouldnt it, could try a few other types of meet and other things. most likely prove that these fish were flukes but could find a new super bait

[shootist]

have heard of raw liver cut into thin strips for pike. leaves a good scent apparently

[steveb]

ive used raw liver on the boats , does quite well for cod and ling but makes your fingers stink for ages

[basscatcher]

This is an interesting thread and raises the mind set many of us are in about bait.

If you look at Carp Fishing (like it or not!) then this fish will eat and eat and seems to know what it wants. As long as the bait is edible and contains nutrients they will eat it.

I have heard of sea fish being caught on chicken giblets, liver and even bacon rhind. I used the Giblets and Bacon rhind myself as a kid. I am sure that a sea fish will eat almost anything.

I would not say that liver or chicken has as much juicy smell as worm or peeler crab and so thats why I will stick to these myself.

[abbo]

eddie said:

My mate was telling me he went fishing Otterspool last week with a few lads, one of them was catching and most of them hadn't even had a sniff. Turn's out, the guy catching was using fresh chicken as bait.
He took a 2lb codling and many whiting using this. Have I missed something here, has anybody tried this or do you know of it being used before.

M emate used pigs liver last week at Vale park and blanked.

[greeni]

Yes it sounds mad, it really does!! I dont think I would try some of these unusual baits personally.

I read one edition of sea angler, and it had an article talking about alternative baits in the supermarket. Thing mentioned where things like pasta, sweetcorn, and smoked herring, the article had mentioned that one guy got outfished on the smoked herring by a guy next to him.

They said they attached the herring flakes using bait elastic. I might try this one time because smoked herring stinks like mad, and it has a good colour, but when I say might then this means about a 1% chance. If I do try it, then I will let you know the results with some pics, but I aint promising nowt..

I guess it is one you cant disprove unless you tried it, but me personally would not bother wasting time. I have tried bread for mullet several times without success, maybe I had the wrong tide or time etc. but I decided that I would never try this again unless I actually see mullet in the water, for instance in a harbour or a jetty etc.

The only other time I use something different, is if I want to try and ground bait an area, or pep a particular area of water up - In that case I used chopped sandeel, old squid, bits of mackerel tuna oil and bog standard breadcrumb feed. Sometimes it works.

[Sarge]

Fishing off an oil rig in W Africa a couple of years ago, chicken and beef were killers while pork was not so good. I found the worst bait was slivers of freshly caught fish ! 1 lb of chuck steak must be easier to get hold of than digging your own lug and I bet it stays on the hook a lot better. Think I'll try an "alternative" bait next time out.....maybe.

[greeni]

What type of fish did you catch sarge?

I know that people catch garfish on small pieces of meat from harbours etc.

I cant imagine myself setting up the beachcaster, and then sticking half a chicken leg on the hook, mind you, I dont know, I think that beef gives of alot of blood, if I remember, I will take a few pieces next time I go and shadeily put them on the hook. If anyone sees me doing this theyll probably give me a leg and wing into the sea.

[Sarge]

Geeni[/u]
I was catching something called a "Rainbow Runner" .


Also caught small fish of the tuna family.

The strangest fish I got was one of those U see on TV sticking to the side of whales and sharks, really weird thing.
Oh and and I had a big baracuda snaffle a fish I was pulling in.
I did get all my fish ID'd on the old NWSA site. The loss of all that good info is really sad.

[Eddie]

I tell you what Sarge, those first two look like good eaters!! The third one looked like it would have been nice too bofore you stood on it!!

Thank's admin for the postman pat marker, very apt!!

[greeni]

Thanks Sarge,

And cheers for the photo's cos I aint got a clue what a rainbow runner is. They do look like mackerel/tuna family.

[Sarge]

Yeah, they were great eating.
I was lucky, the French cook on the rig had worked on a Japanese cruise liner for may years so did sushi for me - I'd never had it before, but it was lovely - thin slices marinated in soysauce, ginger, garlic and lemon juice. I couldn't eat a lot of it, but on the side with salad it was great. If I knew how to cut up mackerel in the same way I'd try myself.
Fresh fried was better though.

[greeni]

That reminds me of a fishing trip I went on in Mexico for Tuna. We had caught a few tuna and some other things that day, we were on an all inclusive hols, so the skipper was the beneficiary of all our catches.

One thing he did on't way back in to the shore, he took a fillet knife and sliced one side of one of the tuna's and cut it up into smaller chunks. He put the chunks into a bowl with lemon juice, salt and pepper etc. The flesh was a reddy pink colour, but once he added the lemon juice it turned it to a white colour, like pork. The fish wasnt cooked, but it was very tasty.

You should be able to do this with mackerel, so long as it is fresh.

[Dive Dive Dive ™]

Hi Greeni

If you ever give it a go I'd be interested to hear what its like! ;D

Nice thread and good photos sarge..... (dont think much of the paint job on you oil rig though) Perhaps we should start a forum for overseas stuff..... I would expect that most of us try to get some time to fish when on our hols with the family... and it is getting closer to that time of year afterall. Mexico, france, spain, tahiti, birkenhead wherever has a coastline......... what you think? Bait..... rigs etc all the usual but with a difference and lots of photos. ;D

DDD

[fester]

This thread won't go away will it?

Im off to Portugal in about 5 weeks. Will post my catches (if any)

Cheers

[Eddie]

Hey Fester, I've heard the Portugeese fish like a bit of chicken Piri piri. Will you be trying it? what sort of fish will you be targeting.

[greeni]

Gents,

If I remember correctly, the fish we caught in Portugal on board the charter boat, were caught on small pieces of uncooked pork.

Portugal is renowned for its sardines, especially in the algarve, I dont know how to catch em, but I reckon it must be similar method to mackerel or garfish etc.

As for the overseas forum I dont think this is a bad idea, fishing magazines usually have a seperate overseas catches section. It may be interesting for someone who is just about to go on holiday, just to see what was done in that area. Not sure how to go about setting that up though.

[Dive Dive Dive ™]

I recon it would be down to the administrators....... Ill start a poll to see if people would be interested and / or post to it... after all if nobody posts its not much use.

DDD

[The Image ™]

While on holiday in Turkey I noticed that chicken was the most common bait used by locals for every specie. I caught a few mullet on it but that was all.

[Dive Dive Dive ™]

As fester has asked .... where is the poll button gone?

Image... what you think to a overseas section? Worth a whirl dyou recon? I see Fester is trying to establish a lure / fly section.. which seems to have been met with a great deal of interest.

If cant start a poll shall Ill post a thread on all areas?

Cheers DDD.

[tompa]

I lived in new zealand for a couple of years and the stuff some of the lads used for bait over there could have made a full sunday dinner. never mind chicken one lad used beef!

[moonfull]

all this talk about fishing with different types of meat. iwill try a six hook rig and bait each hook with contents of a mixed grill and see what meat takes the first fish. ;D

[Eddie]

Moonful,

Don't just blag us, do it. I think chicken and beef would be the better option though but it would be intresting to hear your results. You could even try the old chicken in a WD40 marinade, that works a treat!!


Eddie

[greeni]

This subject will never die............and we have not had any conclusive proof that this works yet.

Admittedly, I have been fishing 2 times since my earlier posts on this subject, and I said I would try chicken, but I cannot get the courage or perseverance to do it.

If I tried this I would probably get launched into the sea.

[Eddie]

Greeni,

Sometimes you've got to grab the bull by its horns, or even the chicken by it's wobbly bit and do it......... Try normal baits for the first half hour to test the waters, then when the fish are feeding go for it............. let us know what happened.

Eddie