Keeping Sardines for Bait

With the discussions of the possibility of a Sardine Run this year, I thought it would be of benefit to post this article here. Might come in handy if the Silver Bullets do arrive.

Many of us would like to keep our Sardines for later use so to ensure that your Sardines stay fresh and usable for later dates, follow these tips and you should be fine.

PS: This works for all bait fish including Red Eye, Maasbanker, Mackerel, Karanteen, Shad etc.

1. When you get your Sards, on the beach make sure they are placed in a cooler box filled with ice and sea water. (Ice keeps it cold, and water helps keep them firm, no smashing of sardines)
2. When you get home, dump them into a tub of water filled with ice and salt.
3. Thereafter take each one and wrap individually with cling wrap
4. Place in freezer, separately either on a grid or tray, until they are frozen
5. Then take them out and place them in packets with your desired numbers.

This should keep them fresh for a lot longer.

Remember to use Sardines that are firm, smashed ones will be too mushy. If you are going to buy these Sardine make sure they are from the top of the net. Do not buy from guys on the roadside that have the sards in crates. The pressure of all those sards in the crate will smash the bait.

David Moonsamy

Jun 01, 2017 - 20:11

Best kept in a deep frying pan with hot boiling oil once fried it will last long in ones memory . Lol

Nick Matthew

Jun 11, 2017 - 10:15

Thanks Ronald, with getting vrot bait most of the time, I am also hoping that the sards arrive here, and want to preserve my own bait.