Preserving Fresh Sardines for Bait

With the current Sardine Run in full swing, many of us would like to keep our Sardines for later use. 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, ie. Red Eye, Maasbanker, Mackerel, Karanteen, Shad etc.

1. When you get your Sardines, 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 Sardines, make sure they are from the top of the net. Do not buy from guys on the roadside, that have the sardines in crates. The pressure of all those sardines in the crate will smash the bait.

#sardinerun2024