Freezing Cut-bait?

[pikestabber]

Later in the year, June-August, I have a hole where I can catch small redhorse that work quite well for cut-bait...and right now, I can catch a pile of white suckers that work great, too. I always prefer fresh caught, fresh cut fish for bait, preferably from the same water I am fishing, but if that is not an option, has anyone frozen suckers for later use and done well? Would you freeze them whole and cut them later? Cut them now and freeze in chunks? Or do you not recommend this and just buy suckers at the bait store if you cannot catch any?

[DTro]

I freeze mine all the time, but only once. The second time they get really soft.

If my bait is 7-8” or under, I will usually leave them whole. Anything bigger gets cut up first. The main reason being is that it takes forever to thaw a 2lb whole sucker.

I also like to vacuum seal them before tossing into the freezer.

[Ralph Wiggum]

If they're bigger suckers/redhorse, I will fillet them and freeze them in water, much like I would fillets for myself. Fresh is always better, but it's nice to be able to grab a bag or two from the freezer and go!

And like Dtro, I throw out after one freeze/thaw cycle.

[pikestabber]

Thanks, guys.

My sealer does not take kindly to moisture of any kind, but I like the idea. Do you par-freeze the chunks first, then seal, or do you not have a problem sealing with moisture in the chunks?

[popriveter]

Please don't mistake this for expert advice, but I've caught chubs from a creek to use for bait and brought them home only to find they didn't survive the trip. What I did was pack them whole in a ziplock with a little heavily salted water and then freeze them. It hurried up the thawing process and they got bit so I started packing dead suckers from the winter this way to use in the spring. I don't have a lot of experience with this, and maybe I'd do better with fresher bait, but it has caught me fish.

[blakeb]

i think that i would prefer frozen cut bait, i think that it must put out more scent, i heard once that freezing the bait kind of expoldes the cells in the flesh and when it thaws it smells better for the fish,

[Dennis Steele]

No doubt that fresh is best, but I have done well with frozen suckers.

When I guided I'd stock up on redhorse and suckers in the spring.I would cut them into bait size pieces before I froze them in zip lock bags.

I would have a convienent endless supply of bait all summer.

[JBMasterAngler]

Have any of you guys used frozen cisco for cats before? I have 2 dozen left over from the ice season...in theory they would seem to work well.

[Acemac]

how bought those big bags of dead bait i always see at gander they must be like salted and preserved but they are not frozen

[DTro]

I don't like the preserved bait. If that was my only choice, I would go dig some worms instead.