Make Your Own Salties

[fishin_musician]

Mar 16 2007 Make Your Own Salties 

Why would anyone want to go to the trouble to make their own salties when they are inexpensive and readily available in your local bait and tackles? There are a couple of reasons. First, it is a good way to save extra bait that you might have left over from some other fishing trip. Secondly, salties are usually only available in the spring for the first few weeks of trout season. When they are gone they won't be reordered till the following year. Lastly, fresh is best, there is no argument, a freshly salted minnow will out perform a dried out one any day. Plus, when you make your own you can select the size minnow you want to salt. I'm sure after you all read this
there will be a lot of alternate methods, but this how I do it.
I gather the minnows to be salted into a large minnow net and let them drip dry for 15 or 20 minutes. Next, I sprinkle kosher salt over them liberally. After, shaking them up good, I sprinkle on some more salt and let them sit somewhere that they can drip overnight. The next day I put them into a zip lok bag and add more salt. These keep nicely for months. I do hold them in my refrigerator and this helps them stay fresh. I use them for trout in the spring and again in the fall. They are deadly on browns; even the big guys can't seem to resist these tasty morsels. There have been a couple reports on the ice fishing board about other fish taking a liking to salted baits so give them a try next time you have a couple dozen baits left over.

[Carpy]

What's the biggest size minnow that you would consider salting..

I know salt preserves things very well, but have you ever had any go bad due to rotting from the inside out?

[fishin_musician]

They are best fresh but I keep them in the fridge and they last a long time. A year easily but as I say I like them fresher. I just stick with the medium to small shiner size. I never needed anything bigger but if you had enough salt you could save a whale.

[zziipp]

wonder how dehydrating them would work.

[fishin_musician]

wonder how dehydrating them would work.

Well dehydrating would make them brittle and they wouldn't release the enticing fishy,salty scent trail into the water as fast as when they are simply salted.


Hey guys just refreshing this topic for any of you who may have not seen or read it. I just started a batch and will be posting some step by step pics to add to the thread. Now is the right time to get some going for trout season, especially if you have a hard time locating them in the bait shop.

[fishin_musician]

These are step one and step two pics. Pick and drain off your minnows. Then salt them up real good and leave sit over night. Tomorrow I will put them in a zip loc bag with more salt and refrigerate.

[fishin_musician]

Bagged up the finished product this morning. Added a handful more salt and tossed inthe fridge. I'll take a pic tonight.