Any advise on bait ball recipe
I use a 4 to 1 mixture. 4 parts red clay to 1 part fishmeal. Works well for me.
Retired - always broke – but better than working!!!
I mix heavy. I go 60/40. 60 on the meal or binder. Gets a nice chum slick going don there.
Ive been using a 3 to 1 ratio for 2 years. Used to go 1 to 1, cant tell a difference.
If it fly’s, floats, or, friggs, rent it!
Good hamburger size. 2 to the pole. If they’re there youll catch them. Bait placement and watching the current on the pole is the key. You’ve got to open the net on the bait.
If it fly’s, floats, or, friggs, rent it!
4 scoops fish meal, 2 scoops bag clay. mix dry in 5 gallon bucket, add 2 liter bottle of water and mix to desired consistency. Makes about 40 hamburger size patties. I drop one patty per pole and add another if shrimp are there.
Rob
Triumph 17
Honda 75
don’t know about the racketball size. never played that game. i make them between a baseball and softball size. with bait binder i make them more in the tennis ball size.
I agree with Coolbreeze. Used meal and clay for 15 yrs. Switched to
bait binder last year and make about the same size Coolbreeze said,
eliminates all of the ratio questions and easy to keep extra on boat
without having to make a lot of extra balls.
X3 for Bait Binder. I prefer “patties” over “balls.” (please remove sexual overtones).
Earn it everyday
If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
Never shoot a large caliber man with a small caliber bullet.
Thanks for the info
Life shouldn’t be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, “Wow What A Ride! Thank You Lord!”
Normally I make mine at home, so they get about 2 hours of set time before they ever get in the water. Bait always seemed to last longer than I was willing to stay and shrimp. 2 weeks ago, i premixed everything at the house but waited and made the patties after setting the poles. Picked up a ball in the net after a couple of hours and it was almost gone. I think that maybe letting it set up for a bit might actually give it a little more bonding strength. Just a thought. Hoping to test this theory out this weekend.
You cant appreciate the true power of fishmeal until it’s been hanging around for a few hours.
I made bait balls at home one time.
And I heard about it for a week.
quote:The first time I did it, I left a little bit in the bottom of a bucket and stacked another bucket inside of that one trapping the bait binder between the buckets... Left it in the hot sun for about a week... You can imagine my surprise when I decided to separate the 2 buckets...
Originally posted by friogattoYou cant appreciate the true power of fishmeal until it’s been hanging around for a few hours.
I made bait balls at home one time.And I heard about it for a week.
Ive used meal and clay for years. 50/50 Ive netted some patties after 4 hrs on a strong tide and nearly gone. We started adding flour to mix and seems to stick together a little better. We prefer shrimping catching end of out going tide. We would put two patties per pole. After a couple hrs at dead low we freshened it up and added one more to each pole. It does break down faster than BaitBinder. BB will last 5-6 hrs no sweat.
J Ford
Mix 1/3 meal and 2/3 clay. Too much meal and they fall apart too fast. Always patties, never balls. If you don’t catch the shrimp before they are gone you should just be drinking beer cause there’s no shrimp there.
Olde Man Charters
I have landed on 1/3 meal to 2/3 clay and it works just fine. I like to sweeten the mix with a little menhaden oil. I also roll my bait balls in fish meal. It helps keep them from sticking together and I believe it gives a real nice release of meal when first put it the water as an attractant. I like my bait balls to be about softball size and like to put out 3 per pole in a couple foot spread; don’t want them on top of one another. I have experimented with using cheap dry dog food - soaked it in water several hours and then added to meal - worked just as good as fish meal but a little more time/work. I don’t care what you do - if the shrimp aren’t there nothing will work - if there are you are in luck if you can get the net open over the bait.
I use the 1/3 meal to 2/3 clay mix. It works well. I got a bag of binder last year and I liked the ease of use and mixing. When there were shrimp and we were going a lot, I would buy a bag of chicken laying pellets to stretch the mix a little. Since fish meal was $58 a bag it helped. The laying pellets attract shrimp and don’t go away too fast. You also can soak cheap Walmart cat food too. Both makes for some lumpy looking bait patties. The multicolor from the cat food adds a festiv look to the bait. If the shrimp are there they’ll jump on the bait. It’s all about how you are trying to stretch your dollar per lb of shrimp or not. Personally, its just fun trying or being out on the water in the Fall.
Capt. Pete
Bushwacker