Greetings all,
Since the price of fish meal has more than doubled since I started shrimping many years ago, I have been wondering if there is a good alternative to mix with clay to make my bait patties. I have experimented with a few different things over the years, but have not really found anything that I am happy with. For example, I learned not to use any type of dog food or food pellets that float. For some strange reason you don’t catch many shrimp while a hundred gulls are dive bombing the water around your bait.
Anyway, I notice a product while searching on the internet that is a fish pellet that sinks. The company also states that this product is good for farm raised shrimp. That got me thinking that it might be good as a substitute for fishmeal. So I was wondering if any of you have tried this or a similar product and what were the results?
Just as a side note, since I am new to this board I am not sure if I am allowed to post a link to this product or not. I am not connected with them in anyway, nor do I even know if it is a good product. It is just something I found online that got me thinking. So here is the link to the product so that everyone knows what is am talking about, but if that is against the rules please feel free to delete it. The way I found it was to do a google search of “fish chow sinking”. https://www.southernstates.com/catalog/p-11618-southern-states-32-sinking-fish-feed-50-lb.aspx
Years ago I stopped at a bargan close out place and found 2 cases of jack mackrel @ .25 a can, cans packed in water. I opened 12 cans and poured them into a Bucket of clay, mixed it up and made patties used that night and they did as well as the poles I used fish meal on. Used all of the stuff up and never have found any since!
I have used “Sinking Catfish Food” for several years now. It comes in large bags and is in small pellet form. I don’t use it as a substitute for fishmeal but as a supplement added to meal and clay. It stays around as you pull your net over your bait balls wearing them down. I mix 10/15 pellets per bait ball. It is not cheap but it really keeps the shrimp on your polls. I purchase my supply from Courdrays(sp) on 17 south just beyond Bees Ferry.
There are several ways that I tried to stretch fish meal out. Chicken laying pellets are dense and stay on the bottom. Cheap cat food soaked in a bucket for a 1/2 hour to break into a mush added to the clay mix. You will get some bizzare art deco looking clay balls using that. I also found augmenting the mix with a few cans of the cheapest canned cat food known to man - Kozie Kitty Seafood Delight. You’ll find a balance I any of those. I just pay the price for meal or go deep dropping and forget about the bait. Hope this helps
I have used the chicken feed pellets in the past. Works great. No mess. Cheap. My friends who give are chicken farmers give me all that I want. I always give them a couple of quarts of shrimp.
We use to use menhaden oil in the mix, sure did smell strong but it reely worked well, bought it at feed and seed store outside of Walterboro for about $10.00 Gal.
I use clay, wet and dry seafood flavored catfood. The proportions are 10 scoops of clay, 10 scoops of dry that has been soaked in water for at least 2 hours, 10 cans of the cheapest canned seafood flavored cat food I can find. Normally 10 cans for $5.00. I’ve tested my recipe by putting bait binder on 5 poles and my recipe on 5 poles. We caught the same amount of shrimp on both sets and saw no difference in the size or quantity of shrimp pulled in the boat. Hope this helps.