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Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 3:28 pm
by Tengisgol
Wandering round to collect my car just now and came across this elderberry bush almost ripe to harvest.
I remember the Scanlon brothers making a great catch of roach and dace on elderberry at Richmond in the eighties and once caught a barbel on elderberry at Aldermaston. Apart from that I have only fiddled with it as bait alongside hemp and tares.
I am quite keen to experiment a bit more and preserve some for use (I have some very good local roach fishing). Does anyone have any thoughts or tips?
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 3:40 pm
by Olly
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 4:52 pm
by Chubman
i loose feed 8 grains of hemp and fish elderberry, chub love it as well as roach,it goes over in the fridge, best picked on the bank and fished with strait away
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:05 pm
by Tengisgol
I'm not sure about formalin! I've always assumed that it would repulse the fish?
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:07 pm
by RBTraditional
Just make elderberry wine forget the fishing and enjoy
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:07 pm
by Dave Burr
Tengisgol wrote: ↑Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:05 pm
I'm not sure about formalin! I've always assumed that it would repulse the fish?
I wonder if anybody has removed the juice or made elderberries as a jam to later use as a paste additive? I reckon that chub and roach would be up for a spot of that. Hmmm? Maybe I should keep these thoughts to myself
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 8:08 pm
by Olly
My thoughts as well - but many baits have been preserved like that:- sprats - sand eels - mainly spinning baits. Whether it works --- only those who have used them will know! Personally freezing sounds much better.
Preserving baits, apart from shelf life boilies seems a thing of the past. Defunct since the freezer was invented!
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2017 10:36 pm
by Rutilus
I've used and caught on elderberry outside of it's season using frozen berries. I found the best way to deal with them was to pick and quickly freeze the whole bunch or inflorescence first. Then whilst still frozen, strip off the berries from a bunch and pop back in the freezer in small batches. The individual batches can then be taken to the bank but certainly not suitable for re-freezing. Yes, they are softer than fresh berries but still usable.
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:29 am
by Gawanabana
At the risk of sounding a bit like the health and safety police
I have to advise against using formalin if it can be avoided. I use it regularly in my work and we use it for killing and preserving marine animals. It is acutely toxic and long term exposure is carcinogenic. I would hate to see any concentration end up in the stomach of a fish that wasn't already destined for a museum shelf.
Re: Elderberry as bait (and how can it be preserved?)
Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:58 am
by Richard C
No tips, but thoughts? Only one.
Fish feed on elderberries and they're excepted as a natural food source during the Summer. Then presumably, they will be accustomed to when they are available.
To offer them in Winter as a preserved bait, for instance, would it not appear unnatural and be ignored by the fish?
Surely then, the time to use them was when they're in season? If that is indeed true. I base my opinion on my own personal thought and
not fact,
I've never used them.
If fish like the flavour then experiment with that instead. I see artificial Elderberries and indeed 'washed out' artificial Elderberries on your ever growing shopping list Phil.
