Cocktail sausages for bait?

[Coral Maestro]

The French supermarkets sell frankfurter type sausages called "Knacks" which are blister packed so quite convenient as a fishing bait. I've had some nice carp, barbel and tench on these but they are on the soft side so not suitable as they come for distance fishing.

[Olly]

I have used all sorts of meaty (human grade only) items for ages with very mixed results.
Stewing steak, meatballs, all sorts of sausage inc the garlic one above and pieces from a giant German garlic sausage + english type pork/beef/chicken varieties. Tinned, off the delicatessen or chiller counter. Some cocktail ones have more weight others making them more suitable. But bouncing a buoyant cocktail one down the river does work, esp for chub.
Some are 'instant' - some need a bit of prebaiting! Several tins of oriental origin are waiting to be tried!

[Andyman]

There is a YouTube channel "Totally awesome fishing show" (yes I know) which uses some really off the wall baits to great effect. Hot dog sausages feature a couple of times. How about Haribo or marsh mellow.

[Aitch]

isn't that Graeme Pullen as the presenter...?

[Wallys-Cast]

The spicy sausages from the Tesco hot food counter are truly delicious and slices of it make very good Carp bait but then I found Coots like it too and will dive 10ft to get at it.

Wal.

[Mole-Patrol]

I make my own meatballs using minced pork from the supermarket mixed with breadcrumbs, salt and flavouring such as garlic powder and smoked paprika. Once cooked I freeze them in batches to use for barbel and carp. I find that the meatballs are tougher than processed meats such as cocktail sausages and can be broken up and used in smaller sizes. I have also made long sausages out of the same ingredients and just break off what I need for bait and free offerings. These are garlic flavoured and have some sieved maize and hemp added instead of bread crumbs.



With luncheon meat it is often the case that small pieces used as loose feed can float away or sink too slowly because of the varying amounts of fat in the meat. A tip that I picked up on a French forum is to use an old hand mincer to process the luncheon meat along with a cereal such as bread crumbs, maize flour or crushed hemp seeds. As the mixed meat and cereal come out of the mincer they can be chopped off as pellets using a fork and dropped into a bowl containing fine flour. The flour covers and seals the pellets making them less likely to stick together. The addition of the cereal makes the pellets dryer and more dense than the luncheon meat so they fall through the water more evenly.

Another cookery tip is to simmer milled maize and hemp seeds in just enough water to cover the mixture like when cooking a risotto. Just keep adding a drop of hot water if the mixture gets too thick. When the grains are soft stir in some cornflour or cheap co-co powder until all the visible water has been soaked up and then allow to cool for around half an hour. Once the mixture is warm, but not too hot to handle form it into balls and leave to dry and cool properly. These can be frozen for storage. In use the balls are dry and solid until they hit the water then quickly dissolve leaving a pile of loose grains and of course a scent trail while ever the ball is dissolving.

[Aitch]

Making me hungry that is....

[Robbi]

I would put on an awful lot of weight if I used this type of bait !

as it is I eat half the can of Spam on the bank !!

[Mole-Patrol]

Making me hungry that is....

Funnily enough I am just cooking home made pork meatballs for this evening's meal. These have chopped onions, garlic, red pepper, breadcrumbs and are flavoured with smoked paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and a touch of cumin. Usually I'll make a batch and put half in the freezer to use when we go off in the motor home. But as we won't be going anywhere soon we'll just have to eat the lot

[Aitch]

Making me hungry that is....

Funnily enough I am just cooking home made pork meatballs for this evening's meal. These have chopped onions, garlic, red pepper, breadcrumbs and are flavoured with smoked paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and a touch of cumin. Usually I'll make a batch and put half in the freezer to use when we go off in the motor home. But as we won't be going anywhere soon we'll just have to eat the lot

I'm Just getting dinner ready for me 'n t'wife... on docs orders I have to cut down my Cholesterol, or get put on Statins, so today its courgette-spaghetti with a tomato mushroom garlic and onion sauce with tuna and basil and a light grating of Parmesan cheese..

I'll be preparing some special sultana baits for a fortnights time with honey and mixed spice this week... they work well for carp hair rigged or direct on the hook... they could work for barbel