mussel

[jameater]

Morning all ,just new to seafishing and not having much luck with worm,in fact ive blanked on last 8 outings ,thinking about trying some mussel but a bit put off by the poor quality and quantity you get from the frozen stuff from local tackle shop .Does anybody know where to get good quality ,size,mussel from.

[andyr1]

where abouts have you been fishing??

[jameater]

hartlepool to hendon

[Mike.Haley]

Welcome to NESA m8. Have you thought about trying lugworm, squid or even razorfish? They are all good baits.

[jameater]

Thanks Mike ,yes mate i use a lot of lug (too much according to the wife) just thinking about trying mussel as ive heard they are good for cod this time of year but cant seem to find anything of a decent size.

[Red5]

Shouldn't really matter what size they are. I usually get mine from the Amble Angling centre, fresh they are lush and plump, but when they are frozen down they do tend to lose their plumpness. Size has never affected the ability to catch though and I had a 10 1/2lb cod a few years back on a lug, crab and mussel coacktail.

I reckon you can't go past mussel for a good economically priced bait, that's practically guaranteed to catch. I reckon it fishes better on the rock ends though.

[willywetegg]

As Rory says it doesn't matter if they are big or small they will do the same job. You will probably be getting them by either weight or a full bag so you will just be getting the same amount and as they are fastened on with bait elastic it won't matter anyway.

Jim.

[Gerry]

Try Morrisons supermarket's fresh mussel. As they are only kept one day and have to be thrown out when shop shuts, go late and you will find them reduced in price

[jameater]

will do thanks.

[Durham-Lad]

Asda fish counter £1.50 per kilo of live mussel, you need to shell them yourself (pour bit boiling water onto them to open the shells up) plop them all into a dish dont chuck any of the juices away keep the lot. Tip your lug baits off with it, securing with bait elastic or cotton, should work a treat after this blow up. Good luck!

[shaun]

Asda fish counter £1.50 per kilo of live mussel, you need to shell them yourself (pour bit boiling water onto them to open the shells up) plop them all into a dish dont chuck any of the juices away keep the lot. Tip your lug baits off with it, securing with bait elastic or cotton, should work a treat after this blow up. Good luck!

yep this guy fishing beside me give me his left over live mussle he had bought from asda, had been fishing with rag worm for 2 nearly 3 hours and had only caught 2 small codling on left over rag from last night, so tried the mussle had a big bite a few minutes after i cast, started reeling it in and it got off but it worked much better than the rag anyway. anyone got any tips for shelling them usless at it, cheers

[phil185]

yep this guy fishing beside me give me his left over live mussle he had bought from asda, had been fishing with rag worm for 2 nearly 3 hours and had only caught 2 small codling on left over rag from last night, so tried the mussle had a big bite a few minutes after i cast, started reeling it in and it got off but it worked much better than the rag anyway. anyone got any tips for shelling them usless at it, cheers

The best way ive found to shell mussel is by pouring boiling water over them then cold water to stop them from cooking, they should be open enough to pull them apart. Then twist one side of the shell 90 degrees and scoop out the mussel with the end of the shell, then use the other side of the shell to clear the other side. I prefer doing this rather than using a spoon because the shell always fits within the other so you can get it all out in one scoop.

[lorry]

anyone got any tips for shelling them usless at it, cheers

Just recently I got a knife from Lidl that was advertised as a Oyster Knife it looks like a little dagger in shape with a blade of about 1 1/2 inch you could knock one up from a kitchen knife when the missus isnt looking with an angle grinder it also has a short handle of about 2 inches that seems to make a difference as it fits in the palm of your hand.

Insert in the more not so rounded side of the shell and just move it round at an angle with the lower part of the shell until it will cut through a gristle type bit and then twist the blade to open the shell then just scrape the blade close to the edge to free the flesh from the shell.

As for size issues I used wooden skewers thread as many as possible on and lash with bait elastic, as has been said keep all the juices then I put the skewers and juice in a Tupperware tub in the freezer and just cut off the length of desired mussel when your out there.

Just as an added thought one of the best night fishing I had was with only macky strip for bait the other lads with me had the same but couldn't work out why they where blanking until we realized my macky strip was marinating in mussel juices as I had cut it up and threw it in for simplicity, once I shared out some we all caught now when I freeze mussel i stick macky in there also, was it a fluke who knows

[treeboa]

when fishing with squidd i always pack the body with mussel, works for me

[shaun]

thanks for the advice just shelled some by pouring boiling water over them then cold water, was much easyer then put them on a wooden skuwer in a tub and put them in freezer. only took a few minutes