Fishing with blood pellets

[mthoodrider]

You know the blood pellets you can buy at Bonneville damn to feed the fish.... I believe that most hatchery fish are fed with that stuff. I was thinking it would be a great bait to use, since they were raised on it. Does anyone know where you can get some? Is it even legal to use that?

 

[beaverfan]

Yup it's legal and you can get some at Bonneville for a quarter. Or many other fish hatcheries around the state. Or you can buy the Powerbait kind.

 

[eggs]

I know of a very good steel/salmon fisher that makes his own bait with them and fills a lot of tags using them... he wouldn't give me all the goodies but said he buys a lot of them... blends in a blender with molasses(sp), salt, corn meal, and his special this or that... let's it dry into a think gummy texture and put it in a eggloop and hooks hatchery after hatchery fish..

 

[troutdude]

A few years ago, Berkely released a power bait product. They were little BROWN "nuggets" similar to power nuggets, but larger. And, on the bag is a tag with the words "Hatchery Formula".

The first time I used them I caught & released over 60 trout in one day, on the N. Santiam. NO JOKE! These are WAY better than any other "power bait" product that I've used (Power Bait in different colors, Gulp! Worms / Grubs, and Power Worms...even my newest product of choice "Power Eggs").

My next best trout day, was 30 fish with a rooster tail (also all C & R'd). So, the hatchery nuggets are DEADLY (at least on trout)! And I'd see no reason that steelies wouldn't also like 'em.

I don't know if Berkley still makes those brown nuggets. But, if they do...you owe it to yourselves to buy some!

 

[beaverfan]

They do still make em, I see them around from time to time. I tried them one time and couldn't get a bite so I gave up on them.

 

[Growbug]

would the congealed blood bait they you can buy at BiMart for catfish be the same?

 

[beaverfan]

Nope, the pellets used for trout don't have much blood in them I don't think. They grind up fish bones and random pieces of fish and fish bones, also I believe last year they started using krill in them to improve meat quality and color.

 

[mthoodrider]

I know of a very good steel/salmon fisher that makes his own bait with them and fills a lot of tags using them... he wouldn't give me all the goodies but said he buys a lot of them... blends in a blender with molasses(sp), salt, corn meal, and his special this or that... let's it dry into a think gummy texture and put it in a eggloop and hooks hatchery after hatchery fish..

I wonder what that extra special sauce is??? Do you think garlic maybe.... my uncle says when he was a kid, couldn't afford bait and lures, he used garlic cloves many times and would catch just about anything, trout, catfish, crappie, even bass. Next time I go out I'll grab a few cloves and see if it actually works. I will kep my eyes out now for the berkley pellets.

Thanks guys

 

[troutdude]

Hey, good to know that Berkley still makes the brown nuggets! I still have some, and plan to try 'em again this year.

 

[eggs]

Hmmm garlic... I might have to get some pellets from the hatchery and try to mix something up and see how it goes..

 

[troutdude]

I tried mashing up a batch of hatchery pellets, adding marshmellow creme, Berkley's trout scent, and other stuff that I can't recall anymore. All I got was a jar of gooey stuff that won't stay on a hook.

If you can figure out how to get it to gel up, so it will stay on a hook--please let me know.

 

[eggs]

Molasses will thicken and even harden if left to dry.. corn meal, salt and the dry pellets should also help with this.. add alittle garlic juice.. mix well.. leave uncovered for a couple days to a week and I bet it would be thick enough to hold up and sticky enough to stay in the baitloop... goood sweet familar slightly salty taste/scent should do work...

 

[mthoodrider]

I'll be making a batch of my own stuff too. Hopefully it will work, or just be a stinky old mess. I just need to find an old blender, my wife would kill me if I used hers.
Who knows, maybe we will came across a great new discovery and pantened it. lol

 

[beaverfan]

It's gonna cost you just as much to make it as it would to but the Powerbait. Plus it will save you a ton of time you can spend on the water and probably work just as well if not better. Berkley has put millions of dollars and many years to find the best softbait for trout. If your going to make your own do a search on google for homemade powerbait. Follow a recipe that somebody has perfected.

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

next time i goto lost creek to fish ill stop by the hatchery and try to come up with my own powerbait too. should be funn

 

[eggs]

Something to do at night when you can't fish and could be used for steelhead that works and NO one is tossing out there..

 

[OnTheFly]

I think Im going to be sick

 

[troutdude]

Thanks, but I didn't mix up my batch to put into an egg/bait loop. I wanted it to have the consistency of a doughy substance...just like powerbait. So, I could ball it up and mush it onto a small treble hook.

But, it didn't turn out that way. So, now I'd just have to spend more time (and maybe more money) to TRY to get it to work. No thanks.

I'm going to stick with using Power Eggs, and the Brown "trout chews" that I described earlier. It will be far less time consuming and will work just as good.

If you can't catch fish with a combination of Power Eggs/Power Bait/Hatchery Formula Trout Chews, Berkley's Trout Jelly, and / or Berkley's scent...you might as well hang your hat, put away your oars, and find another hobby.

At least, that's my opinion. I found that I was just wasting my time trying to "beat" Berkley's Research & Development department. They are all highly trained and FULL TIME scientists and engineers. And, the company spends MILLIONS of dollars and THOUSANDS of dollars to perfect their products. So, why bother trying to make my own?

BTW, why would Oregonian fish like garlic? Are they Italian import models?

 

[eggs]

I don't know the answers to you questions.. but a buck for pellets, molasses around the house, corn meal around the house, salt, and maybe some eggs goo.. sounds like 10 mins of work and pretty much free to try... like I said I know a guy very well that uses something close to this and does just about as goodas I have anyone I have heard of and seen it work with my own eyes... little brown quarter size ball fiirm but sticky,,,, I have wasted more time on a lot of pointless stuff.. so nothing new if it doesn't work..