Salted pillies v fresh.

[newtontoney 57]

Apart from the fact that the salting process hardens the flesh of the pilly up for hooking etc....what are peoples thoughts on the benefits of using salted pillies as apposed to fresh ? are fresh better ?

[Dylbaa 174]

I like using brined wa pillies, I just feel like they work for me, always caught fish on them the main purpose of salting or brining them is to do exactly what you said though (harden the flesh so they stay on better) you may get people saying fresh is best, but honestly I don't think this applies too much when using pillies! Other baits I try to use as fresh as possible but I'm never too worried with pilchards.... Basically comes down to personal preference I think!

[Moggy23 625]

IQF pillies for me

[Knackers 696]

I go the market and buy fresh pillies and pack them myself - much cheaper. On my longer trips I salt the unused ones myself after they have defrosted. I take a small six-pack size esky and put some newspaper down, layer of pillies, salt on top, another few layers of newspaper, more pillies, salt etc. Pour the liquid out every now and again and once they stop producing liquid in the bottom I repack them and put them back in the fridge (esky if you don't have a engel/waeco etc). After a bit of practice you get to know what is too much salt (pillies are wooden) and what is not enough (stink, maggots, flies etc). And you get some funny looks on overnighters/longer trips when you go to the bait fridge, pull out a few fresh pillies and fry them up for breakfast The other thing to salt is cockles. Much the same but use an air/water proof screw top jar. You don't need much salt and you need to pour the liquid off and work out what amount of salt is just right - but KGW whiting hit them just as much as squid and fresh cockles - and they stay on the hook heaps better. I keep a jar of salted cockles permanently in my boat for emergencies. I always salt the leftovers ones, they are pretty good.

[pauly s 426]

When u salt the pillies they lise alot of there oils so only use them in the surf.. off the boat or jetty would always stick with fresh

[bent87 0]

I like to use iqf pillies... Bound with black cotton for better casting and lasting

[Kelvin 2,200]

Fresh is better but harder to keep on the hook.I mainly use salted ones as any leftover can be put back in the freezer for next time