Author Topic: tuna fish (Read 1568 times)

catdaddy · « **on:** July 16, 2006, 01:14:09 PM »

hi,woul;d canned tuna and chicken mixed be a subsatute bait to make when i run outta factory bought bait,just a quetion

MChewk · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2006, 02:00:50 AM »

Yep, tuna works well as does canned cat & dog food etc on coon mink opossum skunk etc...A few things to these consider these commercial foods seem to spoil quickly and freeze fairly fast. But you can't beat the price or the availability. IF in dog and feral cat areas watch yourself.

catdaddy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2006, 10:56:12 AM »

ok thanks

RdFx · « **Reply #3 on:** July 18, 2006, 05:53:05 PM »

Yep like Chewy said: Ive use cheap canned Jack Mackeral and processed chicken with good results on coon long lines.

coyotero · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2006, 03:42:55 AM »

Yep Jack Mackeral mixed with honey for coon,add a little fresh castor,works on bobcats,coyotes and fox.Add a little mink gland lure to this and watch out!

catdaddy · « **Reply #5 on:** July 19, 2006, 08:19:04 AM »

is tuna as effective as jack macrel,tuna is real cheap down here

coyotero · « **Reply #6 on:** July 19, 2006, 12:16:55 PM »

Catdady do you self a favor and get a hold of Bogmaster and Asa and get lure from them.You'll be more than satisfied.Gary Armstrong,a huge numbers coon trapper uses Asa's,Lenons Lures for monster coon catches.If Gary doesn't have big catches it's only because he doesn't have the coon in his area.

catdaddy · « **Reply #7 on:** July 19, 2006, 02:18:16 PM »

ill try when i gety some money

jim-NE · « **Reply #8 on:** July 23, 2006, 01:40:25 AM »

I've used tuna before and did OK with it. Its cheap if you can find some deals on it...try to get it in oil base vs. water. For bait, no sense in skimping or trying to be healthy about it, and the oil carries scent longer without dissapating much in moist weather or trapping areas. Tuna has a unique odor, but canned tuna actually doesn't carry much odor. Leave it out (opened) for a couple days to liven it up a bit before using it.
I use a lot of canned mackeral or salmon, seems to have more odor to it. I catch a lot of coyotes, cats, and coon on nothing more than canned jack mackeral, aged a few days, and salt added to help preserve/antifreeze it a bit. I buy it on sale in summer (or whenever I can get a deal on it) then save it all up until I have enough for a 5 quart ice cream pail full, then start opening cans and dumping it in. I let it age a couple days, give it a stir, and add table salt and glycerine, then I transfer it to several small clean plastic peanut butter jars and keep these in the back of the garage fridge so are ready to use whenever I need bait.
One year I made tuna balls (no jokes, please) by aging a bunch of $0.50 cent cans of oily tuna in a big pail, then added the salt, and this time added cornmeal and some flour and made a dough with the fish. Rolled it out in nice little balls and bagged up several per bag and kept these in the freezer or fridge. One ball per dirthole set or pocket set. I probably didn't save any time, but sure was easy to use. Got the idea from an old catfish/carp bait recipe I had around.
Jim-NE

RdFx · « **Reply #9 on:** July 23, 2006, 03:32:37 AM »

Gosh, Jim almost sounds tasty! Hope you didnt get hungry out on trapline......or did you???

catdaddy · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2006, 08:02:08 AM »

so open the can of tuna and let it sit 2 days before using it

jim-NE · « **Reply #11 on:** July 25, 2006, 07:10:12 PM »

you don't have to, but I do. Seems to give it a bit more odor to carry. The mackeral or salmon has more of a fishy smell to it in my opinion.

Oh, and don't forget the crackers and cheese. The Mrs. may not appreciate your breath, but the cats certainly will.

catdaddy · « **Reply #12 on:** July 27, 2006, 09:47:40 AM »

ok,ill let sit out this season

Asa Lenon · « **Reply #13 on:** July 27, 2006, 03:33:58 PM »

Just about anything one can think of will catch a certain number of animals. Fish, along with castor are sort of universal attractants as they hold interest for just about all animal species in any area whether or not fish or beaver are present in the region. However, if simple baits were all that was required to make maximum harvests, scores of lure makers could not have survived selling lures year after year, one lure maker selling lures every year for 82 consecutive years. Not only do lures produce better and more consistent results, they are easy and convienient to use. Its a lot simpler to carry small bottles of lure along the trapline than large containers of sloppy, dripping, contaminating baits. Ace

jim-NE · « **Reply #14 on:** July 30, 2006, 01:00:23 AM »

I agree with your statements, Ace. But, I use a lot of bait on a lot of pocket sets on my coon line. A 5 quart ice cream pail of canned mackeral and a little salt only costs me, on average, about $5 for all the cans of fish that will fit in that pail. The pail is just more of the central holding container for me...I always fill smaller bait jars from my bucket, then only carry the smaller jars on my line. Yes, convenience of the smaller container is always the best management approach.
I have yet to find a comparable commercially prepared bait that I can acquire in a similar quantity and at a comparable price. I have a difficult time finding even a pint at the $5 pricing point and would need to purchase it locally to remove shipping or fuel charges from the economics equation. Coon prices are a bit down in this area, so economically to me it just does not make sense to blow a lot of cash from my bottom line on coon bait or lure. On my coon line, these are mostly ponds, pastures, small wooded creeks, etc. You know coons...they live somewhere in the area and don't travel very far that time of year between home, food, and back. Any good set with some eye appeal and a little fish, and good trap placement, will take every coon within site/smell of that set. I run gang sets for 8 day stints until the catch falls off dramatically, then quickly pull up and move on to the next inhabited location. I use very little bait per set, whether its commercial or my own concoction. I do buy my share of lure, especially for predators, but not for coons.
Now predators, on other hand, and by predators meaning coyotes, fox, cat, etc. by all means yes I am a huge believer in commercially prepared bait and lure. The formulations are much more complex and involved. Besides, for some of the formulations and aging processes, well, I have neighbors and live in a neighborhood where I need to be considerate of the odors coming from back of my shed. I willingly buy a lot of commercially prepared baits and lures for my predator line. But, I also catch a fair amount of all of these species on just fish, also. Here in heart of farm country, where also the habitat for many different species overlap greatly, I can expect a coon, fox, coyote, or cat from just about any set made in the overlapping areas. And, I have to set for them accordingly. It can be challenging too. Yes, a waterline pocket set is pretty much limited to coon, beaver, rats, or mink, but once and awhile you get surprises there. A dirthole set made up on the bank, baited with fish, maybe a little fox pee, well, you never know what will be in it the next day if made along a multi-species game trail. Trap selection can be tough as a result, too.
Asa, you make great products, and I would never hesitate to use them on my line, as I run many of your products myself and highly recommend them to anyone. But again, as I mentioned, sometimes when targeting coon specifically it just doesn't make sense for me to buy much coon bait or lure. We also have a very high population of very good coon in this area, and this system works very well for me. I also can't take full credit for the fish bait concept. Its by no means new or unique to this area, but there are a number of 1000 coon harvestors around here that also use it. One guy lives just south of me here is a regular 1000 coon man, and he is nearly 100% pocket sets with carp chunks he catches in the offseason. Maybe because of our high coon populations and habitat we can get away with it. I don't know.
Thanks for the feedback, Asa. You are truly a wise man in many regards and by no means should I be insinuating to others that this is the only or best way to put up numbers in an inexpensive manner. Hopefully no one took my comments that way. Was just relaying what works here and what methods I use myself. Heck, sometimes I bet it probably has more to do with set location than what I am putting down the hole also. Its all about location, location, location...right? A blank set on location is probably more effective than a set made on a so-so location but loaded with hot bait or lure. Thanks again, sir!
Jim

Asa Lenon · « **Reply #15 on:** July 30, 2006, 03:33:19 AM »

Good post Jim!

With 'coon the number one calling is food so food baits work real well compared to canines and bobcat that will many times walk right by food baits. Also, one doesn't have to concern themselves with the contamination factor with coon. On a long coyote line it is hard to keep stinky baits from dripping, slopping or just plain contaminating traps and gear by its stinky presence. This causes a lot of set digging, etc. I found a small gob of the right lure works just as well without the bait. I've tried it both ways by using one or the other of lure or bait or a combination of the two and found no benefit over a simple gob of lure. At least that is the way it is in my region, perhaps in areas that have larger coyote numbers and a smaller food supply the outcome would vary. Ace

trappnman · « **Reply #16 on:** July 31, 2006, 03:35:18 AM »

a myth about coon trapping is that they are always hungry and always respond to fish, bait, food.

This is true at certain times of the year, but I have found it most definitely to NOT be true during the heart of winter.

During Dec- early Feb- in a normal (cold) year- coon aren't intetersted in bait/food much at all.

They are semi hibernating, and food isn't high on the list when they come out.

Water and wandering is.

A curiosity lure will outproduce food lures and bait to the point where you finally just quit using food and bait.

Its that dramatic.

Early season and very late season, if you want to use bait- muskrat works well for non fishy bait, and for fish, jack mackeral is about 90 cents a can and works well. As in most baits, if it gets below 30 degrees or so- its worthless.

be very aware that MOST commercial bait and coon lures are not meant for freezing weather.

Asa Lenon · « **Reply #17 on:** July 31, 2006, 08:52:59 AM »

trappnman writes...a myth about coon trapping is that they are always hungry and always respond to fish, bait, food.

Good point trappnman!!! Isn't is a generally accepted myth that all animals are always hungry and looking for food??? Otherwise one wouldn't see such a widespread insistance in using bait along with lure at every set whether it be coyote, fox, bobcat, coon, ete,etc,etc. Its like I said, "if bait/food odors was all it took to make maximum harvests then certainly there would be no one spending $4.00 or more an ounce for lure year after year. Certainly the premier lure makers of our times like Herb Lenon, E. J. Dailey, O. L. Butcher, Walter Arnold, etc wouldn't have even gotton a foothold into the commercial lure making/selling business during the depression when few had any money whatsoever to spare. Personally I haven't used a piece of bait in conjunction with lure for any animal in the last 37 years. Before that I would use chunk baits during Summer bounty trapping only because grasshoppers, ants and locusts would eat a small gob of klure almost instantly leaving the set without any drawing power. As for the myth of coons responding to about anything smelling like something to eat, I was guilty of such thoughts and ideas myself back many years ago. It was my trapper customers, many of whom were big time coon people that ordered large volume coon lures year after year that convinced me what a tremendous difference in harvest a well formulated coon lure would do and was worth on the trapline. After that I did a lot of experimentation on the subject of coons. Ace

trappnman · « **Reply #18 on:** July 31, 2006, 09:17:15 AM »

exactly right Asa.

When I first started trapping coon- bait was all I used. And of course, I caught coon.

Then I started using lures- viola- what an improvement.

jim-NE · « **Reply #19 on:** August 01, 2006, 02:50:39 PM »

good point, trappnman.
I do catch the bulk of my later season coon on coyote, bobcat, and fox gland lure vs. bait.
Also, don't forget the "curiosity" angle. Coon have a powerful sense of curiosity, but be careful to never satisfy it. Bud Boda once wrote about his pet coon when he put a crawdad in a glass jar how the coon would reach into the jar, get the crawfish out, then once it had it out would play with it only a very short while then would walk away and wouldn't play the game again with that crawdad and jar. But, when he put a lid on the jar screwed down snug, the coon worked with that jar, rolling around with it, trying hard and long to get at the crawfish. He reasoned the similar thing must be applied to sets. If you are using bait, pin the bait down or use an oil based, etc. something very difficult for the coon to get the bait...makes them work the set longer while trying and upping your odds at connecting with the shuffling feet.
How many of us have come up on a set, find the bait or cottonball just a few feet away from an obvious coon visit/no catch, and wonder why they wouldn't work the set again when we simply relured and rebaited the same stuff at the same set?

catdaddy · « **Reply #20 on:** August 01, 2006, 02:52:01 PM »

did any of yall ever have any succes at fur animals usein rotten eggs,i read in some book this is effective

RdFx · « **Reply #21 on:** August 01, 2006, 05:42:56 PM »

Fermented or rotted down eggs can be used for canines as a call lure. It should never be put down on ground at set.. Canines will want to roll on the egg scent... Put the scent up on tree or something at least three foot or better in air. Use the prevailing wind current to bring canine over or near your set for them.

Asa Lenon · « **Reply #22 on:** August 02, 2006, 02:43:24 AM »

I'll swear that a skunk can detect a small dab of rotten egg for at least a half mile. Rotten eggs attract canines to roll in as RdFx stated but the canine will have to get ahead of a long line of skunks and 'possums trying to beat him to the set. Ace

catdaddy · « **Reply #23 on:** August 02, 2006, 10:56:48 AM »

if it gets posum and skunk will it take coon as well

Asa Lenon · « **Reply #24 on:** August 02, 2006, 01:29:50 PM »

If the 'coons can get ahead of the long line of skunks and 'possums and get there first!

Can't tell you why but those skunks always seem to get there first. Don't have any 'possums in my area to get in line!

The point is catdaddy, there are better odors for coon and canines than rotten eggs that skunks and possums don't pay much attention to so will increase your catch of the target animals. Ace

catdaddy · « **Reply #25 on:** August 02, 2006, 05:40:55 PM »

bud iam the kind of trapper whos happy to catch any animal,so rotten eggs will take coon fox coyote skunks and posum

RdFx · « **Reply #26 on:** August 03, 2006, 01:56:44 AM »

Yes ct fermented eggs will take any animal or at least attract them to point of scent. I hope you have taken a trappers education course or have or will be mentored by an experienced ethical trapper so you can avoid mistakes and have a productive fun trapline. Have you contacted your states trapping association?

catdaddy · « **Reply #27 on:** August 03, 2006, 06:08:43 PM »

well,not really,here we get a licence and permission and go and hope you have god luck

Bogmaster · « **Reply #28 on:** August 03, 2006, 06:31:13 PM »

Education of all trappers ,is the key to our future.Most states have a trappers association,by all means--join it.We also have 2 National Assoiations---Fur Takers of America and The National Trappers Association.It would also pay to join one or both of these associations.
Without educated trappers,we will not survive.Let me repeat that.---WITHOUT EDUCATED TRAPPERS WE WILL NOT SURVIVE.
Catdaddy, you have asked on more than one site ,for info on regulations---it's good that you asked,but contact your state association,they have better knowledge of your states laws than I or anyone else on here.
As A trap supply dealer,and a trapper--I know many of the different states regulations,but there is no way I can begin to know all of them.
Do yourself a favor ,contact the president of your states association.Are you from Florida?
If you cannot come up with a name and number let me know--I will get it for you.
We want you to become the best trapper you can be.We also want you to reflect well upon all of us.Education,will help in doing that.
Tom

catdaddy · « **Reply #29 on:** August 04, 2006, 01:05:07 PM »

bogmasters i dont got time to do that, i have 7th grade to deal with football practise and games up to mid november,and my dad wont let me join,but maybe if i can come up with the money i can,how much does it cost bogmastersd to join