Live prawns

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 7:39 pm

Been reading lots of stuff about the virtues of float fishing live prawns for Bass off sea walls, deadly apparently.

Are these the same prawns that I caught as a nippler on family holidays to Cornwall?, as I don't remember them being particularly big then, (or maybe I've always caught tiddlers), and Bass have pretty big appetites.

If they are, how would you go about hooking the blighters so they remain live prawns and some what attractive to passing fish?

If the state of mortality isn't that important, then what's people's experience of fishing with Sainsbury's best? Living in Slough it would fantastic addition to the arsenal for a challenge from a mate who thinks he's a bit of a Bass god. Would love to put one in his pipe etc...... :twisted:

Also, as I have a fair distance to travel before I even smell salt, an hour collecting prawns is not as appealing as an hours fishing.

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:05 pm

I use crab traps to collect prawns and peelers,(plus eels etc which i return alive)i usually fish shrimp through the tail which keeps them alive when fishing with them(and yes they probuably the same shrimp as you collected as a kid i used to collect them out of rock pools as a kid using a crushed limpet in a net and lower the net in pool and wait for the shrimp to enter net and lift) (sorry for any spelling mistakes i am dislexic and have been out for a drink with mates and cant see the screen at mo)
Tight lines dan big grin

Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 8:15 pm

Cheers Dan,
spelling is a darn sight better than mine after beer. What size hook would you use for that? as a 1/0 seems a bit of an overkill or is that just a throwback from my course fishing days?
And it's only 9.20? beer with mates should finish later than that.

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 10:18 am

Depends on shrimp size some shrimps are monsters(when caught in a trap) and others are tiny(ones normaly got out of the rock pools) i would use a hook that fits the shrimp you are using(a 1 or 1/0 should be ok) and is the size for the fish you are after(if that makes sense)you want to make sure the hook point protudes out of the shrimp and isnt masked buy the bait(if that makes sense) :lol:
tight lines dan 8) (glasses needed got hangover feeling)

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:10 pm

Crystal clear, how do they hold up to casting? Not suggesting I'm going to throw them 100's of yards, but are they an underarm flick bait, or can they stand a bit of umphhhh?

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:42 pm

never really tried to cast them far as i usually use them in devon off the rocks near where my nan lives(you collect them in the rockpools when the tide is out along with limpets crab etc,and then come down the hillside when the tide is in to get on to the rocks which are cut off by the tide)
I would say they stay on better than sand eels i have caught down there(had live sand eels and every cast they flew off)The shrimp/prawn has a hardened shell on the tail and they seem to stay together(but i have only tried them about 50yds out off the rocks)
I am not sure if they will work every where, i have caught them in crap traps around kent where i live but haven't tried them off the beach here.(they do taste nice and go a nice pink when boiled in the pan)
The crab traps are easy to use you put them out at low tide and then at next low tide you come and collect it(just make sure the stretch of beach you use doesn't get used by people swimming etc)You can bait the trap but i am after peeler crab so i set up some traps in a row with net in between(too small to catch fish by the gills)the crabs come in to shore hit the little net wall and walk along in to the trap,then you come down empty it and sort them out next to the sea putting anything you don't want back alive(you end up with the odd shrimp eel etc too)
tight lines dan 8)

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 7:34 pm

Have you had any experiences with supermarket prawns? Just thinking that a big tiger prawn would be a proper mouthful for a Bass, or is it the live wiggley thing that does the business?

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 8:30 pm

i have tried uncooked prawns once off the beach near my house but had no success(this doesn't mean they don't work you can only tell if you try a bait at least 10 times i would say,as quite often the fish just aren't there)
tight lines dan 8)