Burley Recipe and Technique
Hi All,
A member asked a question on one of my previous posts as follows:
Can I just ask about your use of burley? I have used burley when beach fishing for herring and so on, but never for demersals from a boat. I have always just drifted over the lumps and hoped a fish would be there. So how exactly do you do it? Do you have one of those burley masher things on the back of your boat? Surely that's just for fishing on the surface. Or do you get the burley to the bottom somehow? Burley cage (herring style)? Or do you send one of those big burley things down your anchor line?
I am certainly no expert in fishing Perth Metro waters (limited local knowledge and experience), and generally fish in <15m, but replied with what I do as follows.
I make my own burley out of fish frames (whiting, herring), fillets (tuna, skippy, tailor, wrasse, parrot, snook), pilchards, squid, shells (cray, crab), chicken feed pellets and tuna oil. I have an old style mincer that I just chuck it all in and grind to a paste. I then add more oil to get a consistency like thick tooth paste - the ratio of the fish to pellets is important as you don’t want it too crumbly. I then spoon it into glad bags and make logs that will fit into my burley bomb. Into the freezer for a couple of days at minimum. If you do it right, it produces a fine textured burley for 1-3 hours.
Where the burley bomb is placed in the water column is dependent on the conditions - I attach it to 30m of cord and tie off the front of the boat as necessary. If there is little current I keep it near the surface as it spreads wide getting to the bottom. If there is a lot of current, I drop it deeper so the burley is where the bait is. I will always send a floater down to be in the burley trail. I generally fish with pilchards so get a steady trail of heads and tails into the water as well. It doesn't always work but we seem to be going ok with this strategy.
I wanted to pass this on for anyone else that has similar questions, and also see if members could add to my response with any burley tricks and tips of their own.
Mick
Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it - LH.
trymyluck
Posts: 908
Date Joined: 06/05/12
good advice Mick, Id like to
good advice Mick, Id like to add that if chasing whiting, do not burley or only if u can put the burley on the bottom. IMO burleying when chasing Whiting will bring in other unwanted species that will get to the bait before you can catch them.
Marineboy
Posts: 840
Date Joined: 14/03/14
Burley mincer
Hi mick
if you are really serious about making your own burley logs check out eBay and type in burley mincer, look at the model mm32 I have one of these they are sensational they have a large hopper opening and you can adapt them to be driven by an electric motor which I am currently doing. You can also attach your bag directly to the outlet with a lakky band and it saves you getting your hands dirty, they are also really easy to clean.
My spots are so secret even the fish don't know about them !
Ian Macca
Posts: 133
Date Joined: 08/05/12
Whats specs are you running
Whats specs are you running on the motor Marineboy?
I guess ebay would be the go?
Cheers
Marineboy
Posts: 840
Date Joined: 14/03/14
Motor specs
Hi ian
theres a guy on eBay that's selling secondhand washing machine motors for $5.00 plus about $17.00 freight these are ideal they have mounts on them I made up my own brackets to mount the motor they also run the same m section belts as the mincer pulley. Mind you you could probably walk round the verge collections and get a motor for free haha.
I tried mine out for the first time today it's sensational.
Mark.
My spots are so secret even the fish don't know about them !
Ian Macca
Posts: 133
Date Joined: 08/05/12
Champion Cheers!!
Champion Cheers!!
Doooma
Posts: 791
Date Joined: 05/12/09
I bought the new Ninja
I bought the new Ninja kitchen chopper thingy bobby for the missus for Xmas... ;-)
It has only every been used for making berley!!! haha
tim-o
Posts: 4657
Date Joined: 24/05/11
Haha, a thermomix? I reckon
Haha, a thermomix? I reckon parts of my body would end up in ours if I ever used it to make burley haha
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
Ashen
Posts: 1042
Date Joined: 22/03/13
Another good ingredient for
Another good ingredient for burley are prawn heads/shells.
A fish in the hand is worth 10 in the water!