fishing cut bait

[PACMEN]

I like fishing with cut up chub and am interested as to know if you folks have found a better way of doing this than I have, this will most likely be a messed up description but here goes.

Bring chub home.
Vacuum pac individually and freeze.
Night or two before going out I remove from freezer let thaw just a bit.
Descale.
Cut mostly frozen fish about every three eighths inch.
Lay flat and split these slices in half backbone to belly.
Place in sandwich bags add filtered (non chlorine) water squeeze out air and tie off with wire tie.
Place in freezer to freeze.
Keep in cooler while fishing and thaw a bit at a time as needed.


This leaves backbone in the pieces of bait.  I fish with them in this state.

Now a question.  Does anybody feel these pieces of bone put off the fish as they chomp down on the jig with these bones poking them in the mouth?  If so what do you do?

If any body knows of a better mouse trap I'd like to learn.

[FishfulThinkin]

I like to filet the chubs so I have 2 slabs with no head tail or backbone. Then freeze in a ziploc  (water will prevent freezer burn if you want it to last longer) Thaw just enough so it's not rock hard and dice into whatever size piece you like. I prefer skin on each piece of meat as it stays on the hook better. There isn't a right way to do it, this is just the way I like to do it.

[wiperhunter2]

If the fish that are biting your chub is bothered by the bones, wouldn't the hook also bother them? IMO bones do not effect the bite what so ever. 
I also vacuum pack my chubs whole but I don't usually take the chub out of the freezer until the morning that I'm going fishing, then cut them up as soon as I'm on the lake, put the cut up pieces in a container. If it's cold out I'll leave the container out but if it's warm, I'll put the container in a cooler. The guts just add more smell to the chub, so why filet the chub.

[catchinon]

I second the idea that the bones don't bother the fish, at least catfish. For them I like to cut the chub into about one inch wide strips and fish the whole segment. When ice-fishing for trout we usually carve off bits at the lake. Then there's my friend who caught a slot buster at Strawberry on a whole chub. I seldom scate any bait fish. I guess I think that they don't bother the fish that eat them in the wild, so why bother. Just one man's opinion.

[PACMEN]

I second the idea that the bones don't bother the fish, at least catfish. For them I like to cut the chub into about one inch wide strips and fish the whole segment. When ice-fishing for trout we usually carve off bits at the lake. Then there's my friend who caught a slot buster at Strawberry on a whole chub. I seldom scate any bait fish. I guess I think that they don't bother the fish that eat them in the wild, so why bother. Just one man's opinion.

I scale it just because I find it easier to get the hook through the skin without the scales.

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I like to filet the chubs so I have 2 slabs with no head tail or backbone. Then freeze in a ziploc  (water will prevent freezer burn if you want it to last longer) Thaw just enough so it's not rock hard and dice into whatever size piece you like. I prefer skin on each piece of meat as it stays on the hook better. There isn't a right way to do it, this is just the way I like to do it.

I also like skin on for to keep meat a bit better.  When I refresh the jig usually all there is is skin on hook.  I leave the skins on and let em build up.

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I second the idea that the bones don't bother the fish, at least catfish. For them I like to cut the chub into about one inch wide strips and fish the whole segment. When ice-fishing for trout we usually carve off bits at the lake. Then there's my friend who caught a slot buster at Strawberry on a whole chub. I seldom scate any bait fish. I guess I think that they don't bother the fish that eat them in the wild, so why bother. Just one man's opinion.

I scale it just because I find it easier to get the hook through the skin without the scales.

[Kent]

If the chub is over ~6 inches long, I filet them fresh, add a generous amount of salt (I have some powder salt that works great) and vacuum seal the filets.  The day before I fish, using some shears, I cut the filets (although the filets are at zero degrees they are not stiff because of the salt) into the size of chunk that I want to fish with and put the chunks in reusable storage tubs (see attached, that I buy from the Dollar Store) and put the tubs back in the freezer.  In the morning, I take the tubs out of the freezer and put them in a cooler with Blue Ice.  I keep the tubs in the cooler while I fish and at the end of the day, if I have bait leftover I put the tubs back in the freezer for my next trip.

If the chubs are under ~6 inches I vacuum seal them, with or without salt, and freeze them.  The morning that I got fishing I take the vacuum sealed bags out of the freezer and put the bags in my cooler with Blue Ice.  I remove the whole chubs, one at a time, and either fish them whole or as cut bait.

[PACMEN]

Never heard of powdered salt.