Skip to main content

Surf Fishing Bait Prep: How to Make Salt Clams & Preserve Sand Fleas

How to toughen your clams and fleas and store them for future trips.

Surf Fishing Bait Prep: How to Make Salt Clams & Preserve Sand Fleas

Trimming and salting clam strips, left, firms them up. Sandfleas at right were boiled. Freeze or fish ready, now.

Surf fishing for pompano, whiting and croakers for the most part is a baitfishing drill with surf rods set in sand spikes.

The top baits include shrimp, clam, crab and sand flea. Many anglers also use synthetic strips such as Berkley Gulp!, Fishgum and Fishbites, which come in a variety of colors, but natural baits still rule the roost for the most part. Pompano and whiting fans have long depended on live sand fleas (mole crabs), "blanched" sand fleas, clams and fresh shrimp.

fishermen lined up on the beach with surf fishing rods in the sand
Surf fishing for pompano, whiting and croakers for the most part is a baitfishing drill with surf rods set in sand spikes.

Trouble with sand fleas is, they get scarce along many beaches once cold weather sets in. Most anglers do their flea raking in fall or late spring when temperatures moderate and the flea "colonies" are more common. The live fleas cannot be simply frozen for later use—this tends to make them brittle and they fall off the hook easily. The trick is to “cook" the fleas. That not only colors them but makes them more durable.

COOK 'EM RIGHT

handful of live sand fleas for pompano bait
Look for beaches with sand fleas by finding patches of tiny V’s as waves recede from the sand.

As you rake live fleas, carry your bounty in a bucket with drainage holes if possible. Once caught they will secrete urine, and if you let them sit in a bucket of water/urine for any length of time, that can soften them. They will live for hours as long as they are kept wet and drained.

Once at home, transfer them to a mesh chum bag. Rinse them a few times with a garden hose while you heat up a big pot of water. Once the water is near boiling, dunk the chum bag of fleas for 15 seconds or so. They will turn orange much in the way that shrimp or lobsters do. Once they color, remove them and rinse and cool them thoroughly with the hose water. Some anglers dunk the cooked fleas in ice water, but I never found that to be necessary. At this point place them in quart freezer bags, squeeze out the air, and freeze them. I have used a vacuum sealer with great results. If you make a big haul, you might have ample fleas for many trips.

CLAM PREP

cutting and salting clams for bait
Trimming and salting clam strips is a necessity for using them as bait as it makes them tough enough to fish with.

Clams are terrific baits, but you cannot just buy a frozen bag at the bait shop, defrost it and fish. The meat is softer than it appears. Whole Atlantic surf clams (the common variety sold) are big, and you have to separate the cream-colored meat from the dark entrails. I buy a couple bags, empty the contents into a big bowl, and then cut the meat from the guts with kitchen shears. Cut the meat into quarter-sized pieces and discard the soft spongy parts which are too soft to stay on the hook.

The salt will toughen the meat within a couple hours to fish the same day.

Line the bottom of a plastic re-sealable food container with table salt, add a layer of the cut clam baits (about the size of a quarter) then cover with more salt, and repeat the process to fill the container. The salt will toughen the meat within a couple of hours to fish the same day. I freeze the containers and defrost one as needed to fish. I've discovered that I can refreeze them with little change in their toughness. FS

Published Florida Sportsman Magazine November 2022




GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

How to Buy and Rig a River Fishing Kayak

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Power or Paddle? Bonafide PWR129

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

It's a Skiff, It's a Kayak: Bonafide SKF117

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Hobie Mirage Lynx to the Next Level

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Hobie Mirage iTrek 9 Ultralight Packed with Features

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Extend Your Range in the Salt Marsh

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Florida's Capital Fishing

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Old Town Sportsman AutoPilot 120 FULLY RIGGED Fishing Machine

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Mounting Forward-Facing Sonar on A Kayak: Mounts, Scanning Applications and More!

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

On The Water with Old Town: Bass Fishing at PRIVATE GEORGIA LAKE

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

DECKED-OUT Old Town Sportsman BigWater ePDL+ 132 Complete WALK-THROUGH

Kayak Fishing Fun Senior Editor Thomas Allen is joined by Old Town's Brand Evangelist Ryan Lilly to work some magic in b...
Videos

Dreambuild: Old Town ePDL Gets Rigged to the Hilt

Florida Sportsman Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

Preview This Month's Issue

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Buy Single Digital Issue on the Florida Sportsman App

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Florida Sportsman stories delivered right to your inbox.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All Florida Sportsman subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now

Never Miss a Thing.

Get the Newsletter

Get the top Florida Sportsman stories delivered right to your inbox.

By signing up, I acknowledge that my email address is valid, and have read and accept the Terms of Use