Texas Blue Cats and Alabama Skipjack

So last weekend when I was out in North Alabama, I picked up some skipjack herring from Guntersville Bait Company. I brought them home to try here in North Texas. I couldn't wait to find out if the Texas Blues were gonna like them so last night Skeetmaster and I hit the water and tried soaking some. Well, the verdict is in and the answer was a big yes! We had dinks shredding our baits most of the night. We boated one good fish at just under 21 b pounds and several smaller fish. But the bait was a hit and that's what we wanted to know.


Got the new custom Nic's Knacks cutting board all bloody

Look at the bait, that's how chewed up they all were.

Geno with a nice 20 pounder.

I got a hard enough time trying to keep my cooler full of skipjack. Now you done and created a export demand shipping them to Texas!

BamaSkips will ship them frozen.

I need to get some of those skippies!

FYI I was fishing the same end of the lake as CFT was last night, fishing with fresh gizzard shad I had just caught in my cast net. Lot's of fish showing and I caught a couple of dinks under 10 pounds, but not getting anywhere near the bites Tim was getting.

Hmmm curious about this. Do the frozen baits hold up after they thaw out?

The cut head with the eyes still in on a good 5-7" bait frozen or otherwise has been the best part if not still alive, least for me. But I have used frozen cut bait of all kinds that hold up really good.

I will say my experience with using skips here at home has been 50/50 at best. Plus with the price of shipping it’s not very cost effective, but at the same time these local guys selling gizzards have gotten crazy on their prices per pound for bait so it probably balances out. I would definitely say if your going to any of the major rivers out east where skipjack are the bait of choice then alway buy extra to bring home. Never know when you might need bait in a pinch and they just could be the ticket that day to putting that giant in the boat!!!!

Nice post and fish. Good job.

Skipjack is excellent for freezing and later using for bait. I've started out this year with frozen skippies I had caught the year before. They have to be vacuum sealed for long term freezing.

I think they freeze really well. I plan to try and bring a load back a couple times a year when I go out there...

Carey's right, vacuum sealed is the only way to go. I plan on bringing a bunch back from there next year. You can get them in Texoma but I wouldn't be able to tell you how. In February of this year I caught two of them in my cast net as far up the Washita arm as I could get. I threw my net 25 times after that trying to get some more but, no dice. They were pretty good size too. I didn't know they were in Texoma but I had unquestionable proof that they are. If anyone has any info about them on here, do tell!

I didn't think there were any skipjack in Texas, this forum has always had some awesome info shared.

I bought 10 lbs from Ayers and Sons up in Oklahoma a few years back. Did pretty well with it but wasn't nearly as well insulated and frozen as I had hoped it would be. Shipped it the fastest way possible but had to cut the gut pocket out and just use the muscular meat above it. The rest was just way too mushy.

I think I've still got a couple of vacuum-packed bags that are still in my freezer. Don't know how good they'd be now.