IQF Bait

[Burley_Boy]

Trying to find quality bait so can someone tell me is IQF a generic term for quick frozen fish, or is it a distributed brandname product. If it is a brandname I'm after the name of the gold coast wholesaler so I can find who they supply to on the north end of the coast.
Sick of the tweed bait pillies. :(

[mangajack]

IQF stands for Individually Quick Frozen

I don't think any manufacturer or bait company has got any rights over ownership of that name.

Jack.

[mal-laurie]

last week i tried some iqf slimy maceral that i bought from davos in noosa. manufacturer was sea queen i think. but if you ring davos they will put you onto them.
i recon they are heaps better the stinking pillies and stay on the hook better.
if i can get these all the time i wont be buying pillies ever again.

cheers mal

[Burley_Boy]

ok but who supplies IQF pillies and IQF squid?

Sorry my son asked for a smilie so here goes...
;D [smiley=devil.gif] [smiley=laola.gif] [smiley=sick2.gif]

[mal-laurie]

all bait manufactures supply this type of product.
I.Q.F. means induvidualy quick frozen
so every fish is frozen seperatly. not in block form (easy to thaw and use )
sea queen in noosa are the manufactures up here
tweed bait are down there.

maybe ask them if they do slimys

if you have no luck ill post you down some to try ;D [smiley=thumbsdown.gif] [smiley=thumbsdown.gif]
cheers mal

cheers mal

[Burley_Boy]

Thanks, just email them through, I'll just switch off the spam filter.

Apparently IQF is readily available from the really really bad people with "a xxrt" in their name that keep getting autoremoved... #:-X
But I'll buy em off you Steve if you have em, :)

[Cheech]

Here is a spanner in the works.

I never buy iqf any longer. The problem is that they may be a bit fresher, but because they are thrown in together they are all bent and twisted. That means that most of them spin on the hook. Which equals no interest and twisted line.

I have found a great imported (yes,,, imported) pillie that they sell at castledine bait and tackle that is frozen in slabs of straight fish and is actually really good quality. And they swim straight. A bit smaller than average iqf, but we have caught some pretty good snapper on floaters using them at the banks.

They have a couple of different imports. the one I use is much better than the other import. When you see them side to side you can see the dsifference.

So there you go. Don't get caught up in blanket believing something is automatically better than something else.

Cheech

[Big_unit]

Isnt IQF. Instant Quick Frozen.

Cheers
James.

[SCOTTYGC]

mal is correct in saying
induvidualy quick frozen
its a term used for most seafood including prawns

scotty

[Jeremy]

I have found IQF pillies to consistently be smaller than the block pillies, and not much better in quality. I only use them for mackerel anyway, so I prefer them as big as possible, and they must be straight.

For reef fish, surely you are much better going to the local bait reef and getting some live or fresh slimies and yakkas, or a fresh tuna. Stay on the hook better and much better bait also. The only good thing about pillies is the convenience.

Jeremy

[Girella]

I would not by pillies from the mart.

The brand they stock is generally the most inferior product around.

I think you would do better at your local servo.

PK

[agnes_jack]

Individual quick frozen pillies
Should be available at all tackle stores, nearly all bait suppliers have them, you should be able to get them from any half reasonable tackle or bait supply.
They are far superior to block pillies, in that they are snap frozen straight after capture, and are therefore the best quality you can get.
Having said that, it is still possible for them to be handled poorly prior to sale. :-/

Most of the imported block pillies these days are coming from indonesia, and yes they are very straight, very well placed in there blocks. ( I wonder how long that takes before freezing them.) Most of those blocks that I have seen turn to mulch when defrosted. May also be a possible source of disease, such as the white spot disease that devastated our southern pilchard fisherie a few years back.

I don't understand how an IQF pilchard can stay bent once defrosted, or how you can rig a bait properly that is still frozen enough to stay bent ???
We always defrost our pillies in water, a few at a time, before use, and certainly have no trouble with bent pillies :-/
In our shop we stock IQF pillies in varying sizes from absolutely huge (about the size of a reasonable slimy,) to pillies about 4-5inches long. They come in all sizes depending on the sizes at capture. We try to get the bigger fella's during the mackeral seasons, and the smaller fella's during tailor and flathead season.

I am always very wary of nice straight pillies in packs, that claim to be IQF as most have been at least partialy defrosted before packing to straighten them.
Most IQF pillies come in 15kg boxes, they do still stick together slightly a lot of the
time. The best way to seperate them without defrosting is to simply drop the box on the concrete. If they are stuck together a bit, this can cause a few small patches of skin to tear off some of the pillies, but in my book that is still better than having them partially defrosted, so they can be placed nice straight and clean in a bag.
Block or IQF it is my opinion that we should be sticking to the Aussie product.
Hope that helps..........Regards, Tony ;) ;)

[DR]

the best thing about IQF is you can keep a box in the freezer & take only what you need when you go out fishing. with a block you have to take the lot..

[Burley_Boy]

Ok I found some IQF bait called Bremer bait which I think is Sunshine coast based. Don't know if the pillies are though?

[mackmauler]

Cheech, I dont agree with the imported bait either, but ill say that snapper are no indictation of quality bait, ive had them ravenously take mullet thats been in the sun all day and some of the stinkiest squid you would find, agree with what tony says I reckon you are jumping the gun and need another beer while the bait defrosts mate LOL.

tweed block pillies have worked fine for me BB, not that I rely on pillys.. never been to fussed on IQF.

[agnes_jack]

Burley Boy
Be carefull with the brand you pick. ;) ;)
Poor handling is renowned by some company's.
The pillies you want are genuine W.A. Pillies.
As Rob says, the tweed ones are usually alright.

Regards, Tony

[youngfisho]

When thawing bait I have heard that the best method is to remove the bait from the freezer the night before and either store it in the fridge or the esky on some ice. Thawing the bait out in the water changes the composition of the flesh and can make the pillie or squid mushy. By letting it defrost slowly the bait is firmer and therefore better to use.



andrew

[Burley_Boy]

Well I'm glad we got all that sorted. ;)
Now I just need some time and weather to try again.