indian pillies

[mick]

a local supplier has got a load of what he says is indian pilchards. he says they are firmer than your normal blue pillie. has anyone heard of these or used them. if they are good for bait i will probly buy 10 kgs and deep freeze them. because the local pillies are basically mush, marked skin etc. and the indian ones are going for $3.50/kg.

mick

[Fisherman02]

hi mate
even if they aren't indian pillies I reckon thats a pretty good price for normal pillies as well. If they work as bait and look like pillies I reckon they are good.
cheers jack

[krazyfisher]

mick
I dont know where you are but I have had the same from my local and I have found them to be alot firmer and better to use one packet I even took out with be 3 times and they where still good 4 times might be pushing it but I have found them to be good I would still rather buy local but they dont seem to be as good.
have fun

[mick]

good stuff!! i might still see if he will sell a kg before i buy bulk.

[Simon]

Does anybody know where these pilchards actually come from. Are they imported or just a different species of Aust. pilchard from say the indian ocean?

cheers

Simon

[gruntahunter]

My guess would be they are a type of W.A pilly from the Indian Ocean and if they last like you fellas say they do then bugger the mushy W.a's. ;D

[sharkbait]

I havent heard of indian pillies but have been told to stay away from US pillies as they are dodgy. I think that what makes WA pillies good bait is that they are a bit soft and mushy - they make a sort of natural berley trail.

[SteveCan]

My Local bait and tackle shoe owner told me that she was getting Indonesian pillies that looked a bit dodgy in the packaging - i.e. they dont look like sardines in the pack - because they were frozen at sea. This means that they are fresher and firmer. She also said to stay away from the US ones because they were not frozen at sea. I would have to say they are very firm - the only complaint I have is that the scales are so firm it's sometimes hard to get the hook into the pillie!

Makes Sense I guess....

Cheers
Steve

[Volvo]

Mick, dont know about them indian pillies??, but just got me a box of WA pillies and they is spot on and really nice n firm.
have found most the imported Pilles go real mushy once thawed out and the fish go off the chew after they've been into em for a little while??.
Think they bloat em up and stop em from feeding?? where'as the old W.A pilles still keep em commin back.
Cheers

[mick]

what shop do you get your pillies from?
ive been using food grade squid, its good in the estuary but off shore it doesnt work so well(still better than the pillies ive had).

[Mugil]

Gday
I used to work in a WA tackle shop and we would occasionally have for sale a fish very similar to a pilchard known locally as a scaly.
It was another member of the herring family and very similar to a pilchard except for distinct scales (hence the name) and a slightly more compressed body. They did stay on the hook (because of their thick scaly skin) much better than the pilchard but never seemed to work as well.
Most customers agreed as they weren't particularly popular even though they were cheaper. These could be the 'indian' pilchards.
Cheers

[Vern_Veitch]

Hmmm.
If they are imported, I wonder if they could have some sort of disease that our native fish are not accustomed to? Remember the big pilly die-off around the coast? There was speculation that a disease was introduced from imported pillies and there is still a court case pending as I understand it.
Will rec fishers be inadvertantly helping to spread a disease that could affect our native fish? I think I will stick to bait that I know the source of.
Vern