In a recent thread, Druid made reference to cooking, then using mussels as bait. I gave him of a tip I picked up from the UK, although I had never tried it myself.

Well yesterday I purchased a couple of dozen mussels and twenty of them went the way as intended ... four I put to one side.

I soaked these in water for an hour then shoved them in the freezer overnight. I have just got a couple out, I boiled the jug and then tipped just a little boiling water over the first mussel. Warming the shell encouraged it to open slightly and I ran a rounded end, dull blade down the inside the shell, it open like a toilet door. You open the narrow end not the bottom blunt end.

With one side open I simply ran the knife down the other side of the shell and I had one whole frozen mussel. All the natural juices contained therein, not boiled or steamed away with the cooking process.

I wish to keep the mussel flesh frozen, so once I had the four shucked (so to speak) they went straight back into the freezer. With the aid of a baiting needle, they can be beautifully presented as hook bait in a perfectly natural state.

The mussel in the middle is out of its shell, you can see how beautifully shucked they are, nothing mushy and ready for bait. The other mussel is still lying in its shell, all I have to do is run a dull knife under the flesh and it will release from the shell.

For obvious reasons do not use a sharp knife , it really isn't necessary, when the white muscle that runs across the shell is frozen, it comes away very easily.