Burley Machines - best option?
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Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Briny Bar
Forum Description: The place for general chat on saltwater fishing!
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59273
Printed Date: 01 Mar 2026 at 9:56pm
Topic: Burley Machines - best option?
Posted By: dirtyharry
Subject: Burley Machines - best option?
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2010 at 9:11pm
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I'm looking for a heavy duty burley making machine, it's gotta be a fairly high capacity as we'll be putting down large batches a few times a year when we clean out the bait freezer or when we have lots of alberts, mullet or KY. The throat needs to be fairly wide as I would like to feed whole or split lenghtwise fish, don't mind beheading but don't want to fillet 100's of fish in a session plus dont want to waste the frames. As I see it my options are..... 1) Garden mulcher 2) Insinkerator 3) Big F### off mincer And it can't be too expensive as Xmas and the summer fishing season are approaching. So guys what are you using and what are your suggestions? Cheers Harry ------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Replies:
Posted By: mouthu
Date Posted: 04 Nov 2010 at 9:17pm
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4" drop feed wood chipper from hire pool for half a day. it never jams up and even when blunt (frozen fish does that) it still works a treat. ------------- Yes it was me, I screwed it up for everyone. |
Posted By: Out 4 T
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 6:35am
| Garden mulcher. Used mine when my bait freezer broke and all my bait srarted to defrost. It's fast and has a good size opening so you can stick a smaller whole fish in or half a large one. Found the insinkerator slower and it also made a very fine burley almost like a paste |
Posted By: tuco
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 7:17am
| Hey Rumatibeach get a pic of your DIY one up here it's a classic! |
Posted By: Zee
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 1:01pm
| hay mate go for a mulcher with a bit of horsepower. not enough and you will spend half a day smashing up heads and frames etc |
Posted By: NZ_Nitro
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 4:09pm
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hmmmmmm what can we smell? a wood chippa?
------------- Always learning |
Posted By: Raumatibeach
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 8:38pm
Say hello to my little friend  ------------- Get off my lawn.... |
tuco wrote:Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 9:17pm
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Cheers for the replies so far, sounds like a woodchipper or mulcher is the go, any recommendations on brand and model? Raumatibeach - that looks mean, i guess you didn't get it from bunnings  ------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Posted By: mouthu
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 9:55pm
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bugger, the price has gone up. still, if you've got some garden work to do afterwards, hire one of these. http://www.generalhire.co.nz/?c=5019 - http://www.generalhire.co.nz/?c=5019 ------------- Yes it was me, I screwed it up for everyone. |
Posted By: bludog
Date Posted: 05 Nov 2010 at 10:53pm
Just lay it all out on the lawn and put the catcher on the mower!
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Posted By: Catchit
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2010 at 8:03am
keep your eyes out for a 'hogger' on auction sites. Can turn a whole sheep into mince in a matter of seconeds 
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Retail-hospitality/Kitchen-equipment-supplies/Other/auction-329773717.htm - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Retail-hospitality/Kitchen-equipment-supplies/Other/auction-329773717.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Industrial/Other/auction-329131726.htm - http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Industrial/Other/auction-329131726.htm
------------- "We gave Sir Peter a knighthood," Mr Key said, "And if we could give him a second one, we would." |
Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2010 at 5:18pm
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I think I've seen the solution in the form of an electric mulcher, just gunna need to mod it a bit to take whole fish. bludog - i like your thinking but I wouldn't be too popular with the whanau, besides the bloody cat would be in my way - at least until I ran it over ------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Posted By: Raumatibeach
Date Posted: 06 Nov 2010 at 5:21pm
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Those hoggers are wicked we used to put a whole skinned and gutted goat into one and it would mince it up bones and all.
------------- Get off my lawn.... |
Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 17 Jan 2011 at 9:40pm
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The results are in and they're all good........ Out 4 T put me on to the Talon Trisecta garden mulcher, big ups mate, with 2200w of fish munching power it really did the job. It did need a wee mod as the standard top is designed to keep fingers away from the blades. I used a road cone I found by the side of the road and chopped the top and bottom off to accomodate whole fish - just watch ya fingers!!!!! It will handle decent sized whole ky and skippies but it did occasionally jam up. Filleting and chopping up the frames with an axe was faster, no worries with skin, scales or whole heads, just feed them thru. And the texture/consistancy of the berley is perfect with just one pass. First up take all your old bait..... http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/uploads/47999/Burley1.JPG -  Chop the bigger stuff in to pieces...... http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/uploads/47999/Burley2.JPG">  Feed thru the mulcher........ http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/uploads/47999/ThePig.JPG -  Anh hey presto, burley....... http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/uploads/47999/BucketOburley.JPG -  The first go was a bit messy but it now takes about 1hour to make 100kg of burley, thats from getting everything out of the garage to cleaned up and burley in plastic buckets in the freezer. The talon is easy to clean too, just remove the road cone and yellow tube and hose out and scrub the blades and outlet chute. ------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Posted By: Catchit
Date Posted: 18 Jan 2011 at 7:02am
lol, you're a genius.. ------------- "We gave Sir Peter a knighthood," Mr Key said, "And if we could give him a second one, we would." |
Posted By: Blindspot
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2011 at 11:54am
| where can I get me one of those? |
Posted By: krow
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2011 at 3:58pm
| And the freezer for 5x buckets. Real man shed. Hope you didn't spill tooo much by the back door LOL |
Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2011 at 6:53pm
Hey Krow, we've got a dedicated chest freezer for ice, bait n burley, the 4l red containers and the 10l paint buckets are all burley, the first go had goo splatted up the water tank and over me . Blindspot - Talon mulchers are $480 from Bunnings, the roadcones can be found around any roadworks  .------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Posted By: Out 4 T
Date Posted: 19 Jan 2011 at 8:36pm
| Glad it worked out. Like the mod. I did a mod to mine I put a platform on top of the legs so a bucket can sit square under the chute and not on the angle. My bucket kept on falling over and made a mess |
Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 20 Jan 2011 at 5:42pm
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Hi Out 4 T, we now use a 30l square plastic box that fits nicely under the chute. Gunna get another roadcone and put it inverted into the existing one to form a funnel and stop the odd splat from flying out.
------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Posted By: lizid
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 7:46pm
| Update on the solution .... I also discovered the Talon unit (picked one up "as new" for a couple hundy from TM) which I use to do a "pre chop". I then run it's output thru an electrified size 32 mincer with the biggest holes plate I could find. Takes only a few minutes to do a 20l bucket full with this and no jambing. Just use an old .3 hp sph motor to run the mincer - because no lumps it does not need much power. The Talons no longer seem available but near identical units (probably same out of same factory) have appeared under names Tooline, McCulloch to name just a couple. The essential thing is the combination of disc with blades 90 degrees to feed and the "V" blade sticking up from the center of the disc. An important mod was the rear screw holding down the top .... it also holds down a safety switch but this area allows liquid into the electrics. Had to close that hole and hold that switch down permanently. 40% skippy and then whatever else I can find as filler (lot of kahawai). Biggest problem is keeping my mates away from my freezers. Abbreviated road cones also make great funnels for bagging / mold filling. |
Posted By: [email protected]
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 9:20pm
 We did a mission last month. Home made mincer with a petrol motor seems to work the best. 
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Posted By: lizid
Date Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 9:44pm
| I have been using my 2 machine setup for 4 years now. Usually 2 runs a year but due to house move the freezers filled up and one big run (2 days work) a month ago produced 39 5kg bombs. I now use/reuse 5l plastic buckets as molds. They stack in freezer better - leaving air around so freeze down only takes a couple of days. If jambed together they can take weeks to all freeze down. Out of molds (with the help of warm water dip) and into ice bags. I used to use bread bags which hold very well but keeping them stood up with clearance around each while they froze was not easy. Molds work best and can re-use them. Output from machines all goes into big plastic half drum for stirring / mixing before loading molds. Only enough salt water (maybe 2 to 3 liters) added to mix to allow stirring (too thick otherwise). Tuna oil added as well at this stage. Tried different mixing methods but nothing beats getting shirt of and sticking your arm in with a small paddle held in hand to aid turnover. I have a source of 5l buckets for $2 each. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2019 at 12:32pm
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Old but goodie thread. Been using an old 1990s ryobi electric garden mulcher for last 8 or 9 yrs. 2 1/2hrs from coffee table set up , clean down shower and fresh coffee.. 35 to 45 2L milk containers..just over a full 50L fish bin. All trev/ mullet/ KY frames heads, thickened up with 1/2 bag chicken pellets. Dedicated freezer for burly, bait and old frames. Bags come out to semi thaw the after noon before. 2L milk containers , neck opening cut off helps faster filling, and pack well in the freezer. Also can cut just one side off for the buley pot , or whole container depending on water temps and how fast want to use up Tried a mincer..doesnt handle whole mullet and KY heads.. My filleting bench came with a waste disposal unit.. the fins tails and large scales jammed that up quick. I do chop tails off and put a couple slices thru heads with a cleaver before storing in freezer. The V blade in the bottom of the mulcher (mentioned in a previous post) chops the heads faster. Tails dont go thru the burly nets as well meaning more fiddle clean up on the boat. Note the setup is on slopping hard concrete surface, with large tarp/ plastic with boards to catch water at bottom . Makes clean up wash down easy    |
Posted By: cosmo
Date Posted: 09 Jul 2019 at 6:43pm
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brilliant thread cheers for the refresh guys,something to think about over winter and laid up for 6 weeks ------------- i just want to go fishing..........amd ignore all my adult problems |
Posted By: lizid
Date Posted: 10 Jul 2019 at 7:49pm
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If you are in or near Blenheim there is a good suitable mulcher for about $130. In Christchurch a new ex display model for $285 (normally over $400). With north Island shipping only $30 this is not a bad deal. No deals in the North Island (apart from new Tooline units for over $400) that I can find. I was looking for a mate who lives too far from my setup. Will continue to keep peepers peeled.If I could get the shipping for $30 (I cannot) I would have grabbed that Blenheim one for my pal. PBT $30 for account customer, $112 for a cashy - effin ridiculous. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 11 Jul 2019 at 8:54am
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I should meantion.. Dont expect just to hose down the mulcher put away... Maybe couple sets blades edges re built on the welder and resharpened on. and seals around shaft a little on the worn side.. The 1st mulch up washed well..and surprisingly very little water with a LPG nozzle on the end of the hose .. Come to next batch near yr later and shaft was seezed. took longer to unseeze than to do the batch. Now I wash down, then flush, soak around the main seal with CRC type product. Check every couple days when walking past , give a turn and spray. Then sorted for the next yr. Each batch is a good $400/500 worth for 2 1/2 hrs 'work' tax free. We have also noticed, espec since fishing west coast now, the Trev, mullet, KY frames mix doesnt , or has not brought in the sharks as the other commercial burleys do. Time yet will tell on that . |
Posted By: lizid
Date Posted: 11 Jul 2019 at 4:22pm
| Never had a seizure but mine did stiffen up - cured with liberal application of INOX which I have in bulk for my reels. Also give it a regular spin on passing. Will try a sharpen soon but as only put thawed product thru (not frozen) it still seems ok. Last run produced just under 200kg of 5kg bombs. About 70kg of bonito, 40 kg of minced hoki heads (from a previous exercise), 20kg of old freezer burnt pillies and the rest being kahawai (half of them whole) and tarakihi (minus the fillets). Took 2 days to thaw everything out, half a day to munch it into 20l buckets, another couple of hours to mince the result and then stir/mix it (2 batches cos of mixing drum size). Finally into the pots and into freezers (2 x 700l, 1 500l and another smaller one just used to help with bomb freezing). A bit of a re-org and I may be able to turn off all but the 2 700s. A major mission but then it will be a while before a repeat though there is already 2 full 20l buckets of frames etc. Note that snapper not used - been told it works but management policy decision against and anyway a solo dad down the road greatly appreciates their heads and frames - guts into garden. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 9:45am
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The 2nd batch I ever did I let thaw near on right out.. but still very chilled. The heads did get mulched easier, but when come to use , it was rather smelly, and didnt seem to work as well. In the pic above, thats put out the afternoon before, that makes about 1 1/2 50L fish bin. So when set up, it is still semi frozen, but breaks up into individual heads etc quite easy.. the odd chop with the machete here and there. another couple of hours to mince the result Why mince it?.. its already a pretty mushy mess, easy to pack (hard part is the bloody cold hands another reason I dont do bigger batches than that) As I use up the burely.. more room in the freezer.. the bags of frames, etc slowly increase in volume till freezer near full again and access to the last 5to 10 burleys gets harder. The bags are frozen, formed to the shape of the freezer and each other.. there is a point where you know if you unpack to get the rest of the burly out, the bags will not pack down well and run out of room... When this happens you can guarantee due to Murphys law, it will not be a good time to happen 20L containers.. I used them 1st time, what a mission to stir the chicken pallets in..and simply to mix everything in even..and do so without spilling or tipping the 20L over... Hence why went to fish bins Curious about the 2nd mince? |
Posted By: lizid
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 12:32pm
| Smelly? Never - If the result looks and smells almost good enough to make patties for humans then it is good enough. Always fresh raw into freezer. That is why it is ok to stick my arm into mixing drum (almost to armpit) full to stir - except very very cold. Has to be stirred cos otherwise would have to dick around when processing - some of this, then some of that, then some of the other etc etc. Mincing (no gay puns please) because I only want to attract the fish not feed them. If I want lumps I will have supply to hand throw. Seeing snaps, trevs & kingis come right up the trail and take scattered bigger pieces til one has a hook in it - great fun. Getting past rat kingis to the trevs can be a problem at times. I use pots so that there is air around each then they freeze down in just a day or two. If bombs are jammed together they can take weeks to freeze. I use tall 20l buckets to store bits in because efficient space usage. They also get used to temporarily hold the output from the mulcher before mincing into the mixing drum. Before the 5l pots (molds) I used bread bags (strong and waterproof) and an inverted road cone (point cut off) as a funnel. That works well - the cones are slippy inside so not much clings but the bombs stacked together take forever to freeze. Now I use a scoop to fill the pots. Pot dipped in bucket of warm water allows bomb to slip out - just do half dozen at a time so always some ready to go. I am in process of moving all to new computer so all my pics are on the old one. Will post some in a day or two. Steps I know you have a Commander. I looked long and hard at a couple myself before stumbling over the Morgan. You will be interested to see what I have done to it (lid, extension etc etc). Peter Morgan himself came for a run with me out past the Mayor a few weeks ago - impressed I believe, going on an article he wrote. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 5:17pm
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Its little bits that fully explain.. I did find when freezing the 2L milk containers 1st time.. the bottom layer in the freezer jambed up badly When water/ burly freezes it increases in size.. Since then the bottom layer of the freezer has a row missing. Steps I know you have a Commander. I looked long and hard at a couple myself before stumbling over the Morgan. You will be interested to see what I have done to it (lid, extension etc etc). Peter Morgan himself came for a run with me out past the Mayor a few weeks ago - impressed I believe, going on an article he wrote. Funny that , we looked at a Morgan before buying the Commander....bloody solid built boats, and rather heavy. Reason we passed it over was the tow weight behind the old Bighorn. Found the Commander 5 or 6 months later. Yeah would be interested to see.. Always looking for new ideas and stuff...even the little stuff. placing of a rod holder by marking the spot that works exactly right for you when out on the water type of thing We are digressing from a rather good subjected thread here thu. |