crabs or no crabs

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 11:10 am

hey all, this might sound a dumb question but here goes,

I have heard crab is agreat bait, now the question will any crab do lol, I went fishing for a few hours off blythe northumberland caught a few undersized fish (whiting I believe) and put them back in to fight another day.

But got a couple of crabs clinging onto the rag, can any crab be used for bait and it so how do you need to kill the crab if so whats best way to get to its fleshy bits.

Also do mackeral go for rag or do you need to use feathers etc etc for those, as its effectively free bait and not bad on a bbq.

Cheers in advance and sorry for all the questions

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 11:51 am

i was under the impression you had to use peeler crabs, as well as being easier to de shell, the internal organse are juicer and softer as the crab bloats itself with water in order to force its old shell off ( or so ive been told), and generaly when ive seen peeler being killed its just with a pair of scissors, ie when its being prepared for the hook

would also be interested to find out if their is a way to use normal crab as bait but im under the impression you cant or its impractical...

as for mackerel they will go for antyhing just about, i always use a float tho when using bait for mackerel..

tight lines
scoob

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:06 pm

cheers for that,

I thought it was only peeler but thought I would double check and am hoping to target some mackeral as the lad desperately wants to catch a fish big enough to eat lol,

might try low lights next as blythe seems abit slow off the harbour.

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:39 pm

i think you can use whole hardback crabs to target certain species such as wrasse.
ive also caught a bass a couple of weeks ago and when i gutted and cleaned it i found 3 whole hardback shore crabs about the size of a 10p coin in its stomach.
as for mackerel (if your lucky enough to find any), they will go for just about anything. not sure about crab though. in my experience its usually anything shiny.
good luck and tight lines

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:19 pm

as for macky get yourself on blyth pier just before dawn, about the only thing blyth pier is gd for these days...

phatboy are small hardback crab gd for anything else apart from wrasse, ive got a crab trap, never rly use it tho,

scoob

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:39 pm

Hiya Benbo, the Crabs that you are picking up on your bait aren't really any good as bait unless you are fishing for wrasse ie if you look at a Wrasse's mouth they have small "grinding" teeth suitable for chomping down on hard backed Crabs, Mackeral are 95% visual hunters and so any shiney objects are suitable..........feathers, lurex, spinners, plugs , wedges etc, even bare hooks on the retrieve wil catch the little buggers !!!!,float systems are fine also use thin shiney Macky strips as bait.

JOLI

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:26 pm

not sure about using crabs for anything else.
i know that wrasse are very territorial and will eat anything which invades their "space" including small float fished/paternostered crabs.
as i said ive found that bass do eat whole crabs so maybe either mounting 1 on a runnung leger or the bottom hook on a flapper rig (so its close to the sea bed) may land you a bass confused

nxt time im out ill try 1 on my flapper and see what happens

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 5:38 pm

cheers guys,

just had a walk along the blyth harbour, and they were catching tiny things might have to try the pier and low lights

though some of the guys had beads on the rigs are the beads there to try and attract mackeral or am I just being dumb he he he and theres some other reason for them.

Sorry am really working you guys at the moment, but thanks to everyone for putting up with my silly newbie questions lol.

It would be great though to have some forum stickers so when your fishing you might come across people with a forum sticker on

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:15 pm

beads do attract fish or certain types of fish, yellow beads i read are suppose to be good for whiting, not sure how true this is,

i do find that beads work rly well for flatties, i read green,red and black beads are gd for flatties, but tbh i just throw any bright coloured ones i have on my rigs when fishing for flatties.

again im not the best person to reply so have a search on google for flattie rigs or bead rigs,

heres an example article
http://www.fishing-blog.co.uk/beach-casting/flounder-rig-and-beads-and-sequins/

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:12 pm

flourscent beads simulate sealife that float in the water and when they get disturbed like when fish are in a feeding frenzy so fish are lured to them other colours mixed look like the spots on the backs of flatties or plaice thats why you use them on flattie rigs

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 8:42 pm

Peeler Crab, Hardback Crab and Hermet Crab can all be used to catch fish again what you are targeting will depend on what you use.

For example if you are after Smuts/Rays then it has to be Peeler/Hermet.

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:01 pm

SniperOne wrote:

Peeler Crab, Hardback Crab and Hermet Crab can all be used to catch fish again what you are targeting will depend on what you use.

For example if you are after Smuts/Rays then it has to be Peeler/Hermet.

cool well am going out tomorrow sunday morning as tides on its way out as cant get out any later due to going to the in laws he he he set up a rig with two hooks one going to load with the left over rag from friday and going to add some home made foil to the other hook and see what we can get, might look at mackeral as dont seem to bve much cod about at min at blythe spoke to a few lads on harbour today

I guess might invest in some peeler at some point as it seems to be a good cross species bait.

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:26 pm

in summer i never use mackeral as it puts a smell in the water and every crab for miles comes into your swim i use it in winter when the crabs have gone into deep water buts thats wat i believe

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:38 pm

SniperOne wrote:

Peeler Crab, Hardback Crab and Hermet Crab can all be used to catch fish again what you are targeting will depend on what you use.

For example if you are after Smuts/Rays then it has to be Peeler/Hermet.

Hard back crabs are outfishing peeler / hermit at some south coast venues for the hounds , get some the size of a 50p and put the hook through the back leg socket and lacky the crab on , now the spiders are peeling get yourself some of these there deadly this time of the year for most species winking

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:41 pm

Hard back crabs are outfishing peeler / hermit at some south coast venues for the hounds , get some the size of a 50p and put the hook through the back leg socket and lacky the crab on , now the spiders are peeling get yourself some of these there deadly this time of the year for most species winking

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I assume hook them alive complete with shell, or is it better to de-shell them so to speak.