Catching Crabs for Bait

Member Joined: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 51

Hi all,

When me and the pals go fishing we tend to go to one place in the morning then move on for the afternoon then fish into the night.

I have been toying with the idea of buying a cheap crab trap of ebay and putting it out for the morning, then bringing it in when we move on to the next spot for the afternoon and using the (hopefully caught) crabs for bait for the afternoon session.

Does anyone do this, are the crab traps any good?

Any thoughts / experiences would be much appreciated.

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:22 pm

hi,
i have had the same sort of idea but targeting bigger crab to eat!!! i am wanting to place nets out as taking boat out and collecting on the way home.

e bay are selling the lighter crab/lobster nets, they may be well up to the job but i cant help thinking that crabs with there powerfull snips may make mince meat out of these nets...... but they are advertised for these creatures

please someone advise

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:19 pm

petersclan wrote:

hi,
i have had the same sort of idea but targeting bigger crab to eat!!! i am wanting to place nets out as taking boat out and collecting on the way home.

e bay are selling the lighter crab/lobster nets, they may be well up to the job but i cant help thinking that crabs with there powerfull snips may make mince meat out of these nets...... but they are advertised for these creatures

please someone advise

I've bought 2 of those lobster/crab nets from Ebay so far.
I can't really give an in-depth review of them as the longest I've left one out is 2-3 hours due to tying them on rocks around here to be very risky. Currently by using these traps I have caught:
Rock Cook
Dogfish
Tub Gurnard
Rockling
Loads of Spider Crab (some very big ones! Unfortunately it's difficult to get a decent amount of meat from them)
1 Velvet Crab (very small, perhaps 5 inches at most).

That's all from the same fishing spot. They're certainly a good addition if you bring someone fishing that usually only watches. Gets quite exiting when you begin to pull the rope up and it weighs like a ton of bricks happy

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:27 pm

sounds as if worth a try, there is a offer on e bay at mo, 3 for 18 quid, was thinking of putting bouy and rope on them and dropping them 200m from the shore with mackerel heads as bait

i know that spider crabs do not have too much on them but still nice to eat

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:18 am

petersclan wrote:

sounds as if worth a try, there is a offer on e bay at mo, 3 for 18 quid, was thinking of putting bouy and rope on them and dropping them 200m from the shore with mackerel heads as bait

i know that spider crabs do not have too much on them but still nice to eat

Yeah you should give it a go, always worth a try of your luck.
The place I got mine from do them £5 each, 100m rope £10 from here:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Tackle-Traders_Home-Smokers-Woodchips-Nets_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ9QQftidZ2QQtZkm
I've ordered roughly 6 items from this guy (Between 2 orders), both arrived quickly, good packaging and also quick responses.

You should take a look at the pot page, has many statements from people about their catch. In 14 days some guy caught over 30 lobsters, someone else got an octopus and another 30 velvet crab. These aren't all the responses but just a few I glanced over happy

Anyway, not sure if you're interested but here's what I used for the fish:
Dogfish - Mackerel heads and tails.
Tub Gurnard/Wrasse - Tin foil (Chewing gum wrapper)
Small Cod (Could have been poor cod) - Tin foil (Chewing gum wrapper)
Rock Cook - Tin foil (Chewing gum wrapper)
Spider Crab - Whole Mackerel with plenty of punctures for large spiders.
Rockling - Tin foil (Chewing gum wrapper)
Velvet Crab - Mackerel head, was only a small one so a whole Mackerel, I guess would fecth you a nice sized one happy

Well, hope this helps!
(Be sure to post your catch, always interesting to see what others get happy

)

Member Joined: Dec 07, 2006 Posts: 66 Location: West Wight

I have used these pots for a few years and have had good succes catching prawns mainly. spiders, dogfish, rockling, velvets etc also get in there.

Depending on where you fish I would be wary of deep water and strong tides. I fish in the solent and use proper commercial pots from my boat in 5 Mtr of water for crab and lobster. One of these small pots would be crushed or roll away on the tide.

The small pot I usually go to the low water mark on a spring tides which is approx 6pm, bait the pot with any left over bait. fix in amongst the rocks and return 6am the next morning on the following low tide.

GREAT FUN big grin

Member Joined: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 51

Thanks for yor feedback guys,

I've bought one from ebay for a fiver including delivery.

The plan is to get some strong line and basically lower it onto the sea bed from the pier / rocks, leave it down for the mornings fishing then hopefully use the catch for bait in the afternoon.

Ill let you know how i get on.

Regular Joined: Jun 30, 2007 Posts: 250

i drop these things in esturies for peeler crabs takes a while to sift through them to get the good ones. they also kick ass for prawns. just drop a mackerel head in it and away you go! the best way to catch crabs is leave it for a tide worried

i know it sounds weird but it works big grin

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:52 pm

Nemesis_SLR wrote:

i drop these things in esturies for peeler crabs takes a while to sift through them to get the good ones. they also kick ass for prawns. just drop a mackerel head in it and away you go! the best way to catch crabs is leave it for a tide worried

i know it sounds weird but it works big grin

Sorry to ask but which bait do you use to attract peeler crabs?
Around here all I get is big spider crab and they end up going back to sea as I can't get enough meat from them. Or are peeler crabs found mainly at estuaries?