teach me how to fish with cracked crab
 

like the title says, I need some edumacation on this.

I have tried using it several times with using half of a 3" crab point to point Carolina rigged or just put on a jig head but every time I check my bait, the crab comes up looking like its been vacuum cleaned sucked out empty shell even after only a few minutes in the water and I never get a bite or even a nibble that I can detect so I would assume it must be those little tiny minnows cleaning it out like pirana.

people claim this is a great bait so I must be doing something wrong here.

please proceed to edumacate me :help:

I'm curious on this also

This may be a dumb question but are the crabs live? This is pretty much all we fish with for redfish in dularge for redfish. We fish them Carolina rigged on bottom with kahle hooks and do quite well. Maybe if they've been dead for a while the meat falls off?

It helps to leave the top shell on or even fish 'em whole when they are getting picked clean quickly.

no, the crabs are dead but kept on ice and fresh.

I remove the top shell and break them in half, then use one half as one bait and save the other half to rebait with. this is how I saw it done on TV so that's the way I have been trying it but as mentioned the meat is gone before a fish can come along to eat it.

I never tried using an intact crab :confused: if I need to use the whole crab then what size crab is best? 1", 2", 3" ? I assume there is a size that is considered too big or not optimal.

also do you leave the claws and legs on or trim them off? I have been leaving the legs on but I remove the claws and as mentioned remove the shell and break into two halfs or even quartered if its a bigger crab

The only thing we do different from u is we trim the legs off with scissors. I wish I could be more help but it sounds like were fishing the same way

If the crab will fit into the mouth of the redfish you are targeting, they will eat it.

We target bull reds. Whole market crabs work.

well the majority of what we catch is cookie cutter 24" reds and they only seam to want 25-30 count shrimp and im tired of buying $6 lbs shrimp for bait so im looking for mullet source in my area or making the crabs work.

we fish lake ponchartrain and there are MASSIVE schools of glass minnows forming solid clouds at times from the surface to the bottom yet when I catch croakers or minnows the fish let them die on the hook untouched so for whatever reason they aren't feeding on minnows (go figure lol) but these minnows or small croakers must be what are cleaning the crabs shells out as fast as they hit the bottom but even in golden meadow when I tried crab I found the meat was gone way too quickly.

also what do you do with the claws? are they good bait by themselves? I have just been smashing them and tossing them in the area for chum

If I am using crab for bait, I will cut the whole crab in half. I put the point of the hook in next to one of the legs and then force the tip of the hook to poke through the shell on the bottom of the crab.

Depend on how much bait I have, I will cut the bigger crabs in to 4 pieces to stretch the bait.

Some times just the claws is all that is needed for bait.

Generally I have better success with cut crabs vs. live crabs. For a smaller size live crab I will use pliers to break off the "Pinchers" and then hook them the same as a cut crab.

When you feel a fish hitting the bait.......wait.....let the fish start to swim off or give it 3 to 5 seconds before starting to reel in. I never yank back on the rod to "set the hook".

There is always lots of bait in the Big Lake area, so all that is needed is a cast net or a drop line to catch a few crabs.

As Gerald said, you can cut a bigger crab into quarters.

We've caught plenty of bull reds on claws, but the main body as whole, halves, or quarters is more effective when the little fish don't chew it up.

Claws are hard to get on the hook. We use a screwdriver to poke holes in the shell before trying to put a hook through it. It's easier if the holes don't line up perfectly. We usually save the claws until we run out of the bodies. Later in the day if we think we won't run out of crab bodies, we crush the claws and throw then in as chum.

If I know what bait fish are biting on, I bite the bullet and pay. Finding a cheaper substitute bait to one that is working has always led to slower fishing. I pay the money and I'm happy to be putting the kids on fish.

Use small whole crabs so meat doesn't get eaten by crabs and you won't catch catfish. Break off points and legs and claws. Insert circle hook in one leg hole and out the other on a Carolina rig.

thanks guys, I run a crab trotline to catch crabs so there is no shortage of free small crabs, just knowing the best size and way to fish them is not as easy as it looks.

glad to know live crabs don't work as well so I don't bother trying to keep live ones

I have tried crab a few times in my life but each time seamed to be a wasted effort just to feed the minnows rather then catch anything so I think im done trying the cracked crab and im going to try whole crab from now on.

hadn't thought about the armored shells of the claws so they will stay being just chum for now but cant you hook them through the knuckle joint rather then the shell, that should be fine to hold the bait for casting without coming loose shouldn't it?

also how fast is the bite with crab? what I mean by that is I know it all depends on the fish but on average how long does it take to get bites on crab vs meat baits?

the fishing we do is give things about 10-15 minutes then move if nothing bites so is this pattern suitable for fishing crabs or is is more of a chum style fishing where you pick a spot and stay there and wait it out until the fish come to you?

Generally when fishing crack crabs or cut bait, I will throw it out and let it sit on the bottom. If nothing hits it in say 3 minutes, I raise the rod tip up to move the bait a few feet. I repeat this until I figure out what works best.

Usually if I don't catch anything in say 10 cast...... I move to a different spot and look for moving water and bait fish in the area.

Cut up [or live] Lady Fish is good bait to use..... often good to catch Trout.

This....

Make sure the circle hook is sufficient size.. (at least 9/0 +)

make sure a large amount of the hook is showing.

Slow down, the only rule is that u must start with a fresh crab. Remove the top shell from a live crab and throw the shell in the water. Break the crab in half and that's your bait, or don't break it in half if your at GI.

I just got a report from some boys over at Digital Machining Systems, they tore up the reds after work today on the Berkley Gulp cracked crab, purple and chartreuse.


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What were you using before you started your crab quest and did it work? If it worked stay with it. Aint broke dont fix it. I fish the beach with mullet for reds and do well. Others swear by crab for reds. Put something out there you have confidence in.

$6 a pound 25-30 count shrimp is all the reds wanted.

you go out there with 40-50's and all you catch is puppy drum. I know it sounds strange and hard to believe but I did it with another guy and after 3 trips in a row with him catching 6 or 7 big reds and all I caught were 10-12" drum and hardheads each time so 3 times with the same results each time and I had to admit there was something to the saying "big bait big fish"

I just cant stand buying big frying shrimp to use for bait so I figured I had plenty of crabs for free so I wanted to make that work if I could. I do plan to buy some mullet for cut bait next time im down in golden meadow but here in laplace there is no source to buy that.