what to use as crab bait

[Mr Hardware]

69XWGT knows the score
source: i've been crabbing the pine since 1990

[martinijosh]

Neighbourhood cats work well as crab bait. That should also stop them scratching car paint. Win win.

[poppa smurf]

yep! I got the theory down pat .........now I just got to get the practical in order!

not sure if I should take a couple of little rods with me,.....might be risking fate if I have fish hooks around little fingers

whatdayareckon!!!

[Mickxr8]

Joolya

[redxm]

The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, the husband answered his door to find two grim-faced Policemen.

"We're sorry sir, but we have some information about your wife said one Officer.

"Tell me! Did you find her?" the husband shouted.

The Policemen looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?

"Fearing the worst, the husband said, "Give me the bad news first."

The Policeman said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in one of the the bays."

Oh my God!" exclaimed the husband. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What's the good news?"

The Copper continued, "When we pulled her up, she had 12 twenty-five pound snow crabs and 6 good-size lobsters clinging to her."

Stunned, the husband demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?"

The Copper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow."

[69XWGT]

Another good tip for Sand crabs.

If your using pots and are going to leave them out for a couple of days.

Leave the females in there.

Like most blokes. The males like a good feed and a bit of rumpy pumpy.
They know when a female is going to molt her shell. While her shell is still soft the boys can have their fun.
Happens around the time of the full moon

[FGX-351]

I like to use whole Mullet, i've used the chicken frames from time to time but i've found that the Mullet always seems to work better for me.

[vanman_75]

Catfish work well too , and mullet .not keen on chicken no success .when I finish renovating this house I will get the munyarners back in ...

[poppa smurf]

we will be using the round drop type net....littlies wouldn't wait more than 20 minutes without something happening

I remember another joke from old King Billy coke bottle about chasing mud crabs out of season

well this feller got pulled over and vehicle checked as he was leaving the flats....fisheries found a large mud crab in the boot

when asked about it he said that it was his pet and he took it swimming every morning and that it always came back

officer asked him to prove the crab would come back and was indeed his pet

when the crab was released it took off and did not come back

the fisheries officer stated he would be pinged for having mud crabs in his possession out of season

the fisher simply replied................"what mud crab"!!

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Mickxr8

Joolya

And/or any of the rest of her cronies.

[2011G6E]

It's quite sensible to use fish or fish based stuff as a bait.

Think about it...crabs are going to be attracted to stuff they know first, and stuff they might not recognise as food second. Cats, possums, dead chooks, lumps of meat...these aren't things that crabs are going to come across in their natural environment...they might have a look, but won't be attracted from a distance to come to it and feed.

Now stick a nice lump of dead fish in there, and they're hard wired to track that sort of tasty stuff down.

It's the same as a fisherman choosing carefully a lure to try and catch a particular type of fish. Use the appropriate bait and put a little thought into it and you'll get better results.

[69XWGT]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

It's quite sensible to use fish or fish based stuff as a bait.

Think about it...crabs are going to be attracted to stuff they know first, and stuff they might not recognise as food second. Cats, possums, dead chooks, lumps of meat...these aren't things that crabs are going to come across in their natural environment...they might have a look, but won't be attracted from a distance to come to it and feed.

Now stick a nice lump of dead fish in there, and they're hard wired to track that sort of tasty stuff down.

It's the same as a fisherman choosing carefully a lure to try and catch a particular type of fish. Use the appropriate bait and put a little thought into it and you'll get better results.

I'd nearly agree with that but my grandfather bless his soul would have thought differently.

He used bread and savaloy that he put through the mincer twice to mix it and soften it up more.
That was his bream bait
Many a time i would have prawns, mullet gut, flesh baits, worms, pillies. you name it we've used it.

Not once did i ever catch more bream than him.
Didn't work all that well in faster currents but it worked better than anything the bream would come in contact with every day of the week.

Sand crabs love fresh fish.
Mud crabs will eat anything dead that is washed into the creeks. Like kangaroos, the occasional cow, dead birds, rats. You get where i'm coming from.
Muddies love chicken. Pro crabber neighbour has been using it for over 40 years and won't use anything else.
He even nets mullet, but it won't go near his pots

[superpursuit83]

Wish I did not read this thread. Chicken pieces has been my choice of crab bait for years.

Illegal? Wonder what the penalty is for not knowing?

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by superpursuit83

Wish I did not read this thread. Chicken pieces has been my choice of crab bait for years.

Illegal? Wonder what the penalty is for not knowing?

got a bag of fish heads and went out this morning and came across an old feller, he reckons the fine is about $150

ignorance is no excuse apparently.......

terrific old bloke.....we talked for ages and he got on fantastically with the kids

ended up with a dozen large......threw a heap back, let a lot escape because the kiddies were frightened of the claws and a couple were "too cute to eat!"

or so madam 5 said

all in all a good morning.....kids taking a nap and I wont be far from them

[supershifty]

Real good to hear you got success Poppa, and that the littlies had a good time - the kids too!

Did you crab from a jetty or a tinnie? If you went from a jetty you did well to get a feed of that size! My local area wouldn't give up that catch from a jetty/pier.

I was listening to the local reports on radio 4BC this morning and they're talking up a storm of crabs after the floods here in Brisbane.

Thanks heaps to 69XWGT: I don't keep abreast of the fishing laws in QLD, didn't know suicide dillies/witches hat are illegal here now. I've never been challenged, but thanks mate!

Cheers!

[poppa smurf]

jetty....Dad takes the little fellers out in the boat (18' bow or surf runner or similar, cant remember) but i'm not agile enough

I'll take them out in mine when they get a bit bigger ...........had a bloke down from us that got a heap more than that.....some of his catch size was, well, suspicious

I reckon we caught, probably, 40 plus, but as i say, the youngsters decided what we kept

[noosacuda]

Our neighbours dog- PLEASE!!!!!!

[10Sharpy]

Any oily fish, Mullet Catfish are the go. The pro crabbers working out of Borroloola use these for making their living.

[Fev]

Any sort of crabbing to be had on the Hawkesbury River up near Cattai? - it's freshwater there iirc.

Wouldn't mind convincing dad to get some pots and dumping one out the back of my parents place next time I'm there and Mum can cook it haha. Would make for a brilliant dinner!

[mrghia]

Carp are meant to be good as well

[Falcman0o7]

Crab meat