crab trapping

[mike 01302]

anyone got any idea on the best technique for trapping crabs i have a couple of crayfish traps but am a bit worried that they will just get shredded and what is the best bait to use ?? cheers

[hanzo]

Aloha Mike. I've only used a net for crabs. Crab nets work great. And anything foul, stinky or oily will make good bait. I have used fried chicken bones successfully in prawn traps. For crabs, they should work too. So do fish you don't plan to eat. Use the guts and all. A small mesh bag is a handy thing to have. It can keep all the chum in one place...in the middle of your net.

[trixx]

Your crayfish traps would be OK for light use, if the entrance eyes are big enough for a decent size crab. Use some sort of fresh fish bait for best effect.

It's not difficult to make up a couple of crab pots, and that might be your best bet if you intend to use them regularly.

[Bushwhacker]

Where do you intend to trap them from? Shoreline or boat?

[mike 01302]

this is where the conflicting info comes in hanzo is in the ripe bait camp whilst trixx is in the fresh bait camp i will be using them from the shore just north of bridlington is sandy or rocky areas best ?? all ideas and advice is really appriciated guys cheers

[Bushwhacker]

I'm assuming that you've got the collapsible cray traps so I reckon they'd be put to better use by going for prawns instead. It's not likely you'll get any decent crab from the shore.

[trixx]

For crabs, rocky ground, the deeper the better if you are fishing from the shore.

Don't get too hung up on the bait issue, just about anything will work, but crabs definitely seem to prefer a fresh bait - lobsters, on the other hand, prefer it smelly. That's based upon me running a few hundred creels commercially...

[nuggets]

what type of crab are you after ?? i used a tin of tesco mackeral in tomato sauce as bait once in a crayfish trap on loch fyne - caught about a hundred dogger crabs over night !!!!! :-(

[Magicman2]

I have always been told that smelly foul almost decomposing meat/fish is best for crabs as they are the sea's scavengers but if the man who commercially fishes for them says fresh then I would be inclined to go along with this! Also don't restrict yourself the traps are ideal for catching eels which I am told are superb if smoked - why not give it a go

[Andy T]

i used to fish for crabs and lobsters for a living and i have to agree fresh for crabs the older and smellier for lobster

[Cledan99]

After buying my kids some drop nets for crabbing (you don't really believe that do you!) I found a much bigger stamp of crab could be caught off the pier, by targeting the deeper water on the far side, I had to add weight to combat the current, but in no time had a few close to eating size, I find a rising tide helps too, and use bacon as bait, caught some lovely looking shrimps too, I's rather eat them I think, but two is not much of a feast lol (the shrimps were in very very shallow water right at the edge of the harbour wall)

Oh and watch out for any weaver fish, any fish in the net you can't 100% recognise chuck back without touching