Crabs for Mulloway Bait
Submitted by Hairyone on Sat, 2011-12-17 13:13
I usualy fish between Corronation Beach and Bowes river and quite often there are hundreds of crabs running all over the beach.
Last weekend we had caught a couple of Wobygongs a Tailor, a Herring, a Snook, a shovel nose ray and a heap of small Mulloway............
For something different a caught one of these crabs and baited it up with a strip of Mullet and chucked it in.........couple of minutes latter and "bang" .....a 90cm Mulloway.
Do other people use crabs as bait? Are they regarded as good bait or do you reckon it was just arse and he took it because of the mullet?
Cheers
ealzee
Posts: 611
Date Joined: 14/11/11
well with the strip of mullet
well with the strip of mullet on there it kinda defeats the purpose of putting crab on there too. i'd say the mullet did the trick
kill it??? eat it!!!!
JackoW
Posts: 151
Date Joined: 18/12/11
I reckon the mullas would go
I reckon the mullas would go a fresh ghost crab over a strip bait any day.
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
One of the best baits you can
One of the best baits you can use anywhere is what the fish may find locally. If the mullys were there feeding on crabs the crab may have done the trick not the mullet. Only way to tell would be to look in side its stomach and see what it was feeding on.
Cheers
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Hairyone
Posts: 246
Date Joined: 26/12/09
Yeah, thats what I
Yeah, thats what I figured.......mind you when I gutted him, his stomach was full of fish.........might have to have another go but this time just use crab.
ahosty
Posts: 3
Date Joined: 23/05/10
Crabs
Cuaght a 46 pounder at Busso jetty a few years back,had three small female crabs in it,a heap of yellowtail that people had been chucking back[had holes in there backs from live bait hooks,a small ocky and heaps of 50mm long mullet.They arent as fussy as many people think,just opportunistic feeders
JackoW
Posts: 151
Date Joined: 18/12/11
there called ghost crabs and
there called ghost crabs and they inhabit the entire west coasts beaches from perth upwards. you can dig up the holes on the beach to catch them coz they are rarely running around on the beach. I often do this and get a bag of 20-30 of them to take offshore. they are the best bait you can possibly use for any sea species including mulloway, red emporor, coral trout, bluebone, rankin cod and dhuies just to name afew.
ealzee
Posts: 611
Date Joined: 14/11/11
yeah true. the last time i
yeah true. the last time i went up to my hot spot they were running everywhere. Was thinking 'how would one of these go for bait'? So they are top bait are they??? These crabs were only about the size of your palms, smaller even and were white colour are these the ghost crabs your talking about?. So if used for bait.... how would you prepare it on the hook? i will try it next time i'm there
kill it??? eat it!!!!
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
The mullas around the murray
The mullas around the murray mouth in SA are full of sand crabs
Graeme76
Posts: 287
Date Joined: 03/10/11
It would make sense that any
It would make sense that any fish will feed on an available food source, especially one as abundant as crabs. Crabs are well known as top baits for big fish over east but they don't seem very popular ovr here for some reason. I'm guilty of not fihsing crabs very often over here to but it's something I'm going to make a point of doing much more often.
Ealzee, no preparation needed, just hold the pincers so you don't get nipped, slip the hook point into the socket where the pincer joins the body & out the socket where the back leg joins the body. That will hold the crab securely hiding most of the hook but leaving the point well exposed.
sea-kem
Posts: 15041
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Blue bone love crabs.As said
Blue bone love crabs.As said whatever is in the local food chain will usually work best. Well done btw.
Love the West!
ealzee
Posts: 611
Date Joined: 14/11/11
yeah right! I honestly cant
yeah right! I honestly cant remember ever using crab as bait in my life. But hey will defo give it a crack next time. Just with crabs as bait, i've always sorta thought the shell of the crab would get in the way of a solid hook up thats all. Its the same with prawns, i always have to peel them
kill it??? eat it!!!!
Graeme76
Posts: 287
Date Joined: 03/10/11
Shouldn't be a problem with
Shouldn't be a problem with either bait. I can't say I've ever caught anything on peeled prawns but have caught plenty on unpeeled. With the crabs it shouldn't be a problem so long as the hook poing is well exposed. Most fish that would consider eating a crab have powerfull jaws & would crush it in thier mouth before swallowing & that would/should expose the hook point even more. I remember I was always told to give a fish time to get the crab in it's mouth & crush it after the initial take before setting the hooks. I guess that would be to leave the hook even more exposed & give you a better chance of a hookup.