crabs

[bulldogs195461]

while chasing bream from a pontoon today in the coomera river,i was using chicken which ive used successfully at this spot before.the tide was out and i kept losing my bait on every throw to what i was told would be crabs,i coudnt believe it.if this starts happening,could i perhaps change bait?,and if theres so many crabs would or could there still be bream around or are they out-muscled,so to speak.
regards john

[Jurkyjj]

John,
Strange choice of bait!
I have used whole chooks for mud crab bait before(feathers and all) but, never in my time for bream. Interesting.
Quite possibly the crabs were taking the bait.
Did you get any bites, or was the bait gone when you brought the line in???

I would say maybe the call of crabs might be right.
Maybe try a different bait. Prawns or squid or something like that if you are limited for other bait types.
Have you tried anything else before???

Jason

[breakthelines]

Maybe not crabs but toad fish?

[bulldogs195461]

good point ,could be as a newbie not sure.just going on others comments there,been there before and not had this problem.didnt think of toad fish.

[Reel Nauti]

Drop a dilly in while you're fishing if you think they might be crabs.

Dave

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

I've never known a crab to take your bait without you knowing he/she is on the other end pulling. Sometimes it feels like you have a small snag, or a slight heavy sensation on the line. They grab your bait and hold on, so if you didn't feel any of that I doubt they were crabs..........................but if they were small fish or toads, you would also feel small bites.
Do you have any more info for us to work with?
Johnny

[bulldogs195461]

g day johnny,yes there was some seemingly big bites,enough to send my heart fluttering,.while fishing there once before a crab came after my bait.i actually seen it.they were biggish bites mate.
regards john

[Tailortaker]

John,
Strange choice of bait!
I have used whole chooks for mud crab bait before(feathers and all) but, never in my time for bream. Interesting.
Quite possibly the crabs were taking the bait.
Did you get any bites, or was the bait gone when you brought the line in???

I would say maybe the call of crabs might be right.
Maybe try a different bait. Prawns or squid or something like that if you are limited for other bait types.
Have you tried anything else before???

Jason
A lot of old guys around Bribie swear by chicken meat for bream bait. Havent tried it personally but have seen the results.

[oldboot]

Oh yes fresh chicken flesh is a favoured bream bait among some........ & roasted chicken is my most sucessfull bait for crabs so far.

Ya never know it might be crabs... thay gota be somewhere & they gota eat.

If they bother you too much try a single hook patenosta rig with about a foot or more of line on the sinker dropper.

cheers

[Jurkyjj]

WOW!!
I have never heard of this for bait before.
By no means do I proclaim to know everything, but, chicken flesh.....never heard of this EVER!!
I can see that it would be hard for the fish to pull off the hook, and it would be a flesh that would swell slightly in the water.
Might have to give it a try!!!

Thanks, Jason.

[ssab1]

WOW!!
I have never heard of this for bait before.
By no means do I proclaim to know everything, but, chicken flesh.....never heard of this EVER!!
I can see that it would be hard for the fish to pull off the hook, and it would be a flesh that would swell slightly in the water.
Might have to give it a try!!!

Thanks, Jason.
chicken gut has been a prime bream bait for at least 30years, I personally dont use it anymore since it has been treated and frozen for sale, but still use flesh with good results especially for the larger bream,try it cheers alex

[Reel Nauti]

Thin slices of beef liver work wonders too for bream. Try it, you won't be disappointed, and it's cheap.

Dave

[Jurkyjj]

chicken gut has been a prime bream bait for at least 30years, cheers alex

Alex,

I fully understand that chicken gut is a prime bait of choice, i have and regularly use it. BUT, what he said was that he was using chicken flesh!!! That is what I found amazing. Sorry if there was any confusion.....

Cheers, Jason.

[Moonlighter]

Hi guys

Chicken meat is pretty well known as a bream bait in the southern end of the bays. I found out this some years ago because a mate of mine lives on the Bay islands and was watching the pro crabbers, many of whom use chicken frames, necks, feet etc for crab bait.

His theory, since proven by experience to be true, is that the bream have learnt that when a boat zooms in, (ie the crabbers), shortly after that the remains of the old bait are ditched overboard as the crabber rebaits with fresh chook and the crafty bream shoot in and get a free feed og the old bits and pieces!

So a tactic he used was/is to zoom into near the bank not far from a crab pot float (nothing stealthy in the approach either!), wait 20 secs then flick out into the shallows some very lightly weighted strips of chicken breast with maybe a few chook pellets to get them interested, and in no-time flat the bream are all over it!

Smart thinking, I reckon!

Cheers

ML