Sand crab bait

[Scott Ashe]

Hi,

Would anyone know in any seafood shops in the Cleveland, Capalaba or Victoria Point area than would allow you to buy frames etc for crab bait. I'm looking to try something other than mullet, to perhaps increase my catch.

Thanks
Scott

[Horse]

I would stick with the mullet. Try crabbing deeper water etc

[Keechie]

hi recently off scarborough we only had pilchards and 10 pots between 3 boats so we used 6 pillies in each pot and we ended up with about 20 legal sand crabs. also seen crabs in pots with flathead carcasses.

regards,
keechie

[Leighton]

chook frames from Coles

[robersl]

try the seafood place on old cleveland rd new the boat yards ask if they have any winter whiting whole make great sand crab bait out crabs mullet 3 to 1 imo

shane

[trueblue]

Stick a can of cat food into your bait bag to help attract them - just pick something fishy and punch lots of holes into the can to let the stuff ooze out

[tiny_tinny]

Chicken wings also work OK, add a splash of tuna oil - sand crabs like their chicken marinated.

[trueblue]

Next time out I am going to try using old yakkas and slimies that were jigged as livies and not used. They bleed lots and are oily so can't see they they wouldn't work as crab bait.

Cheers

[kingtin]

Scott, this is from an old post of mine. Since publicising these keepers we now use nothing else. Anything can go in 'em and will remain there as the crabs can't get at the bait. We stuff ours with old freezer burned pillies. Some of 'em are as dry and as stiff as..............but they still catch. I think the fact that what we use is freezer burned means that they leak their juices more slowly. We have 5 day trips down the Pin and find no need for rebaiting but we do top up if ther's room........they're still catching on the last day


Patent Pending.

This is the keeper that my mate and I have trialled with considerable success. We now use it in all our pots and our take home is substantially improved whilst the bait supplied has decreased.

150mm of 90mm pipe with holes (10 bit) drilled approx every 35 mm. caps drilled at 12,3,6,and 9 o'clock with 600mm of cord knotted at ends to prevent loss of caps and facilitate tying of keeper to bottom of pot. Doesn't matter which hole you thread the cord through on the caps as the caps can be twisted to ensure that the cord is always lying along the bottom of the keeper thereby ensuring that the keeper is always held hard on the bottom of the pot.

Trust me..........these do catch more crabs. Last camping trip at Pin we were still catching on mullet that had been in the keeper for 3 days. One keeper that simply had a tuna oil soaked sponge even caught.

Pros:

Bait remains in keeper as crabs and pickers can't get at it.

Bait life extended as oily fish isn't washed out as quickly due to less flow on the bait.

If pot settles on obstruction, crab can't feed through pot from underneath.

Small soft scraps such as left over pilliescan be used whereas in conventional keeper they get washed out or picked at

Crabs fail to feed and continue to try, whereas once they've had their fill from conventional keeper, they start looking for a way out.

Keeper stays hard on bottom of pot ensuring crabs have to enter pot to get at it.

Do not degrade or get damaged by those bloody Jennies.

Can double as burley pot

Cons:

Bulky

More expensive

[Blackened]

G'day

Aussie Seafood House

old cleveland road, between motorama bayside marine and leisure

Dave

[Flattie Assassin]

Nice looking rig Kingtin, I just use chicken frames. Always seem to clean up on the sandies with them.

[stevos]

Try and get your hands on some tuna heads and backbones (or steaks of mack tuna if possible). My ultimate bait, and due to its size will stink up before it all gets eaten.

[bondy99]

Hi peoples,

I've been reading the posts to this topic, and yes, they all work well. The keeper is interesting concept it would allow fish bait to intact longer so the crab stays a bit longer whereas the bait without protection seems to get mauled by crabs and fish. Peter