Collecting peeler crabs

[Had1]

yeah you hear people having them on all sorts of baits and people claim they only use squid etc but iv found fresh live peeler always out fishes other baits for hounds even frozen no where near as good.
sessions when they're not starving you really need good crab for them .

although for the first time in 10 ish years after the hounds i had a couple good ones last year on lugworm while fishing for bass lol

 

[Dutchman]

I wouldn't be without them this time of year fishing anywhere around Wales. Locally they are the only bait which some species will take, Not just shore cabs either, browns, swimmers and spiders, It is certainly worth putting the effort in to collect and fish them oer the next two months

Live sand eels round here for bass as well as crab, both deadly.

 

[Mr Fish]

yeah you hear people having them on all sorts of baits and people claim they only use squid etc but iv found fresh live peeler always out fishes other baits for hounds even frozen no where near as good.
sessions when they're not starving you really need good crab for them .

although for the first time in 10 ish years after the hounds i had a couple good ones last year on lugworm while fishing for bass lol

I do think bait can be quite area specific. I’ve had loads of hounds on frozen crab but also a fair few on squid.
No doubt fresh crab would be even better but I’ve never found I needed it.
They don’t seem to be too fussy here as far as crab quality goes, plus later in the season squid can work quite well too.
Live prawn is absolutely deadly if I’m in a position to catch some while I fish.

Interestingly, last year there was a real glut of starving hounds here and I heard a couple of reliable accounts of people catching them on mackerel. Now I would have said you could fish for a week with mackerel and not get a single hound, so just shows they must have been starving.
I know on the south coast people get quite a few on ragworm, but it’s a commonly used bait there, whereas we don’t use it as much here and indeed, it’s harder to come by.
So whether the hounds here don’t take rag as much or people just don’t use it much, I don’t know.

Tbh I don’t go particularly mad for hounds. Usually have a couple of trips to get them out of my system then lose interest.
Ironically, last year when they were coming in left and right, I had three trips and didn’t get one, lol.

 

[Had1]

I do think bait can be quite area specific. I’ve had loads of hounds on frozen crab but also a fair few on squid.
No doubt fresh crab would be even better but I’ve never found I needed it.
They don’t seem to be too fussy here as far as crab quality goes, plus later in the season squid can work quite well too.
Live prawn is absolutely deadly if I’m in a position to catch some while I fish.

Interestingly, last year there was a real glut of starving hounds here and I heard a couple of reliable accounts of people catching them on mackerel. Now I would have said you could fish for a week with mackerel and not get a single hound, so just shows they must have been starving.
I know on the south coast people get quite a few on ragworm, but it’s a commonly used bait there, whereas we don’t use it as much here and indeed, it’s harder to come by.
So whether the hounds here don’t take rag as much or people just don’t use it much, I don’t know.

Tbh I don’t go particularly mad for hounds. Usually have a couple of trips to get them out of my system then lose interest.
Ironically, last year when they were coming in left and right, I had three trips and didn’t get one, lol.

 

[Valleyboy]

Live sand eels round here for bass as well as crab, both deadly.

Yep, once we get to summer and the main crab moult has finished and the sandeels hae started shoaling they are in a class of their own for sheer numbers of fish as long as the weather is settled

 

[Action Man]

I gutted a bass and it had 3 hard green backs in its gut.

Tried a hard green back on hook and have caught bass.

I gutted a bass once and it had 23 small hardbacks in it. It’s stomach felt like it was carrying a brick!

 

[Redneck Dek]

This is either the lads checking their traps or they are after the orientals plundering the cockle beds.

 

[Valleyboy]

This is either the lads checking their traps or they are after the orientals plundering the cockle beds.
View attachment 8841

Minimum sizes apply to brown and swimming crab

 

[Tournamag]

They are not a magic bait but at some marks it will make the difference between fish or no fish.
Just depends on your local marks.
For example, we need them on early season hound marks otherwise you just won’t get a hound. Later in the season, squid works but earlier on they seem to be crab obsessed. I know why, because the moult is happening.

I have a couple of estuary marks that throw up codling but there are so many shore crab that any other bait is stripped in seconds, literally. Even peeler gets munched after a while, but it gives you a fighting chance lol.

They’re also a good wrasse bait, of course, although hardbacks work just as well.

But generally you don’t NEED them - you can usually find alternatives that will work almost as well.
Not every time, but that’s true of most baits, ie if you need live worm to catch flatties at a certain mark, sat there fishing squid and mackerel all day won’t get you very far.

Used to find with Mackerel on southend pier Normal feathers not much but tiny Sabikis often full house as there in tune to tiny fish.
Not unlike us Fancy an Indian Curry so going to walk past all the other shops.

 

[Tournamag]

I think you’re right. I’ve noticed fish will feed more readily on what they’re expecting to find naturally and of course that varies from area to area.
For example, I keep persisting with razor because I think on the right night it might be a good bass bait (they do occur on some local beaches) but I’m yet to get a bite on it.
Bluey however, the bass love it: I think I’ve had about 80% of my bass on big half bluey baits since I began using it.

But yes, take the early hound run out of the equation and there’s less than a handful of situations where I’d feel that I needed crab for a successful trip.

Down Kent way find with Lugworm some places certain worms work while others not like the Yellows from Seasalter.

 

[dsw]

Have a mate who wants to try and get dome peeler crab, neither of us have used them or tried finding them.

I have watched loads of videos on thd tube so I am aware of the back leg test but before I go pulling the back leg of every crab in the solway a wee bit of clarification.
when I lift a rock all of the crabs that are on their toes and scarper I am not interested in?
The ones I should be interested in are the ones that stay put or are buried in the sand under the rock as they are the ones likely to be stsrting to peel?
Is that on the right lines?

a crab is a crab to the fish and i just scoop up the lot when i turn the rocks over
apart from the red ones and have a couple of hundred in no time in the bucket,
and use a circle hook when fishing no elastic and had loads of fish every time
especially hounds and bass.

 

[CoarseanglerSteve]

Interesting thread, especially for me as a newbie.

I am eager to catch a smoothhound, and it appears they are starting to show locally, so I will soon be buying some peelers. Having read about keeping them, and watching You Tube, I am a bit unsure about storing them though. This thread highlights the benefit of fresh over frozen, and yet elsewhere I see people freezing crabs as they peel to ensure they don't harden up.

Startfish sea fishing on you Tube advocates freezing them when they start to peel, so maybe contradicts the fresh over frozen argument.

I won't be buying loads so hope i can keep them alive for a couple sessions (say 3 or 4 days max), so should I not need to worry about freezing any?

If I don't want to be reliant on peelers being available, I'd like to maybe buy some frozen crab and keep so I am ready to go at any time. Again, any disadvantages?

 

[Mr Fish]

Interesting thread, especially for me as a newbie.

I am eager to catch a smoothhound, and it appears they are starting to show locally, so I will soon be buying some peelers. Having read about keeping them, and watching You Tube, I am a bit unsure about storing them though. This thread highlights the benefit of fresh over frozen, and yet elsewhere I see people freezing crabs as they peel to ensure they don't harden up.

Startfish sea fishing on you Tube advocates freezing them when they start to peel, so maybe contradicts the fresh over frozen argument.

I won't be buying loads so hope i can keep them alive for a couple sessions (say 3 or 4 days max), so should I not need to worry about freezing any?

If I don't want to be reliant on peelers being available, I'd like to maybe buy some frozen crab and keep so I am ready to go at any time. Again, any disadvantages?

Although yes, fresh is better, personally I’ve found hounds aren’t very discerning and will go for anything that remotely smells like a crab when they’re on the feed.
People do catch them on hardbacks too.

Ref frozen peeler, as long as it’s of a reasonable quality, it will still catch plenty.
I have literally caught 3-4 hounds on the same bit of crab, when the bait ran out, so that shows you they’re not too fussy!

In terms of keeping the fresh ones, I’m no expert but in the short term you should be okay keeping them somewhere cool and covering with a bit of damp weed.
Maybe spray with a little seawater every day. I wouldn’t keep them IN seawater.
You can keep them in the fridge too, that will slow the peel.

However... it depends how far along they are. If they’re literally popping out of their shells ie you can see the shell lifting off at the back, imo they’d need to be either used that day or frozen, otherwise you’ll end up with a softie and then a crinklie, as the shell hardens.
Hounds will happily go for softies too, but there’s more juice and smell in an actual peeler.

What you tend to find with a lot of the shop bought fresh ones, is yes they’re peelers, but they may ideally need a day or two or three to ‘bring them on’.
Only way to really tell is to take a crab and if you can’t see any shell lifting, gently squeeze the crab or try and pick a bit of shell off the back, to see if it’s crunchy or comes away easily.
If it all seems rock solid, the crab probably needs a couple of days at least.
The pull a leg joint off trick will tell you they’re peelers but not necessarily how far along.

I normally just buy frozen (if I can be fairly sure it’s a decent supplier) as I know where I am with the state of the bait and don’t have to faff with several crabs in various states of peel.

Someone like @Valleyboy can probably better advise you on the care of fresh ones, as I must admit it’s not something I do too much of.

 

[Valleyboy]

I think Mr Fish has co\/ered the basics. Li\/e kept in the fridge should be co\/ered with weed or sacking and kept damp with seawater spray kept in the fridge. Do not let ant water build up in the bottom of the tray or they will drown unless you ha\/e a pump. Any dead crab should be remo\/ed as soon as possible. If you are keeping them in a shed garage, I would freeze any that got to the popping stage. Some people go to lots of trouble peelingery bit of shell off and remo\/ing the gills before freezing. I only do this with the larger cabs, the smaller ones I tend to freeze as they are because I'm lazy and hounds or many other species don't seen to care

 

[Mr Fish]

I think Mr Fish has co\/ered the basics. Li\/e kept in the fridge should be co\/ered with weed or sacking and kept damp with seawater spray kept in the fridge. Do not let ant water build up in the bottom of the tray or they will drown unless you ha\/e a pump. Any dead crab should be remo\/ed as soon as possible. If you are keeping them in a shed garage, I would freeze any that got to the popping stage. Some people go to lots of trouble peelingery bit of shell off and remo\/ing the gills before freezing. I only do this with the larger cabs, the smaller ones I tend to freeze as they are because I'm lazy and hounds or many other species don't seen to care

I’m similar. I must admit these days I’m not too particular about removing all the shell, even with the larger ones.
Used to spend ages trying to pick off the remains of every leg socket, then one day realised, what does it matter? As you say, the fish won’t care if there’s a few bits of shell on it.
How would they find a crab in the wild?

 

[Valleyboy]

I’m similar. I must admit these days I’m not too particular about removing all the shell, even with the larger ones.
Used to spend ages trying to pick off the remains of every leg socket, then one day realised, what does it matter? As you say, the fish won’t care if there’s a few bits of shell on it.
How would they find a crab in the wild?

E\/en with the plaice in the estuary I just take the back and sides off a 2p sized crab, cut it in half and whip it on. Making sure the hook point stays clear is the most important thing.

 

[Tournamag]

I always pick up the legs and claws others drop when shelling them as work well for plaice and other things thread a claw up the hook

 

[Dutchman]

I keep mine outside in the food caddy from Council with seaweed inside, in a cool shaded place.
Kept for 3 days ok, don't know exactly how long they would keep outside, but the outside is there natural place to live.