Fishing crabs for Rock

[Cowpokey]

Been finding small 2-3" blue crab in the bellies of fish I brought home. Anyone here use crab for bait, or better yet fake/plastic crab? I know there are some companies that make scented plastics shaped like 3" crab.

How do you fish them, just dead drift?

[john from md]

Soft shell crabs are excellent (and expensive) bait for rockfish. There are much cheaper alternatives though.

John

[J.A. Veil]

I fished a few DOA plastic crabs over the years without success. They had little weight and were hard to cast very far.

[Mark]

Joe Bruce ties and recommends a Clouser Minnow in crab colors for saltwater -- olives and tans.

[JohnE]

I have also occasionally found small crabs when I have checked in the past and have thought about trying those gulp crabs. I might get some and just stick them on bucktail to see what happens. Hungry stripers are not really very picky eaters anyway.

[john from md]

I have also occasionally found small crabs when I have checked in the past and have thought about trying those gulp crabs. I might get some and just stick them on bucktail to see what happens. Hungry stripers are not really very picky eaters anyway.

I tried Gulp crabs this summer and did not have any success. Additionally, they were the smelliest Gulp bait I have used to date!

John

[JohnE]

I mainly wanted to get some to try dragging in front of reds when I run into them and they are fins up feeding in the sand, but thought they might also work for stripers. Gulp makes really good stuff and thought it would be worth a shot. One of my friends said he actually catches reds using their scent strips when he is fishing off his Navy ship.

[CAGE RATTLER]

When bottom fishing, peelers have always been an excellent bait.

[YaknBass]

+1 on the peelers. Rock & perch

[Cowpokey]

+1 on the peelers. Rock & perch

In my experience; perch are so aggressive, they'll bite anything. They are fun, and I have successfully used them to knock off the skunk more than once.

[YaknBass]

Same here, perch have saved the day for me as well on many days! Thankfully!

[Fishinfool]

+1 on the peelers. Rock & perch

Peelers bottom-fished around 8-15 feet of structure are the ultimate anti-skunk bait. They are better than bloodworms because you can use a half a claw, or a quarter of the body and its big enough to keep away the dinks.
They are hard to find though, and we're near the end of crabbing season.
Peelers are one reason I like going to the eastern shore launches. The Chesapeake Outdoor store usually has them for $2 each, much cheaper than bloodworms. Call ahead.

Another source is just timing your visit to a commercial crab boat coming back in where you're launching. Or, stop by a crab carry-out place. I've offered to buy them direct from watermen, and they have just given me two or three for free.

[DOGFISH]

Zman makes a great looking rubber crab. After seeing you the results of your autopsy, I was looking at artificial crabs to stock at the store for next year. If you smear some crab attractant on it, may seem like the real thing. Gulp also make a crab looking bait.

[Cowpokey]

Zman makes a great looking rubber crab. After seeing you the results of your autopsy, I was looking at artificial crabs to stock at the store for next year. If you smear some crab attractant on it, may seem like the real thing. Gulp also make a crab looking bait.

I was looking at the Zman ones, they are scented. What color would you try first?

http://zmanfishing.com/store/categor.../scented_crabz

Edit add: I bet you could put them on a light-ish jig head and drop them next to bridge pilings. I've seen big crabs hanging on the pilings near the surface.

[Slobber Bob]

All kinds of crabs work for stripers - peelers, softshell, hard sooks (legal on the seaside), calico, and even sand fleas. I don't fish the bayside with bait hardly ever, but in the ocean surf, crabs are hard to beat at times. Depending on the day, one will usually work better than another so I try to toss them on a hi-lo with a different bait on each hook and let the fish decide which it wants. I've cleaned bass pulled from the surf with over 50 quarter to half-dollar sized calico's in their belly. The biggest bass I got last year in the surf (45") was caught on two sand fleas threaded on a 9/0 hook.

The bonus is if big black drum are in the area you're fishing. They love crabs too!

I bought an artificial crab hard lure once and had similar results to John, cast like junk and never caught squat. The soft plastic ones look more promising.