Hardback crabs

**"My God Cod"** · 04-04-2007, 13:44

Some of the codling I have caught of late had crab in there stomach, not soft body parts but hard shell claws and bits. Does this mean they are picking off or scavenging bits or are they eating the whole hardback crab?. P.R man

**Bootster** · 04-04-2007, 14:15

They'll scoff just about anything they can get in their bloody great gobs! If a cod(ling) comes across a crab, hard or soft it'll scoff it as soon as it can. We generally use softies/peelers as they easier to get on the hook, and more importantly, the females release pheromones in the run up to peeling to let the males know they are soon going to be up for a bit

Apparently fish can pick this up and hence they are better as bait.

Back on to the question though, I'm sure that cod, and most other fish for that matter, will eat crabs hard or soft, whole or in bits.

**mrrayy** · 04-04-2007, 14:43

hardbacks,how do you mount them on the hook?

**glassback** · 04-04-2007, 20:57

are small hardbacks any good for smoothounds

**bassmad** · 04-04-2007, 21:29

Originally Posted by mrrayy

hardbacks,how do you mount them on the hook?

Pull off one leg and push hook through and our of the joint between the top and borrom carapace. Alternatively one local guy round here recomended attaching the hook to the shell with a blop of superglue, apparantly the crab just runs around untill something eats it.

**EoinMag** · 04-04-2007, 21:31

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/b...0-%20crabs.htm

There's a guide here which has some tips.

**Bass-ic Instinct** · 04-04-2007, 22:28

They arent a very good bait mate. They dont cast well, and are best used fishing short for Bass and Wrasse. Every year some big Ballans fall to hardbacks, but in my experience a peeler is better for them. To hook them simply turn the crab upside down and bring the hook point through the V shaped flap and out through the middle. I found this the easiest way to mount them, although hitting bites with hardbacks can be difficult as sometimes fish fail to get the whole of the bait and the hook point into their mouths.

**Woodster** · 04-04-2007, 23:07

The only experience I have of using hardback crabs is when I crushed one stuffed in a small squid and caught a 11lb conger. Apart from that I had no takers on my float fished h/back crab that day?

Woodster

**crazyplums** · 04-04-2007, 23:39

Originally Posted by bassmad

Pull off one leg and push hook through and our of the joint between the top and borrom carapace. Alternatively one local guy round here recomended attaching the hook to the shell with a blop of superglue, apparantly the crab just runs around untill something eats it.

or until it buries itself in the sand.. lol !!

i have used hardback crabs of a certain type, and done fairly well on them when fishing for smoothounds, i lay em on their back, chop em clean in half, peel away the shell, and use big 4/0' pennels, nay bother hooking them, bind with some elastic, and lob it !

best is a 6-7lb smoothound, infact, most of my hounds last year, came to them. some were almost ready to peel, so had a skin underneath, but otherwise they were hard !

**Bob W** · 04-04-2007, 23:44

Got to agree, I have caught plenty of cod with hard backs in their stomach but they don`t make the best bait, I have had much better results with peelers.