Soft crab is THE killer bait for bass off piers and shallow water. Fish whole or halved on a big 4/0 hook and hold on tight!!!! :wiggle:

 

I used some frozen soft back crab that i'd collected the other week and had a thornback last night, and a cracking bite last week on fresh softback. I just cut it in half and whipped it on the hook.

 

Soft crab that have already peeled are more watery than peelers,this is why they loose their scent quicker. When the crabs peels ,they do so to enable their inards to have a new bigger exoskeleton to grow in.An average crab can peel upto 3 times a year. When the crab feels its ready to peel(in the late stages of being a peeler when the crack appears in its shells sides)it takes on lots of water to pop out of the old shell and then its almost double the size it was before it decided it needed to peel....so this taking on of the water to increase its size is the reason why soft crabs have less smell than peelers in the earlier stages of peeling. (The peelers have more consentrated juices and smells.Plus all the pungent orange "gunge" that fish find irresistable and easy to home in on)
A soft crab can still be a good bait though,especially for Wrasse,Bass,Smoothounds etc. Not so much scent as a peeler in a peelers ideal state of peel for bait,plus a softee doesnt stay on the hook intact as well as a peeler for powerfull long distance casting,or withstand attacks from Wrasse without being ripped off the hook as well as a peeler.But i know anglers who target wrasse alot who swear that softees are best for Wrasse.
But for close in work for bass a softee is a brilliant bait!!Plus if boat fishing for Smoothound a softee is Brilliant!!
Soft crab dont freeze as well as peelers due to their high water contend and are best used fresh really. But using your method of clingfilm to wrap and freeze softees is fine,they will when defrosted catch fish,best on a boat for smoothound etc....on the boat ive had Smoothound,Bass Wrasse,Dogfish,Bull Huss and Conger on frozen softees. Ive not tried frozen softees as much for shore fishing,but ive caught a fair few smoothounds on them,when i have tried,plus a few Wrasse....but down here the Bass seem to prefer fresh crab more.
If i go crabbing i usually keep the softees to use alive....but if im not fishing soon, i will freeze them as they can be a usefull bait to have.

 

Whats the best way to freeze peelers?

 

Whats the best way to freeze peelers?

When the crabs sides have split a bit is the ideal time to freeze the crab.This stage of peeling also makes the crab easier to peel.
Its best to peel the crab completely,removing all the shell and lungs etc and vacuum pack it or put it in pop seal bags and remove as much air as possible to try to prevent freezerburn.Its best to freeze the crab on pre chilled metal trays that youve put ready in the freezer.(like baking trays) The better qaulity the crab is when frozen and the quicker its frozen, the longer it will remain as a good quality bait.

 

sorry been blocked out for a couple days with this server change-over...but thank you all very much for the great advice....happy fishing ....James

 

A 7lb thornback was caught off the boat at the weekend using half a softie!!!!! :sun:

 

i normaly freeze up any softies 4 the winter & just use them 2 bulk up big peeler baits but winter gone i had a canny sesh on just softies with a 12lb bag of cod, my m8's were useing peeler but i just kept mine in my flask because it was the softies they were after, we all ended up using softies & we all had a good sesh:thumbs:

 

Anybody ever used the legs from Online baits. They do both Peeler and Softies. Cheers

 

when freezing peelers a good tip that works is instead of using metal baking trays etc try a sheet of glass the thicker the better, leave it in the freezer and peel the crab and lay it on the glass ,i freezes in a couple of mins then wrap it in cling film . if you have removed the dead mans fingers(the gills) when thawed out is nearly as good as fresh.
the glass transfares the cold into the crab a lot faster than a thin metal baking tray

when you are crabbing try to keep your softies/jelly crabs apart from your peelers as they dont last long in a bucket when mixed, use them first. peelers will last a few days but softies harden up quickly and tend to die first.

its the acid produced by the crab to disolve its old shell that the fish home in on and peelers are still producing it when you peel them whereas softies dont, but enough remains to attract fish.

 

I don't think soft crab is good enough to catch panfish and that few people use it.

 

I like leather backs and 'toffee hammer' ones for wrasse and hounds. Hook them live, nothing else looks at them. Only suitable where any sort of cast isnt required (so boat for the hounds).

 

I have over 400 soft crab in the fridge for the weekend, so they must be good

 

I have over 400 soft crab in the fridge for the weekend, so they must be good

did they work

 

i went out off a local mark a week ago, bass fishing, got 4 bags of what where ment to be peelers, when i actually got 1 bag of peelers and the bags of softies, started off fishing the soft crabs and didnt even have a bite, moved onto some peelers and everycast was a bass all around 2-3lb used some more softies and didnt have a single bite again! grrr i was soo anoyed!

 

i've never had a great deal on softies but i did catch my pb plaice on a softie so they do work occasionally

 

I don't think soft crab is good enough to catch panfish and that few people use it.

they are a killer bait in the thames for bass when fishing wrecks and structures,but the end tackle set up is critical as there is only one set up that presents them.and if not presented right they do not have nowhere near the same effect.

 

they are a killer bait in the thames for bass when fishing wrecks and structures,but the end tackle set up is critical as there is only one set up that presents them.and if not presented right they do not have nowhere near the same effect.

.....tell us more then. :thumbs:

 

go up the line 2-3 ft ,tie a loop then put on a looped trace line and come back down but the hook must not go below the weight.so as the crab is wrigling his little legs trying to reach the relative safety of the seabed.but in doing so it catches the eye of predator and bingo.having used this method with sucess on several occasions ,i have learnt that a pulley rig set up in the same way works just as well but also pulls the weight tight to the main line and therefore does not leave it swinging around as the fish darts for wreckage after being hooked.the tecnique for hooking the crab is also critical so as to present it looking as natural as possible and to give it maximum longevity of life which is about 20 mins so casting is out of the equation.either fishing close to the shore or structure,or from a boat over the prefered mark.is the best way to fish with softies

 

go up the line 2-3 ft ,tie a loop then put on a looped trace line and come back down but the hook must not go below the weight.so as the crab is wrigling his little legs trying to reach the relative safety of the seabed.but in doing so it catches the eye of predator and bingo.having used this method with sucess on several occasions ,i have learnt that a pulley rig set up in the same way works just as well but also pulls the weight tight to the main line and therefore does not leave it swinging around as the fish darts for wreckage after being hooked.the tecnique for hooking the crab is also critical so as to present it looking as natural as possible and to give it maximum longevity of life which is about 20 mins so casting is out of the equation.either fishing close to the shore or structure,or from a boat over the prefered mark.is the best way to fish with softies

Thanks mate. :thumbs:

 

Thanks mate. :thumbs:

 

as tommy cooper used to say "just liuke that"

 

Cheers Ronnie. :sun:

 

Softies/peelers...same thing. A softie is just a peeler that been.....well.....peeled.
Need to catch 'em early though, before they start to harden.

 

Softies/peelers...same thing. A softie is just a peeler that been.....well.....peeled.
Need to catch 'em early though, before they start to harden.

sorry about that but peelers and softies are not the same first of all the softies are full of water and NO JUICES IN THEM only good for the boat fishing after the hounds and bass used with a peeler
PEELERS now those crabs are top ones to use full of jucies have a look in my photo bucket all bass caught on peelers used softies not a fish tight lines