[the rockling]

I can't get hold of any peeler crabs frozen or fresh anywhere and I want to target hounds what is my best to use except crabs ? I have some blueys , squid and sandeel in the freezer and thinking of maybe going to the supermarket and getting some frozen king prawns to try ? Any advice please chaps ?.

 

[Ian L]

I'd go bluey,or mackerel? Saying that,I caught one on lugworm last week!

 

[Colin Chaplin]

Hermit Crab, Rag Worm.

 

[the rockling]

Hermit Crab, Rag Worm.

Can't get any hermits either 😕

 

[Ginge1999]

My local shops are getting in bags of 50 hermit crab, cheaper than peeler and still seems to do the buisness

 

[Huss Hustler]

On my patch (the Fylde coast) lugworm/squid cocktails, whole squid or ragworm are what works if peeler crabs are scarce. We do get the very occasional one on mackerel or bluey but have found the Hounds don't seem to like sandeel (even in a cocktail) as the odd time one is picked up it's dropped almost straight away.
Rick😜

 

[dabcatcher]

Squid is popular on the North East coast after crab. In fact some who use crab like a squid crab cocktail.

 

[the rockling]

Ok thanks chaps all very Intresting stuff 👍 I was thinking of maybe trying some king prawns too ? Never had a hound so desperate to get one and hoping for a Ray too 🤞 fishing tomorrow and Sunday so will report back

 

[bald dodge]

Squid, Prawn and Ragworm will all catch Hounds . Chinese Supermarkets are always worth a look for cheap bait like Prawns , Squid and Sardines.

 

[Had1lost2]

Ok thanks chaps all very Intresting stuff 👍 I was thinking of maybe trying some king prawns too ? Never had a hound so desperate to get one and hoping for a Ray too 🤞 fishing tomorrow and Sunday so will report back

Whole squid on a pennell will pick up hounds and rays.

 

[Smithers73]

Hardbacks , and they are free .

 

[Mr Fish]

Whole squid on a pennell will pick up hounds and rays.

This ^^^

Hardbacks , and they are free .

And this ^^^^

Don’t get too hung up on peeler, it’s not the be all and end all for hound baits.
Personally wouldn’t bother at all with fish baits though.

 

[Roughgroundwarrior]

I can't get hold of any peeler crabs frozen or fresh anywhere and I want to target hounds what is my best to use except crabs ? I have some blueys , squid and sandeel in the freezer and thinking of maybe going to the supermarket and getting some frozen king prawns to try ? Any advice please chaps ?.

go get some hard backs ,hounds will take a hard back readily

 

[the rockling]

This ^^^




And this ^^^^

Don’t get too hung up on peeler, it’s not the be all and end all for hound baits.
Personally wouldn’t bother at all with fish baits though.

It seems really weird they don't like fish baits ?

 

[Mr Fish]

It seems really weird they don't like fish baits ?

In this country they don’t. I know in Australia and other places they do. I suppose it depends on what’s locally available.

Very rarely, including last year, here we had a real glut of medium sized pack fish about 5-7lb and they must have been competing for food because that’s the only time I’d heard of them being caught on mackerel.

But at best it would be a fluke catch - far better to match the bait that works to the fish rather than wasting your time with mackerel etc because ‘it might work’

Imo the order of effectiveness would be peeler, squid and ragworm (which can work well but seems to be a bit area dependent).
Or indeed anything crabby including hardbacks.

I wouldn’t be particularly confident using prawns in this area (unless they were live prawns, which is deadly), but I know people have success on them in other areas.

I’d definitely avoid fish baits though.

 

[bald dodge]

It seems really weird they don't like fish baits ?

They do on Chesil, I've had a few on Mackerel when fishing for Rays .

 

[Colin Chaplin]

Spider Crab.

 

[jackjock]

Frozen raw king prawn from super markets works for hounds , Squid works ive had loads of hounds on squid , as mentioned hard back crab works but probably the best bait other than peeler is live shrimp and its free

 

[Mr Fish]

They do on Chesil, I've had a few on Mackerel when fishing for Rays .

Interesting. I couldn’t buy a bite from a hound on mackerel here.
I’ve noticed the chesil hounds tend to be mostly small and the smaller ones do seem to be less picky about what they eat.

 

[Mr Fish]

Frozen raw king prawn from super markets works for hounds , Squid works ive had loads of hounds on squid , as mentioned hard back crab works but probably the best bait other than peeler is live shrimp and its free

I’ve had great success on live prawn but it depends on being at a mark where I can catch them in the prawn trap while fishing. Usually only really seem to pick the prawns up in any number after dark, I’ve found.

Certainly on this coast crab and squid seems to be the best baits although admittedly I’ve never tried raw prawn for them.

Must admit as well, I’m not especially thrilled by hounds these days. Not really sure why as they’re fun to catch but usually after one or two sessions on them in a season I tend to lose interest.