Hi Gang,
I have noticed over the last few days fishing (boat mid N sea) that the cod are getting harder to catch. We normally use rag/lug, razor fish, squid ,muppets, pirks
or any combination of these.

The cod caught are without exception full of small crabs, about the size of a thumb nail.

My question is, as we can not get hold of crab, is there an artificial (?plastic?) crab on the market?

Had anyone tried crab sticks tied onto the hook? Desperate or what?

In the early spring I tried to find articicial sprats, now crab, what next?

Alan(nl)

Hi Alan

I`ve tried crab sticks but ended eating them myself.
Met a chap at last years Withersea Open said if the cod are not biting use sausage but I forgot to ask if they were fried,grilled or raw.(Honest)
Have you tried Coopers Baits?? Black Squidge

Tight Lines

John.E.Ashford.

Alan,

I think the appeal of crab to the cod is their scent and I believe a hormonal release during peeling that encourages the cod to feed on them. So what I'm saying is that I don't know if artificials will work at all as they wouldn't reproduce these chemical scents. Just an opinion though and you'd have to try it out first, and I know you will Alan! Newt would be the guy to ask about plastic immitations he seems to use a ton of them.

Good luck,

Neil.


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Neil's Angling Site - Irish Shore and Freshwater Fishing

The Cooper's site is at:
http://www.coopers-baits.co.uk/

Don't forget to mention AN

Elton

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Alan - you might take a look at:
[*] http://www.ruggieroseafood.com/FCbait.htm for crab scented baits
[*] http://www.scottsbt.com/fishing/bait/shedders.htm for some really good info on shedder crabs and how to spot them / buy them
[*] http://www.leverageking.com/ for a product that has absolutely nothing to do with crabs but looks to be a truly wonderful little gadget for making your rod easier to handle when setting the hook - and easier on the wrist too.

Hi Alan,
I have tried crab sticks I was stuck in the house one Sunday and headed off for Tesco to get some bait as the freezer was empty and all they had were crab sticks and some mussles in a garlic sauce !!! Yep I made a cocktail of them both and caught a few Cod and Dabs on it along with whiting who I am sure would go for anything !!!

Alan I'll think you 'll find 99% of all fish are usually stuffed full of crab, they are certainly not all peelers but you can try all you like with them and won't catch a thing!!! The only specie to eat normal crab with any gusto are Smoothounds. The Cod we catch down here (Lymington) in the winter are stuffed to the gills with literally dozens of crabs you won't catch them on the best peeler bait you can find, people have tried live crab cut crabs and even stocking balls (really) filled with five or six crabs all squirming about. Same goes with Sprat at the end of winter late Dec / Jan the cod are feeding on sprat high inthe water try them on your hook same result as crab 'waste of space'.

Crab Sticks have actually no crab in them at all, in fact they don't have much of anything natural in them!! If you really want to try artificial crab look for some bonefish flies.

Rob

Did better than that Elton co I sent the whole topic and replies.

To the rest of you, thank you for the input, not very encouraging though. I will give a few things a try, as we do, and let you know if anything works.
Thanks again for taking the time and trouble
Alan(nl)

Hi John, going to try some crab BOILIES from my carp gear (had 2 nice twentys today on the surface, smug). Emailed coopers with the topic but no response, will try the proper procedure and go to the sales site on Monday. If the liquid that they sell is derived from actual crab then you only need a way of getting the liquid/scent on the hook. With carp fishing we use scents/flavours that last for 8 hours + in the water.
Plan of attack:
Plan A, use flat round boilies made with crab extract.
Plan B, inject worms with the crab extract liquid.
Plan C, make love before going fishing, it works without a doubt.
If A and B don't work at the end of the day, practice C on arriving home.
Alan(nl)

Hi Alan,
Ref. Option C - do you mean with the crab or the worm?