Baits to Use when Fishing for Crabs

The first thing that you need to remember is that crabs are not picky eaters. They will eat dead things that would turn your stomach and they will also eat chicken that looks good enough that you would cook it. So you really cannot go wrong with any meat when you are fishing for crabs.

Oily meats seem to do better when you are crab fishing than meats that contain less oil. Use things like the necks from chickens or other poultry, and the natural shad from the waters where the crabs dwell. All of these meats will attract the crabs to your nets, lines, and baskets.

You want to use pieces of meat that are more bone than meat so the crab has a difficult time getting the meat away from the bone. This is why the necks from chickens and turkeys make such excellent bait. They emit the oil that attracts the crab and the crab has to work to get the food torn loose from the bone. Chicken wings are also popular and some people place the chicken pieces inside a small net bag or inside a knee high nylon stocking. The crab has to work harder to get at the food and this gives you a better chance of bringing them to shore.

Believe it or not some people even use road kill that they find along the highways as the bait for their crab fishing trips. This bait sounds disgusting to the majority of us but to a crab it is perfect. They like things that are smelly and meat that has begun to age. So there is really no meat that you cannot use to catch a crab.

You may want to experiment with different meats and see which ones the crabs are biting the best. Sometimes if they have been fed a heavy diet of chicken pieces then if you use something different like a shad that has been cut open you will attract more crabs to the new food source.

You also want to remember that the crabbing is always best when the tides are either coming in or going out. They like the moving water and are more likely to be feeding when the tides are moving, so attempt to plan your trips to coincide with the movement of the tides. You also do not want to go after a heavy freshwater rain has occurred.