PEELER
CRAB. You can find your own peeler crab throughout Spring and Summer
by scouring rocky/weedy areas, alongside groynes and in estuaries. Peelers deteriorate
quickly so keep them cool with a covering of wet seaweed in your fridge. Unused
live peelers can be frozen. Remove the shells and lungs and freeze them individually
in clingfilm parcels. Keep peelers frozen or cool until you use them.
A
bomber rig with a half crab on each size 1 hook will catch flounders and other
small species. Step the hook size down to a 4 -6 and you will tempt eels and
mini species. A rig with a single 2/0 - 4/0 hook baited with a whole peeler
crab is perfect for targeting smoothhounds. Remove all the shell and cut the
crab almost in two, pass the hook point through a leg socket, through the body
once or twice and then out through another leg socket. Prepared this way and
loaded into a capsule there is no need for bait elastic.
A big peeler crab, preferably
a velvet swimmer or an edible crab fished close in on a size 6/0 hook will
sometimes tempt the biggest shore bass. You can also fish 'jelly' or 'crinkly'
crabs but for most species (excepting smoothounds and wrasse) a fresh peeler
makes a better bait.
