Crab bait....

[Randy waugh]

All right guys I've bin dicking around with different bait pellets, rocket fuel **** in a bottle but I'm finding salmon is best
I put the guts & bellys in the bait jar to last longer and the spines & heads in the basket
Any other bright ideas???

 

[paguy]

chicken.

 

[SteelyDan]

Chicken backs from super store. Salmon carcass. Don't use Turkey they don't like it for some strange reason. And the king in my experience is prawn heads for a fast soak.

 

[Hookin'up]

Chicken parts I find work best, moreso then salmon

 

[Clint r]

I dunno. Rockfish carcasses after fillets removed has rewarded me handsomely when I get to try my hand at crabbing.

 

[capt hook]

Prawn heads.

 

[trophywife]

fresh chicken and break the bones to let marrow leak out....
fresh left overs from filleting

 

[RiverBoy]

salmon heads. stays together like a ******* for several soaks

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

Biggest crab I have ever caught has been using halibut carcasses......I don't think they are very picky just my experience

 

[Kildonan]

I have never seen anything work even remotely close to albacore tuna heads/trim. Not simple to get your hands on obviously. It's unreal though if you can get some... so oily.

 

[JuandeOne]

Simply put it's easy to see how a scent trail plays a major role here. Oily fish and chicken are go to baits for most. With that said, crab do have their favourites in the natural world. Clam meat, rockfish frames, squid and yes, prawn heads.

 

[kaelc]

Biggest crab I have ever caught has been using halibut carcasses......I don't think they are very picky just my experience

The most crab I've ever caught as well.

 

[TanTastic84]

I like going to the local "Asian Grocery" stores and getting their fish head/scraps. You can get them for around $2 per pound. But also, don't ignore the other fish on the counter. They sometimes have whole mackerel or milk fish etc. etc that you can use. And, they usually have them for super cheap!

In my experience, fish has worked better than chicken. But maybe I'll give it more time in the water this year.

 

[Whole in the Water]

I know of a guy who swears by pork chops. I use salmon carcass and cheap chicken parts myself. Need to have something with some fat/oil in it to get a good scent trail going.

 

[Fisherman Rob]

Roast chicken carcasses. Put then in a bag and freeze them.

 

[Wild Bill]

Are you allowed to throw a trap off the pier at Port Renfrew? Not going to have a boat this summer

 

[BananasQ]

Chicken backs - economical, effective, less likely to have seal related issues. Read this book (much to the wifes amusement) https://www.amazon.com/How-Catch-Crabs-Pacific-Coast/dp/1895811511 and he swears by using whole Shad (basically a huge herring) - I think any oily fish would be money.

 

[Gear'n'beer!]

I have never seen anything work even remotely close to albacore tuna heads/trim. Not simple to get your hands on obviously. It's unreal though if you can get some... so oily.

That's funny......I was using hafled albacore heads for halibut then halibut for crab......full circle!

 

[Goathorns]

One place that I crab is at the marina exit so a lot of traps get run over and separated from their buoy. So twice this year I have found a rope tangled and floating with mine when I pulled mine. Others are using chicken backs, but one trap had turkey or duck parts in it of a large size and a good catch of legal crabs, better than I had been doing.!
A few years ago I found a trap floating in the deep out off vancouver/Bowen and it had salmon in it for bait but the thing was there were no crabs and the hoop or top door was bent open until it was damaged. I wonder if a seal could do that?
Lately I've been setting for a long time with lots of carcass, (chicken backs, turkey necks, large herring, salmon head) and a scent popsicle (salmon and tuna cat food mix).

 

[michael_reiber]

We use chicken carcasses in the winter when we don't have any salmon or cod carcass left over from the summer. both work great! and I agree with @SteelyDan turkey doesn't work for some weird reason