Shedder Crabs

SHEDDER CRABS

The all-around bait, properly used, can catch anything that swims – Shedder Crab.

Before the introduction of bait enhancers, the shedder crab was excellent. With the use of Shedder Scent, it’s awesome bait.

Let’s just say I’m going perch fishing. The first thing I’m going to do it to plan the trip according to the moon and the tides.

With this done, I’m going to prepare the shedders. Nine to twelve shedders, dependent on size, and the times I’ll actually be fishing.

Zip locks are out, as the sharp edges of the crab claws will quickly penetrate through two bags, so I’m using butter or margarine containers of the ½ quart size. Timing is everything as the life of a piece of dead shedder is only about four to six hours, so I don’t kill the crabs any sooner than necessary.

Once again, the size of the bait and the hook dictates the size of the fish. A 1/0 hook has been my standard for many years, but I’m kicking it up to a 2/0 or 3/0 for any future trips. For a previous trip I would have 15 pieces of bait per crab, including the claws.

Remove the claws from the crab by grasping both the claws at once in your left hand. Hold the claw and crab, break off the right claw, grasp the left claw and remove. Both claws are best removed by pushing straight down at the body. Next, using a regular pair of slip join pliers, crack the shell of the claw gently and remove the entire shell. Cut in half at the center, put in container. Next, remove the back by grasping under the point at either end and lift up removing the top shell. Remove the soft back, cut the back into three equal pieces and put into container.

Remove the triangle shell under the crab. Remove the piece under the shell and place in container. Remove the legs, cut into small pieces for chum, place in container. Cut the crag in half from back to front, cutting in between each joint and put in container.

I would only use 4 crabs per container, as I would only want enough bait out of the ice for about 15 to 20 minutes fishing. Ice down the container in a small cooler. The cooler the better. Anything left after a trip can be frozen for later use in chum or chum balls.

I’ve had little success with frozen crabs. A freezing makes them almost impossible to keep on the hook for casting. However, if they could be wrapped in materials such as hair nets, cheese cloth soaked in Shedder Scent, they might be better than nothing. But I would pass if I had the real thing.