Poor crabs. Everything likes to eat them. I’m pretty sure even crabs eat crabs. If you ever really need to catch a fish in saltwater, try throwing a live crab at it. It’s probably the simplest but most effective saltwater fishing technique there is. Just spool up a light tackle rod with some good monofilament and tie a sharp hook on.
Sometimes, the hardest part of fishing with crabs is catching the crabs themselves. My basic strategy is to look for them at low tide when the water is extremely shallow. I carry a small scoop net and wear a pair of tough gloves. When I find a crab I position my net behind it and then use one foot to scare it so it swims directly into the net. The captive crab will usually get its pincer(s) tangled in the mesh of the net. With my sturdy gloves on, I carefully grab the pincer(s) from outside the net and pull them off the crab. This is not super nice to the crab, but there are a few reasons for it. First, although they aren’t terribly smart, crabs can hurt you badly with their claws. They will also hurt or kill one another, so if you need to keep several crabs together, removing their claws prevents the bigger ones from killing the smaller ones before you have a chance to feed them to a fish. In my experience, many crabs can actually shed their claws, much like a gecko can sacrifice its tail, and then regrow them, so the damage is not necessarily permanent. Nevertheless, a crab without claws is definitely at a big disadvantage in the wild, so don’t ever take more crabs than you actually plan to use.
When it comes to hooking live crabs, I like to use some type of circle hook and, unlike almost all of my other fishing, I often leave the barb on to keep the crab from slipping off. I have tried a variety of techniques for actually hooking the crab, but the most effective method I have found is the same way that guides in Florida fish for permit. Carefully drill the point of the hook through the underside of the shell, near the edge, and then out through the top. It’s important that the size of the crab matches the size of the hook. Too big of a hook will kill a small crab, and a small hook won’t penetrate far enough on a larger shell.
Given free rein, live crabs will find a way to hide, so never leave one sitting too long in the water. Either it will hide so the fish doesn’t see it, or it will crawl into a hole and get your hook stuck. To prevent this, I frequently give my reel a slow crank or two to keep the crab from making house on the bottom. If there is a fish nearby, it will hear/smell/see the crab and come in hot. If you are sight fishing, you will see the fish dart over to the area where your crab is. When this happens, just wait! If you are casting into deeper water, or can’t see the fish, you will feel a tap or sharp tug on your line. When that happens, just wait! Let the fish eat the crab and let the circle hook do its job. Most of the time, the hook will penetrate perfectly in the corner of the mouth. If you jerk your rod or crank your reel too soon, you will likely spook the fish.
The Fishing Dojo 