The most sought after fish in British waters such as bass, large cod, smooth-hound and big rays can all be caught with peeler crab, while other species such as coalfish, flounder, eels and plaice will all also go for peeler crab baits when other baits prove ineffective. If you are fishing in rivers or estuaries where short gentle casting is required then don’t use thread, but use several leg sockets to lock the bait on the hook. The hook is available in sizes 4/0 to 14/0 with packs of 25 (12/0 in packs of 10 and 14/0 in packs of 1). The method is commonly used for catching larger fish offshore, and so the hooks associated with it are a bit thicker than your average shore fishing hook.

Pirate hook (left) - The RuneScape Wiki Pirate hook (left) - The RuneScape Wiki

Knowing it is vulnerable during this time the crab will hide under rocks and in crevices until it is protected once again by a hard shell. Crabs work well into October and November, then the fish tend to switch to worms, but crabs will still take some fish right through the winter. Hooks must not be capable of piercing the crab Scoop nets must be bowl-shaped and made of rigid mesh not capable of entangling a crab.Size 4/0-6/0 are the heavyweights for large whole crabs, calamari squid, multi squid, live fish, mackerel head and cocktails for seriously big fish. Remove the top shell, followed by the side shells and then remove the shell from underneath around the leg sockets. By pulling each leg segment free, starting from the pointed end, the whole leg can be extracted segment by segment.

Sea Angler Guide to Aberdeen Hooks - SeaAngler Sea Angler Guide to Aberdeen Hooks - SeaAngler

Crabs that are sheltering together (main picture), or berried crabs carrying eggs (inset) should be left well alone as they will re-populate the area and provide a new generation of crabs that can be used as bait. All this is to say, that when you’re uptiding, people often need to use heavier gripper leads and heavier rods. Those that don’t use clip on weights to prevent delicate worm baits from coming off during the cast will also benefit from bait holder hooks. You will see a crack along the side of its body where the upper carapace is parting away the lower body section to reveal the softer tissue that is located underneath.

The crab needs to be frozen as quickly as possible and, unless you have access to liquid nitrogen, then here’s the method I use. RuneScape and RuneScape Old School are the trademarks of Jagex Limited and are used with the permission of Jagex. Item JSON: {"edible":"no","release_date":"4 July 2006","examine":"Tied together so they don't come apart. For deliveries to local areas, we can arrange to have the item taken indoors and assembled for an extra charge. Furthermore, if a number of crabs have been gathered then they will all be at different stages of peeling, meaning some may revert to hardbacks before they can be used as bait.