fishing sand crabs/sand fleas..

So ive been curious fro the past few years on HOW to fish these little buggers...I no ya have to rake them (even tho i just dig till i find a big 1)..But i have tried a few ways and have come up empty on catching with them..I no they work i have watched a old timer pick up fish after fish in the winter a couple years ago while i struck out plugging a jetty right next to him...So for some of the seasoned veterans on i here i ask ...What is the best rig for them?hi-lo?egg sinker? do you let them float? Any insight would be great on the rigs you would use...I ask cause recently the fish i have found were on sand crabs and i did get a few plugging all in tight to the beach..Also i wanna try them for some fluke ever year i clean the fluke i catch from the beach there has been crabs in it belly! Thanks in advance:HappyWave:

I used to see an older guy fishing in cape may. He would use sand fleas. It was a while ago but I remember him using a longer shank hook putting 2 sand fleas on at a time. He used an egg sinker as well about 2' behind the hook. I see you really got some nice stripers in your last report. Smart to try to use what they are eating. Good luck.

#1 sharp, and the finer wire type, hooks
#2 hi/lo or long leader depends on the area and situation
#3 multiple per hook is normal
#4 must hold your rod, no dead sticking
#5 set on the bite, don't let them take it. every fish in the ocean eats these things and both tog/cunners are great at bait stealing. thus tight line to the terminal tackle a must. wave action makes it tough.

^^^^Good, organized info. that's money right there. There was a guy who did that in rockaway. He caught in the summer when it was pretty dead. It was cool to see him still catching tho.

Thanks surfrob that was kind of what i found on how to fish them...Im gonna give it a shot next time out...Hi-Lo rig with long dropper loops seems to be the most popular method..Ill post my results

I tried fishing them a few times over the years and never had any luck.

I caught mine by using my feet or an empty clam shell after the wave recedes.

^^^^^ You do make a good point there. I think the difference in the catching is when they are actively feeding on them vs the other forage. An example I can think of is the calico or even the japanese shore crabs. I have not always seen bass actively feeding on them. However during the moon cycles many crabs shed and put out those special pherome scents that bass can detect. At those times fishing crabs seems to be more successful. Good luck out there blazin and keep us posted.

correct... the old adage was find the fish with sores on their chins, but I never got into that many fish to tell :D

personally, I like short leaders, say 4". I like to feel the grab and when fish are on these things, they aren't shy about sucking them in.

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Originally Posted by buckethead

^^^^^ You do make a good point there. I think the difference in the catching is when they are actively feeding on them vs the other forage. An example I can think of is the calico or even the japanese shore crabs. I have not always seen bass actively feeding on them. However during the moon cycles many crabs shed and put out those special pherome scents that bass can detect. At those times fishing crabs seems to be more successful. Good luck out there blazin and keep us posted.

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fishing shedders is an art form in itself, and yes, when crabs are on the shed, those pheromones attract fish to them

I believe sand crabs are different. Their shells are not hard. In fact, you can catch them and grill them and pop'em in whole yourself. Fish have no trouble eating them when they are hungry and at the right stage of tide.

I think there's a certain tide stage for the structure at the local beach that provides enough water for cover, yet enough sand crabs in that zone, with enough wash to stir them up, to put it all together for active feeding fish (on the open beach).

Around rocks, fish that are there are already actively looking for crabs of all sorts OR for bait fish which are feeding on crabs of all sorts.

This is all my junk science, but it's pretty well backed up by my own experience and discussion with other anglers.

found a pretty cool thread here in the surf fishing forum
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/showthread.php?1208-Calico-crabs-call-them-irresistible

ah, Escher would be proud ! :D

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/pGy-WxLaKl8/hqdefault.jpg

pardon my ignorance but who is Escher?

sorry surferman posted a link to this thread... making it self-referencing.

MC Escher was an artist who specialized in drawings that changed perspectives and looped/self referenced.

apologies... a little too obscure a reference but surferman's post made me laugh :D

Hey this is to the OP or anyone else. Did you have any success at all fishing those sand fleas? I talked to an older fisherman last week who told me he would crush the stripers on them in the summer but he said this year was kind of sucky for him.

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Originally Posted by surfrob

I think there's a certain tide stage for the structure at the local beach that provides enough water for cover, yet enough sand crabs in that zone, with enough wash to stir them up, to put it all together for active feeding fish (on the open beach).

Around rocks, fish that are there are already actively looking for crabs of all sorts OR for bait fish which are feeding on crabs of all sorts.

This is all my junk science, but it's pretty well backed up by my own experience and discussion with other anglers.

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That was some great advice thanks! Based on that do you think it makes sense to fish toward high tide or more toward low when they might all be a little more concentrated?

In my limited experience with them (really the past 3 weeks or so)i have managed a few decent fluke and at night it was all sand sharks...It seems easier at low tide or outgoing tide to find the crabs..And there seems to be more crabs around to grab in the areas in fishing at this time of the tide..Also im only using the bigger ones and putting 2 or 3 on the hook seems to get better results then just 1

Hey blazing thanks for the quick response. You never know if you keep doing that you might catch a surprise one of these days. Good luck and tight lines dude.

Cool info thank you for sharing.

surf rob thanks for pointing that error out. DOH!
I went back and changed my post. There is another good one on crabs.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...m-irresistible

An interesting video by a guy who talks about eating them. Yuck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5q9y1k6rTM

Thats crazy.

Excellent thread gents thanks for sharing!

Check this guy out digging and using the sand crabs. His adrenaline level is off the charts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz6jcyXGLx4

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Originally Posted by 7deadlyplugs

Check this guy out digging and using the sand crabs. His adrenaline level is off the charts.

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Great video, he certainly is amped!

Elephants eat peanuts. a 20 pounder will eat those crabs too. nice vid.