fishing sand crabs/sand fleas..

[plugginpete]

^^^^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.

[Blazin420]

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

[J Barbosa]

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.

[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.

[surfrob]

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

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.

[surfrob]

^^^^^ 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.

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.

[surferman]

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

[surfrob]

ah, Escher would be proud !

[baitstealer]

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.

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?