peeler crabs

[baitmaster]

ok another question for you sea lads, i,m trying to get some idea,s in my head for different baits for my bassing .

ok i know that peelers are good for bass now what i need to know is firstly how much difference does it make if the bait is a frozen bait thawed out and attached to your hook against a fresh peeler attach on the hook .
now i know the obvious is fresher the better .
but i don,t want to go out and buy some frozen if they are going to be useless from the off .
also when deciding to go do you match particular baits to certain times of the year or do you just take a variety and just hope one is right .
now also is there places around the norfolk coast that i would be able to collect a few peelers for a session or are these well kept secret locations
and if there is ,is there again a particular time to collect them ?

tightlines
kevin

[Ben]

cant help loads cause i aint in you area but will try
peeler locations are usualy close kept secrets but around my neck of the woods you can start to collect them from about now onwards
froozen do work but as you said, fresh is always best, but make sure they are fresh live rather than fresh dead, if they are dead for any period of time the lungs/other parts but lungs in particular go off and taint the flesh
as for matching baits to time of year thats a definate yes, when the crabs are peeleing they are the best bait to have, but aint too great when they aint
it is always best to use baits which are in the environment to start with, think of it this way, if you walk down the street in the middle of winter and there is a strawberry plant growing in the middle of the path with some huge strwaberrys on, you are gonna think there is something up and not eat them, a bass will do the same
i aint sure of timings or best baits around your neck of the woods but hope this helps

[baitmaster]

thanks ben

info appreciated

tightlines
baitmaster

[big guy]

i'm not from your area but i would say that a good bait to start with is the one that the fish are normally feeding on. for example rocks and river i would say crab, snady beaches worm and live bait.

as for frozen crab they need to be in tip top condition when being frozen. alot of the crabs in the shops are either dead or on there last legs and rather than throw them the shops sell them as fresh frozen. good frozen crabs can be just as good as fresh. i would suggest buying crabs in 100s and freeze them as they peel, if you don't use them fresh of coarse.

[gullyworm]

As big guy has said frozen peeler can be just as good if its been frozen well.
Last year i had a great smut sess off selsey with frozen peelers.they outfished fresh ones by some way.These peelers were from my local shop who i know remove the lungs and freeze when alive induvidualy.
I reckon in your area worm baits would be good fished close in,but if your prepared for the long wait them the monsterswill take other baits.

PS Eels love frozen peeler if you d rather catch them than Bass?

[baitmaster]

thank for that gully
no i don,t really want to catch eels so i will bear that in mind .

ok have to do some home work on what beaches are more prolific than others although i have some idea from the lads in the tackle shops who i have overheard talking about where they used to go .

tightlines
kevin

[Norfolkboy]

Hi Kev, most reports that I hear of say that Bass come to squid. Every year seems the same, one decent venue is Cromer Pier just drop the bait over the side near the structure with big squid baits and use heavy gear as they'll head straight under.

[FlyingFox]

I always try to use the freshest baits i can get for bass fishing as i find they fish far better then frozen and to be honest i wouldn't trust buying frozen crab from a shop as your not sure how long they have had them and weather they were frozen in the rite time of peeling.....i have had bad experiences with shop brought crab so i would suggest you find a secrete crabbing spot around you area and stock your own......least then you should have the best bait you can lay your hands on when needed!! also i tend to take just the baits needed for certain times of the year as its not worth chucking crabs out when theres none in the area and if the bream or smelt are in bass would much rather take a live bait dropped in front of them! basically you have to put the bait in front of them that they are used to at that time of year. I know all this has been said already so good luck and hope you got the answers you were looking for!

Ollie.

[Ben]

off subject but can you honestly live bait bream ollie?
always thought they were to spikey

[FlyingFox]

Yes mate........obviously not the large ones but the small ones....3 or 4 inches long seem to work down our way! we get stacks of em on our local pier and they out fish smelt when there in also use Small wrasse at times as well.