Next best thing?

[The Great Wallsendo]

Crab it seems is the king of baits (i'm a recent convert myself)...

However if you are not prepared to spend time and effort wading through the shallows and placing your own traps then you are confined to dealers to supply them for you....and they seem to fly out the door quicker than than a quick thing from quicksville on a very quick day!!!

So what else is "as good" and can supplement the worm baits?

[willywetegg]

I would say that over the whole season that I have more success with Lug and cocktails with Lug, such as Mussel or Rag, and Razorfish off the beach.

Jim.

[codseeker]

i bulmer worm has done good on the winter trek,lil weeny things but half a dozen of them on a 4/0 5/0 hook has prduced some decent fish

[insanojackson]

In 20 years of fishing i can honestly say i have caught more fish on mackerel strip than all the runnydoen,crab etc etc i have bust a gut to collect. Maybe not my best fish but the most!

[The Great Wallsendo]

The best thing....

...about mackerel and mussel is that you can get them at Tesco (clubcard points too - missus will be happy)!!

And then chuck them in your freezer for when you need them...

Anyone ever used fish additives/pilchard oils and the like as well?

[will powell]

i used to go down durham market and buy scottish loch mussel,huge things ,and asda or tesco for herring (good bait for whity bashing)

[mickcave83]

In 20 years of fishing i can honestly say i have caught more fish on mackerel strip than all the runnydoen,crab etc etc i have bust a gut to collect. Maybe not my best fish but the most!

totally agree with u there mate

[mark]

tend to just go for whatever I can get my mits on - lug/rag/squid in the main,

but always try to add the most important thing of all... agood dose of luck

[oldchukka]

...about mackerel and mussel is that you can get them at Tesco (clubcard points too - missus will be happy)!!

And then chuck them in your freezer for when you need them...

Anyone ever used fish additives/pilchard oils and the like as well?

i,ve tried making up additives from various stuff, pilchard - mackerel - tuna oils, n/zealand blue lipped mussel oil, oriental shrimp paste, crab additive. you name it. after a few months the results were as follows,---all my kit stank, my outhouse became a no-go area, my dog avoided me and so on. the only benifit was, people who pestered me to ask "caught out" avoided me.

[alan]

Dont just presume Crab is the be all and end all of baits,sounds like its the only bait we use around here when you read the threads about collecting crab and crab traps etc etc ,theres plenty of other baits thats mentioned above that are equal or even better than crab,probably the most under rated is Mussel,as a rule the fish seem to go off crab at the end of the year and prefer other baits.Dont be paying over the odds or panic buying crab over the Autumn and winter use something else,depending on how much fishing you intend doing over the winter try buying (or collecting) a few crabs at a time and freeze them for the autumn months this way it wont be a big hit on your wallet,same applies to Runnydowns which has been mentioned elsewhere

[Mogthemackem]

I won the north east sea fishing league (from a different website) a couple of winters back and fished with some really experienced anglers many of which had whites, fresh/frozen crab and large blacks. My bait for virtually every league match was lug and muscle which outfished everything else.

[Lowrider]

I must agree that crab ain't the be all and end all bait.
In my first season i spent a fortune on it and to be honest i cannot recall any fish i caught on it.
Yet i find good black lug and mussel fish well for me.

[jamiebrennan]

Cant say ive had more on crab but it does look juicy when prepared correctly! I find that fresh, well prepared and presented bait will catch fish. I prefer to suppliment shop bought lug with my own fresh dug stuff aswell, probably more pyschological than owt else tho! Oh and dont use the supermarket stuff cos its probably been boiled and/or preserved with summick.

[fishingfanatastico]

Crab

I personally like using boulmer worm tipped with fresh/frozen mussel when i am fishing in the winter i like having 30 or something alive in the fridge incase the sea gets away or drops away and have found by having around a 150 worm and 30 mussel kept alive in the fridge when fished in the correct conditions fish better than crab take for example Roker pier theres been loads of fish caught on Fresh/frozen crab last winter but i seen more in Quantity caught on boulmer worm, a few upto 10lbs. I always like to have a 100 crab or so froze down for the winter, but i always like to have lots of mussel froze down and a fair few kept alive in the fridge as its a bait which cod love and is very conventinal to collect, the same with lug just go and dig it when needed. But i have found crab is essential in Summer river competitions as i was using worm, mussel, mackeral in a comp at the river wear just as the crab was coming on and every one with crab got the fish. But as i say in the winter Crab really isnt essential for success for the cod, just lug and mussel does the business, Mackeral for whities of the beaches/piers also coalies,flatties. Hope this information helps mate

[The Great Wallsendo]

It does...

Just a couple more questions....

What is boulmer worm?

And does the frozen mussel need to be uncooked?