Mackerel as bait

[wonmorehoy]

I had a look at some flattie fishing the other day. Calm sea, not much prospect of anything else and I was just out for some fresh air as much as anything else.

I took mackerel as bait, starting off with some strips of belly flap that I'd frozen, then moving onto some strips of frozen side fillet.

What was interesting was that the belly strip would come back ashore after 20 minutes intact, while the side fillet strips. even though tied on with bait elastic lasted less than 10 minutes before the hook was stripped.

Is there something about belly that the crabs don't like?

[adam.d]

Belly strips are as hard as shoe leather, the meaty part of the fillet quickly goes to mush and will be washed off the hooks by the tide.