different bait different results?

[bayoubilly]

ive been experimenting with different fish as bait.  i keep gallon bags of  pogies, hard tail chunks(blue runner), and small fish that i catch for cut bait such as small whitetrout and croakers.  i do a lot of fishing and use chum quite often, so i have a seperate bait freezer where i keep these things.  i set a personal record yesterday with chunks of hardtail. i had 26 keepers between two pots on a one day soak.  i seems to average 18-20 with pogies. and it drops of signifigantly sometimes as few as 8 to 12 with mixed fishes such as croaker and white trout.  the hardtails have a real bloody redish flesh and i think that the increased scent from the blood attracted more crabs.  i will definitely be keeping a lot more hardtail when i go offshore fishing.  i rebaited with pogies yesterday and will keep yall posted how they do and if the hardtail was just a coincidence or if it is truly a better bait.

[tattoo]

thanks for the info,   nice catch in your pots.

[Crabcruncher]

Billy

I crab in northwest florida and have tried every known fish as crab bait in commercial pots. Number 1 bait has got to be Bonita, it lets out a blood slick like no other. I have also had excellent results with ladyfish, hardtail, bluefish, spanish mackerel, and surprisingly an excellent bait is LY's (our version of menhaden) Need about fifteen per trap. I have tried shrimp heads with above baits and increased the catch.
By the way, since you are around Mobile, have you ever seen a crab jubilee? It happens in your neck of the gulf in the summer when the bay is depleted of oxygen.

Cc

[bayoubilly]

yes there are usually several jubilees a year. in fact there was one a few days ago.  for some reason they always happen on the eastern shore in baldwin county.  i heard that this past one had large numbers of crabs and flounders.  ive even heard in past years of people dipping up  100 qt coolers full of shrimp druing jubilees.  the ones that benefit from them are the waterfront landowners in those areas and their close friend and family who they can call quickly when in it occurs.

on the bait topic, i though about bonita.  ive only caught one this year.  we fileted and grilled that dude.  alot of people said "you dont eat bonita".  but we do now.  it tastes alot liked canned tuna fish when grilled. another good one i was thinking about for crabbing was jack cravella.  i havent caught on of those this year either, but if i do he is crab pot bound. 

thanks for your response. we seem to be on the same page with bloody oil bait.

--billy