Blue fish heads for bait

[bobby]

Folks...I normally use chicken backs for bait but was wondering if anyone has used blue fish heads and/or bodies for bait.
I think I remember someone saying last season that the heads scared away the crabs, but not sure if there is any truth in that?
By the way...I had old deer meat in my freezer that I used last year for bait when the crabs were running good, it was chunks for stew...the crabs were all over it.
Comments welcomed about bluefish heads.
Thanks.

[tattoo]

When i was a kid , that was all my Dad ever used. and he caught plenty of crabs, 

[captaincrab55]

bobby,   Bluefish heads & Bluefish work, but the crabs will eat the bait up fast.....       

[bobby]

thanks for the info....my son and I might go out at night on a party boat out of LBI for blues.
Actually, I don't like the taste of blue fish but the action on the rod and the boat is awesome, especially at night.
So I was thinking about cutting them in chunks and freezing them until the crab action picks up.
Might as well use them for bait to justify a $50 per person boat ride.

Tattoo...speaking of years ago, about 35 yrs ago, my dad used to go into Southwest philly and buy horse meat from a stable and use that as bait...boy did that draw the flies when crabbing!

[mdjohn]

fish works but what I didn't like was that the crab got the fish off of the bait holder - took the fish and left the trap empty

so I was feeding them 

[NJtomatoguy]

Yes, i use bluefish as bait. also used to use flounder,
sea bass, porgy racks, etc.  Now i don't fish enough,
so i just buy bunker.

[Crab Shack]

Need I say more?      FISH HEADS

[jack1747]

thanks for the info....my son and I might go out at night on a party boat out of LBI for blues.
Actually, I don't like the taste of blue fish but the action on the rod and the boat is awesome, especially at night.
So I was thinking about cutting them in chunks and freezing them until the crab action picks up.
Might as well use them for bait to justify a $50 per person boat ride.

Tattoo...speaking of years ago, about 35 yrs ago, my dad used to go into Southwest philly and buy horse meat from a stable and use that as bait...boy did that draw the flies when crabbing!

I didn't eat Bluefish for 40 years.  Last year, after being told a 1000 times, I tried putting them in the smoker.  I will be keeping a few from now on.  Pretty good eating..     Just gut and scale them.  Leave the heat on.  I don't add any wood, just the coating in the smoker. 

[Crab Shack]

No matter how I cook them, they always taste too oily....(bluefish)  Any suggestions?  What am I doing wrong?  thanks...

[mdjohn]

oily fish - blues , mackeral etc are good smoked and I used to freeze the smoked fish for later use but gawd I made so much, I got tired of it 

blue fish crab cakes are pretty good - cut out the dark meat, boil the meat in salt water then use like crab in crab cakes

not bad 

some people soak the meat in salt water - I like to soak it in milk for a couple hours in the frig.

but ..................................... it ain't gonna taste like flounder

white perch is a lot better tasting fish 

we used to catch a lot of perch and gutting and scaling took too much time. we used to fillet then skin each side - 2 cuts each side then used rest for crab bait or chum.
and the perch meat would go into serving size bags in the freezer, add water to the bag- freezes well and doesn't take a lot of room