On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 12:28:20 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 10/28/15 11:51 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 09:47:44 -0400, John H.
wrote:

Soft shells are caught in traps just like the hard shell. They make great rockfish
bait. I'd put a quarter of a soft shell on a hook. Usually had pretty good luck. But,
using soft shells for bait is not cheap.
--

I guess you don't see peeler crabs up there anymore. They are as
attractive to the fish and stay on the hook better.
It is basically a blue crab in mid molt. You can crack it and pull out
the meat along with a very tough skin that holds it on the hook.
Rock fish were virtually endangered when I was up there but it was
excellent for hard heads and trout. You really did not need a lot of
bait, A little chunk would do fine. One crab might be 8 or 10 baits.


You have to tie or rubber band a softshell on the hook for it to stay on
the hook. Live shrimp were always my favorite inshore bait in
Florida...all the fish seemed to like them, they were cheap, easy to put
on the hook, and if you did it right and were freelining, they'd swim
until someone gulped them down. They were a $1.25 a dozen when we lived
in Florida.

I don't really fish anymore but when I was doing it, I preferred
artificial baits. I used to do live bait and cut bait fishing but I
started running into bass guys who had a very derogative name for it.
I agree, if you want to fill the box, that is the way to go but if you
really want "sport" you trick a fish into hitting something they
normally would not eat. Then you turn them loose.
That was what I did for the last few years I fished and I still like
bouncing a rubber worm in front of a bass, hook optional.
You know the difference between a bump and a slurp that will hook
them. Usually once they get that interested, you can get them to keep
hitting it until they are up next to the boat.

There is some research that says "catch and release" has bred a
population of bass that are easier to catch. I tend to believe that.