# Where to get fiddler crabs for bait?



## CoonBubba (Mar 6, 2007)

Does anyone know where you can buy or easily catch fiddler crabs for sheepshead bait? I would like to do a little sheepshead fishing and will probably use shrimp if I can't find the crabs.

Thanks


----------



## rodwade (Feb 13, 2007)

ghost shrimp #1 bait that I know of! Easy to catch and you can grab um at most beaches.


----------



## boashna (May 28, 2004)

you don't need to work that hard to catch sheep head . you must of read the tide magazine . if you go to n jetties about apr 15 and after . they are a dime a dozon for about 2 weeks. use live shrimp and a bb shot . if you use dead you will get hung more but can catchem just as often minus the hang-ups. Reason , I know Apr 15 is because I have a log book and log vidoes with stamp date .. I will take you ,if you are land lock...


----------



## rodwade (Feb 13, 2007)

I can tell you from about a week or two after spring break I was out there spearfishing. I'd limit out in 5 minutes while no one was catching anthing on the jetties. I ended up spearing quite a few guys some fish that day. If you're ever at Packery and you see a guy with a orange and white pill looking float or a fender bouy float trailing behind him. Ask me and I'll typically hook you up.


----------



## Alex258 (May 27, 2006)

I've seen them around El Hardin of Todville.


----------



## A Draper (Aug 14, 2007)

I don't know about the upper coast but the sheaphead are at POC jetties right now. We went 12/30 and 1/5. Used shrimp on a carolina rig with smallish j-hook, cast toward the rocks, feel the rocks with the weight, then lift rod tip, crank a little, lower rod tip, feel the rocks, let the bait sit for a second, then lift rod tip, repeat. We practically had a sheephead every cast. You wont feel the bite, just the weight of the fish.


----------



## yer_corks_under (Mar 23, 2007)

Go walk the weeds on the East end of the Galveston seawall they are all over the place.


----------



## Hookdog02 (Feb 14, 2007)

if you are around Corpus, you can find them in the area across the street from packery channel.


----------



## spannymacker (Jan 3, 2008)

I've seen a mess of them on the galfeston side (of the bridge) at san luis pass. One other thing is Sheepies were being caught quite a bit off the SLP pier last year around March and april i believe.


----------



## CoonBubba (Mar 6, 2007)

Thanks for the offer. You can count me in!  It's funny b/c I didn't read Tide until I saw your post then immediately went and grabbed it. LOL



boashna said:


> you don't need to work that hard to catch sheep head . you must of read the tide magazine . if you go to n jetties about apr 15 and after . they are a dime a dozon for about 2 weeks. use live shrimp and a bb shot . if you use dead you will get hung more but can catchem just as often minus the hang-ups. Reason , I know Apr 15 is because I have a log book and log vidoes with stamp date .. I will take you ,if you are land lock...


----------



## CoonBubba (Mar 6, 2007)

I fished Pine Gully Pier a lot. Now that I have the kayak I may paddle over that way. 


Alex258 said:


> I've seen them around El Hardin of Todville.


----------



## CoonBubba (Mar 6, 2007)

Thanks for the replies. Since the "bait stealers" are in short supply right now I will stick with live shrimp for bait. Thanks for the updates on where they are plentiful. I love catching them. It seems easier in cold weather than the "big 3". I think they are the best fighting fish pound for pound that you can catch inshore....plus they are pretty tasty too.


----------



## Redfishr (Jul 26, 2004)

In the winter time, you can buy blue crabs and cut them into chunks and use that for sheephead instead of live shrimp. No livewell needed.
They are'nt near as picky in the winter.


----------



## saltwater_therapy (Oct 14, 2005)

Fiddler Crabs are hard to catch sometimes. If you go out to a mud flat that almost always gets exposed on a low tide you can see them running around. As far as catching them maybe throw a cast net over them, or chase them and catch by hand, with a bait well net. Shrimp will work well for catching sheepies. Live would be best. Also ghost shrimp can be caught at the beach either by digging them up or a pump http://www.limestonemedia.com/fishing/ghost-shrimp-pump.html . When it warms up a little there will be more hermit crabs out. I have done very well with them catching sheephead. you will need a hammer or a grapefruit size rock to get them out of thier shell. if you just try to pull them out with pliers you will pull his abdomen off, and you want it whole. When cracking the shell be very careful not to crush the shell and crab you just want to break the shell by tapping it. Once you have the crab out of the shell hook it through the carapace, with a #6 treble hook or a 4/0 croaker hook. Either freelined with a splitshot to sink and cast or under a cork. small corks will work better. Sheephead will hit lures as well.


----------



## flatsfats (May 21, 2004)

i've wanted to try this but i never got around to it:

_"find an area well above the water line that has a good population of the fiddlers.....dig a hole in the sand and place a small pastic bucket( like a round half gallon ice cream container) in the hole so the top of the rim is even with the ground....take any fresh fish(pinfish, mullet etc), slit its throat and drip the blood in the sand surrounding the container....put the fish carcass in the container and go away for a few hours....you should return to find the container loaded with fiddlers unable to climb the side and escape....good luck"_


----------



## Shoal Time (Sep 4, 2007)

*Careful*



saltwater_therapy said:


> ..... When it warms up a little there will be more hermit crabs out. I have done very well with them catching sheephead.


Careful if you are "harvesting" hermit crabs for bait around the South Padre area.....

It is a violation to:
Take or kill shell-bearing mollusks, hermit crabs, starfish, or sea urchins from Nov. 1 through Apr. 30 within the following boundary: the bay and pass sides of South Padre Island from the east end of the north jetty at Brazos Santiago Pass to the west end of West Marisol Drive in the town of South Padre Island, out 1,000 yards from the mean high-tide line, and bounded to the south by the centerline of the Brazos Santiago Pass.


----------



## Cudkilla (Nov 5, 2004)

This time of year you can catch them on shrimp. They'll jump on anything right now. When the water is warmer and the trash fish are out in force, I use crabs then. 

Last winter, my buddy and I caught and released a bunch of them on 91st pier. We quit because we were so worn out.


----------

