Help! Stop Peelers Dying

[Liamo]

Lads,

Need a bit of advice. After picking my traps I keep the crabs in a fridge at a constant 5-6 degrees and they get a little water every day.

After a week some of these still show no further signs of popping and usually I end up with dead crabs. They were peelers but they don't seem to pop?

I tried leaving them outside yesterday in a bucket of sea water which I had aerated to try and induce a peel but no joy and more casualties (they've been out of the sea for a week and a half now...)

I just want to induce a peel and pop them straight in the freezer, what can I do to bring them on better?

Cheers,
Liam

[coaster]

If you want to bring them on the last thing you want to do is put them in the fridge.
The cold stops them.
Keep a drum of sea water in the house, around room temp. Give them a "drink" twice a day. You don't need to put then into too much water. Just enough to come about 3/4 the way up their bodies. Leave them in it for about an hour and then spill that water out and use fresh water each time.

Works for me.


And keep them covered with wet sea weed all the time.

[EoinMag]

I put mine in a poly cool box, lots of fresh bladderwrack and about an inch of water.
Leave them somewhere at room temperature in the house with the lid loosely on the box.
You'll have them peeling within a day or two.
You need to see the bubbles coming from their mouths.
Change the water daily.
I'd keep 2l coke bottles of fresh seawater in the room with them for water changes.

[DR]

differnt strokes for different folks i hav
mine in trays wit water up to there mouth
in a fridge on settin 3 iv peeled 100 crab since monday
but a lot of them were on there way

[barry murphy]

stick them down a quare ones tong for a week should do the trick :lol: .i thnik it depends on how far along they are when you get them leave water up to half way up crab and change everyday i find leaving dry for an hour and adding water again can help.i find once they start to pop take out of water and leave in frige and give a drink once or twice a day help keep them longer.

[eric]

any use to yee :?:

http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/keepi ... -crabs.php

[GrahamHill]

Lads,

Need a bit of advice. After picking my traps I keep the crabs in a fridge at a constant 5-6 degrees and they get a little water every day.

After a week some of these still show no further signs of popping and usually I end up with dead crabs. They were peelers but they don't seem to pop?

I tried leaving them outside yesterday in a bucket of sea water which I had aerated to try and induce a peel but no joy and more casualties (they've been out of the sea for a week and a half now...)

I just want to induce a peel and pop them straight in the freezer, what can I do to bring them on better?

Cheers,
Liam

liam,,,keeping peelers without the correct equipment is realy a frige bound thing i suggest get a crabarium,,great i have had peelers on hold for 6 weeks until the feed and raise the temp of the water then bang,,

gee

[GrahamHill]

any use to yee :?:

http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/keepi ... -crabs.php

good research eric,,this is where i got my imfo for the crab keeping ,,,,but the gen is not complete,there are a couple of major points missing

gee

[DR]

yea thats good info eric nice one
just lookin to free up some space to set one
up

[coaster]

Good info on that link.
I'm going to set up that system in the shed and see how I get on.
I never done crabs in large quantities before but am starting them now.
Going to start vac packing them and freezing them for the winter months.

[Rockhopper]

Ive never found a need for vat-packing....take the lungs out, rinse under the tap to get and muck off....dab dry with a paper towell....wrap tight in good quality cling-film.....never had a problem.....on the day a few minutes to thaw out, straight on the hook..what more do you want :)

Tom.

[coaster]

Always used the cling film myself but have ordered a vac packer for doing sand eels and such and know that I will get carried away with the new toy.
If the dog stands still for long enough she is in trouble. :D

[DR]

Ive never found a need for vat-packing....take the lungs out, rinse under the tap to get and muck off....dab dry with a paper towell....wrap tight in good quality cling-film.....never had a problem.....on the day a few minutes to thaw out, straight on the hook..what more do you want :)

Tom.

would u wash ur sand eels in water and wrap them in cling film,,,,dont tink so well i give all my bait the same treatment ,,,and by vac packin they last a lot longer and u dont hav to take the lungs out or wash them in fresh water which would take some of the scent away,,, thats like dippin ur bait in fresh water befor u cast it out,,, u need the naturel salt on it helps preserve the bait as well

[Tom Maher]

Where are you getting the vac packer from? The ones that come up in lidl from time to time are ok, but it seemed to get a bit weaker as time went on when i used it.

[eric]

Where are you getting the vac packer from? The ones that come up in lidl from time to time are ok, but it seemed to get a bit weaker as time went on when i used it.

get a zip lock bag, put your chosen bait in it, submerge in water just below the zip, to expel the air and zip shut

[coaster]

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... :IT&ih=011

[Rockhopper]

Ive never found a need for vat-packing....take the lungs out, rinse under the tap to get and muck off....dab dry with a paper towell....wrap tight in good quality cling-film.....never had a problem.....on the day a few minutes to thaw out, straight on the hook..what more do you want :)

Tom.

would u wash ur sand eels in water and wrap them in cling film,,,,dont tink so well i give all my bait the same treatment ,,,and by vac packin they last a lot longer and u dont hav to take the lungs out or wash them in fresh water which would take some of the scent away,,, thats like dippin ur bait in fresh water befor u cast it out,,, u need the naturel salt on it helps preserve the bait as well

We're not talking about sandeels Mr Baitman dont you know you dont peel sandeels down.

As far as wrapping frozen crab in clink-film goes...I can name top international anglers who still use that method.

Tom.

[GrahamHill]

Good info on that link.
I'm going to set up that system in the shed and see how I get on.
I never done crabs in large quantities before but am starting them now.
Going to start vac packing them and freezing them for the winter months.

coaster,,
the problem with that whitby sea angler link they are not telling all,,,i got my tank spec off the very same people,,over here it dident realy matter about the telling me of a tank and how to use it and having known me for 35 years helped a bit,,over there its a different story,,they get a peel for about 6 weeks of the year!!
and fresh peeler is the one and only match ,comp bait 12 months of the year and its big money in the comps in the uk,,to work it out it aint rocket science,,
so they put it on the net but i can categorically say the are not telling all
8) 8) 8)
probably shouldent do this on here but i am open to offers to set up and or specification for these absolute gems of equipment :D :D

gee

[DR]

Ive never found a need for vat-packing....take the lungs out, rinse under the tap to get and muck off....dab dry with a paper towell....wrap tight in good quality cling-film.....never had a problem.....on the day a few minutes to thaw out, straight on the hook..what more do you want :)

Tom.

would u wash ur sand eels in water and wrap them in cling film,,,,dont tink so well i give all my bait the same treatment ,,,and by vac packin they last a lot longer and u dont hav to take the lungs out or wash them in fresh water which would take some of the scent away,,, thats like dippin ur bait in fresh water befor u cast it out,,, u need the naturel salt on it helps preserve the bait as well

We're not talking about sandeels Mr Baitman dont you know you dont peel sandeels down.

As far as wrapping frozen crab in clink-film goes...I can name top international anglers who still use that method.

Tom.

well bait wats vac packed stays fresher a lot longer than bait wrapped in cling film no chance of freezer burn,,, and i was only usein the eels as an example,,, but weather its bait or any ting else if some ting is vac packed it stays fresher ,,, thats why all tackle shops sell vac packed frozen bait,,thats the point i was makin
wrappin in cling film for short term is cool i use it me self some times but for storin for long periods id rather use vac pac,, evey man has the own little tricks,,,but i would keep me bait clear of fresh water

[Rockhopper]

"thats why all tackle shops sell vac packed frozen bait"

Your kidding! :roll: what do tackle shops know about bait storage, they'll tell anglers anything as long as the ker-ching!! goers off :lol:

As for freezer burn, its never been a problem I've had.

I do think that some vac-packers cause the bait to be crushed and as far as leaving the lungs in crab, thats going to do more harm than fresh water any day....5 seconds under the tap aint going to harm the bait at all, I wish I had a penny for every fish I've caught over the years on bait frozen like that 8)

If you sell your bait vac-packed and people are happy with it...good luck to you....I wouldnt buy it though and I know plenty like minded anglers with a lot of years on the beach behind them who wouldnt buy it either.

Tom.