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Written by Jefe_grande
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Well, since there's a lot of people getting into surf fishing right now, there's been a lot of questions, one of which is "yeah I know I'm supposed to use them, but how do I find them?" Its not rocket science, but its one of those things that gets a lot easier the more you do it. Since they're the best bait to use when they're around (IMHO) I'm hoping a few pictures might help show people how easy this is.
You will find a random sand crab here there if you dig enough, but what you really want to find is a bed of them. This is pretty easy with one exception - bean clams. Freakin' bean clam beds look very similar, and at some beaches (like TP) they are just about as common sometimes. You'll hear "look for the V's in the sand" to find sand crab beds, but bean clam beds do this too. Also, you may find these two types of beds overlapping, which just makes it harder to make bait because you're picking thru the bean clams. Eventually, you'll figure out how to tell the difference pretty easily. All that being said, here's a few pictures from various points of reference of sand crab beds:
Notice the rough bumpy area of sand in front and to the left of the woman in white.
This one kind of shows how the bed may look different as water flows over it.
A massive bed.
A couple of close ups. These don't show it, but as water flows over the bed, you can see their antennae sticking up filtering food.
So you find a bed... now what? You can dig with your hands as you need them, a lot of people do. I prefer to get "enough" bait, whatever that may be at the time, that way when I get a wide open bite I'm ready. Using something like a plastic (so it doesn't corrode) collander makes this much easier. Or, if you want to make bait in under 10 seconds, you can use something like a sand crab "trap"...
http://allwatersfishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=9717
Now your hand/collander/trap is full of sand crabs... what are you looking for? You're looking for sand crabs big enough to cover up your (most likely #6) hook. Typically this is a crab as big as a nickel or so. They aren't always around, early and late in their cycle you'll find "micros". Dime sized sand crabs placed back to back on the hook work well too. But ideally, this is what you want:
Thats about the right size, and notice the orange colored roe - this is KEY. You want this. If possible, you want every crab in your bait holder like this. You will find that fish will actually pick off the roe without taking the bait. If they're really bad about this, try placing the crab on the hook so the point comes out thru the roe. Also, like other crabs, sand crabs molt and go thru a "soft shell" mode, they're a lighter grey and mushier. These are little juicy delicacies, but I've found I get one chance to get one fish before I have to replace them.
That's about it... oh, and fishing in front of a sand crab bed is obviously a good idea too, its like free effortless chumming. Hope this helps somebody catch more fish with less frustration!
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 April 2008 )
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