Hermit Crab

Hermit crabs are an under-used, under-valued bait but can be very effective. A large number of species can be caught when using this excellent bait. They aren’t easy to collect but if you can find them and use them fresh they can be brilliant. They can be collected by lowering a drop net or trap from the sides of piers or rock ledges. Alternatively, if you can contact a friendly crab fisherman he could supply you as hermits are a common by-catch in crab and lobster pots. You can freeze hermits by keeping them in their shells and wrapping them in cling-film. If you find it hard to source a supply of fresh crabs then the majority of tackle shops will have a small frozen supply although due to the fact they aren’t that popular compared to other baits they can still be hard to come by. They are a great alternative to using peeler crab. Hermit crabs are not the toughest of baits and must be put on the hook using bait elastic.

Hermit crabs are very simple to put onto the hook. Simply crack the shell using a small hammer, priest or rock ensuring you do not crush the crab.

Using them whole hooked through the soft abdomen and down to the head and claws, like threading a worm onto the hook, is a great way of presenting them for large, hard fighting species such as bass, cod, smoothound and rays.

Alternatively you can remove the legs, claws and head and the small, soft tail and abdomen for smaller species such as bream and flatfish. When cracking the shells look closely as other baits can be found attached to the shell, such as slipper limpets. A common find inside the shell are ragworms which can be used in conjunction with the crabs to make a good bait cocktail.