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.

Other than grass shrimp, which are great for perch, spot, and croaker, I don't think
I've ever seen live shrimp for sale in the Bay (Chesapeake, not Tampa)! The Tampa Bay
inlet was a great place for catching trout on shrimp.
--

Ban idiots, not guns!