Hardback crabs.
Hardback crabs.
Many years ago, more than I care to remember by the way, we used to use what we called "crab poultices". These were simply hardback crabs smashed up to a pulp and put into pieces of old nylon stockings, the toe of them was the best, make sure the wife is finished with them first though.
If we could get some sheeps wool we would tease this into something about the size of your hand and put the crab into that then pulp it, after doing that we would tie the bait onto the hook and it worked !!!.
Nowadays the Fox International Companys "Arma Mesh" would be ideal for this type of bait as you can put anything into them and it saves throwing old rag, lug, crab etc. away, they will still work because of the scents from them.
All creatures including humans have "Amino Acids" in their bodies, these acids give off different scents. In the case of the lugworm for instance it has a very high content of a chemical called Glycine in it's body this is therefore giving off a very attractive smell for fish as lots of other baits do such as crabs, peeler or hardback.
The peeling crab is giving off a stronger scent because the outer shell hasn't reformed to contain the body scents within it, but by smashing a hardback crab up you are releasing those scents wihich are just as attractive to a fish as peelers.
Hope this helps. Tight Lines,
Sam.