Chicken, Ox heart, bloody/ oily fish 

put some fennel in with whatever bait u use

 Fennel? That's interesting has that worked well for you?

 I just cleaned out my freezer and was using everything that looked old and freezer burnt, porterhouse steaks, chicken breasts, beef sausages, fish fillets, herring lamb chops even some marinated steak, all worked just as good as each other but used up old stinking Mulies the other day and they seemed to work better than anything although they didn't last long in the pouches and the rays would come around after a while.

What a Julie? Ex?

Mulie's maybe??  Typo?

I keep my old fish frames and heads, costs nuthin 

Using old girlfriends for bait may seem cheap way to go , but years ago

when the oldies had a beach house in mandurah , we found red reef fish seemed to out fish all.

We tryed it a couple of times , alternating chicken , herring , red meat etc, with red reefies every secound pot

and the results spoke for them themselves.The pots with red fish seemed to attract bigger and more crabs.

Besides I have heard mothers in laws really bring the big blues in !!

Last year,  we experimented a few times with half the nets loaded with plain chicken wings and the other half with wings marinated over night with fish sauce ...we found the fish saucy ones had a higher catch rate...just have to put up with the fish stench all over your hands as well...theory  is that the fish sauce is water soluble therefore would disperse and stay around bottom rather than oil based attractants which would globulate directly to the surface...regardless of bait  always mash 1 or 2 mulies in pouch as well..

Kit E CAt food with fish base in can.puncture 6 small holes into can and use wire in holes to tie it down.Don't forget to remove label.Only need a small can and it will last all day.

blowfish. everyone will laugh but trust me it works. there is a use for the pests afterall.

Here is a lesson in crab bait and how to get the best available.

1    take a a fish oil soaked rag onboard when you are going crabbing

2   take your prawn net with you.

3   when you arive at your chosen crabbing place tie rag onto 1 metre of string place over the back of boat.

4    when brown cloud of blowies arrive scoop up as many as you can with prawn net.

5    cut big slash in the back of the blowies and thread 3 - 4 onto the wire clip in your crab net then set the  nets

6    no cost for  bait replenish with fresh blowies as required,  catch plenty of crabs it allways works for me

Fresh oily fish is by far the best, mullet, bony herring, mulies , and probably the best is the imported blue mackeral from California they use for cray bai.

 I had fresh herring frames one day and only did moderatley OK. We left the same frames in and by the next morning they hummed. The crabs seemed to love it. I can't comment on attracting bigger or smaller, just the fact that it worked. I used whiting frames today and got my boat quota. Worked hard to get it though.

 I use chicken necks with alot of succes .

 Mulies, mulies and then mulies, I don't use anything else. Make up some bait packets to put your mulies in out of gutter guard from bunnings, the cheap plastic stuff. Cut pieces 200mm long, fold it in half and stitch up the 2 sides with whatever, I use copper wire. Put a couple of mulies inside and clip it into the base of the net so it closes the opening. Drop the pot over the side and continue with the rest. Usually by the time you have the last net in, it will be time to motor back to the start and start pulling. You need to keep on the move as crabs will still destroy the mulies in the packets if you leave them too long.

cheers

Dale

 I use chicken carcass... works best for me and butchers give them to me for free because they usually throw them in the bin

I've tried all types and Tuna heads are my favourite by far....... I use two stainless steel bait pins & two heads per net. They take the punishment from blowfish, produce crabs and last for ages..............the best crab bait!

Cheers for all the info Guys its really interesting to hear everyone thoughts :)

$1 a kilo from your butcher, works a charm!!

i use lamb necks. they last a long time and dont get so hammered if there are blowies around. always catch plenty. cheap as chips normally in the pet food section at the super market

I think fish frames are probably the best if you have any left over ones.

Down in Busselton and Dunsborough all the bait shops stock cows spleen which is a really good crab bait. I've never seen it in the shops here in Perth though.

If you are buying bait get tuna heads.

Cheap....$3 will do ya 10 pots. I get mine from Medina Pet Foods down at Kwinana. Just get them to cut in sections you require and away you go.

Leave the skin on because crabs as with crays like furry stuff. After two pulls just slash the tail piece with a sharp knive to refresh the bait. Dont need purses.

Never been out fished with this bait.

 Didn't think you could use fur baits anymore. I use to use roo tail and the odd feral cat many years ago to catch crays, never failed.

 I wonder how the fur bait issue can be confirmed or not.  Otherwsie I would have thought that Kangaroo tails would be a great idea.

 I remeMber when we were kids, we used do a lot of yabbying.  Just pour a little fresh kanaroo blood on the edge of the water in the dam, and the yabbies would just come to us, ready to be scooped up.  Didn't even need to bait or drop a net.

Yep, chasin the fur can get u in trouble sometimes..... 

asking them to show me any regulation that bars me from using roo tail with skin on as a amateur crab fisher

and they replied there isnt one and I could go ahead and use it. Have there reply ready to produce if approach.

 Thats Great, thanks for following that up to share with all.

We tried our luck crabbing today in the Swan with Mullet.

Didn't see one crab.  Tried just down from the narrows and also at Mosman Park.

No luck.  That was between 11.30 am and 3 pm to better suit the incoming tide.  Or so I thought.

if its not to far for you to travel go to Mandurah as it will always produce a feed this time of year. 

The Swan can be a bit inconsistant at times. Surprised you got 0 and Mullet is top bait so dunno.

Thanks for the comments and advice.

Is it necessary to chase the incoming tides or is it better to just focus on the time of day, ie early morning or late afternoon?

Hey swampy I got a feed of crabs on sunday from 10 - 2 swinging of a courtesy mooring in matiltda bay using mullet and blowies.. Only 2 nets out the back. No crabs until I added the blowies to the mix. Interesting I thought...