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A fishing friend who's lived on Galveston all his life swears hermit crabs (sans shell) are "like crack cocaine" to Redfish. Is that true in your experience? I gathered up a few my last two wading trips, cracked 'em open at home and froze them with leftover shrimp and mullet. I've only tested the crabs once on a 2-hook bottom rig with shrimp on the other hook, and at least one Red, as well as other fish, prefered the twice-frozen shrimp to either the crab or thawed mullet. Once isn't enough to correctly form an opinion, so I'm asking you. I'm willing to play the odds, whatever they are.
Also in a 2-hook test between fresh-dead shrimp and a Gulp minnow, the real thing wins. No surprise. From time to time, though, I see Gulp packages of saltwater creatures other than shrimp and twisty-tail fish, and I wonder if Reds ever "jones" for off-beat bait. What I read says mature Reds prefer crabs, but in my experience Gulp crabs and other brands of soft and hard artificial crabs have yet to tempt a bite. Floating life-like crabs on a Texas rig got no nibbles, even with Gulp attractant, next to reefs through this past winter, but this approach should work, right? To tell the truth, I'd rather throw and retrieve a variety of artificials. But after my biggest Red recently came on a thrice-frozen shrimp, I'm going to give real bait a close look. Can anyone shed some light?
Also in a 2-hook test between fresh-dead shrimp and a Gulp minnow, the real thing wins. No surprise. From time to time, though, I see Gulp packages of saltwater creatures other than shrimp and twisty-tail fish, and I wonder if Reds ever "jones" for off-beat bait. What I read says mature Reds prefer crabs, but in my experience Gulp crabs and other brands of soft and hard artificial crabs have yet to tempt a bite. Floating life-like crabs on a Texas rig got no nibbles, even with Gulp attractant, next to reefs through this past winter, but this approach should work, right? To tell the truth, I'd rather throw and retrieve a variety of artificials. But after my biggest Red recently came on a thrice-frozen shrimp, I'm going to give real bait a close look. Can anyone shed some light?
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