Bait Guide

Unlike green crabs, these are harvested in warm gulf climates. Fiddler crabs are sold by quantiy, not pounds: pint, quart, 1/8 bushel. Fiddler crabs are not nearly as hearty as green crabs. They are best kept cool/damp in the refrigerator (not wet, they'll rot). They can be kept in the lagoon in a box, but not as well as other crabs. Most stores stock fiddlers from May - September (we don't have them here).

Fiddler crabs are a favorite for those people fishing inshore, on jetty's or along bulkheads and sodbanks. Fiddlers can also catch fluke and weakfish. They work very well on wrecks for sea bass and blackfish, but all the junk fish also like them. You only get one bite, and you either caught the fish or you need new bait. They are not very useful on a wreck with a lot of bergalls or 3-4 inch sea bass. too much time is spend going from boat to bottom and back up again. Fiddler crabs are a good choice for some inshore fishermen, especially where there is a smaller size of fish. They can be caught locally, but as this is incredibly time consuming, we usually order them in as well.

Fiddlers are generally used with much smaller tackle, possibly #1 or #2 hooks on the rigs. Larger hooks tend to break the crabs, which are generally only 3/4 - 1 inch long and very delicate.