collecting crabs

hi
I can never find any crabs . does anyone have any tips for collecting them ? someone told me to put out old tyres and to check the insides of them , does this work ?

thx gerry d

Only if you can get away with having tyres in the water and nobody complaining. A friend of mine had about 20 tyres out last summer, the spot is ok and out of the way and not easily accessible 8) . Most people, understandably, dont want to see tyres littering beaches and estuarys :( . As far as the law is concerned, I have no idea. :?:
Unless you're going to use a massive amount, I would not go this route. Go to a rocky beach when it gets warmer and look under the rocks, lots of peelers to be had. If you have kids, well they are experts and they love it. :lol:

never bothered to look for live peeler up here as there isnt really much need for it generally.
did i hear someone say about using lengths of drain pipe and big stones to hold it in place before or something?

what are the normal trapping methods used and prime peeling times in general?

many thanks for your help guys

gerry d

You're right Phil, small length of pipe with rocks inside to weight it down and keep one end blocked off. The reason for the tyres and pipes is so the crab can get in and hide while its new shell develops and hardens. As you can imagine, they are at their most vulnerable at this stage so they know its time to go to ground.
Crabs peel all year round but it in the warmer months that you can get them everywhere, with it being time to feed they get bigger and the shells become to small so they shed it and grow a new bigger one, hence the name 'peeler'.
I find they start around mid April and can be easily found up until August, depending on climate. Some of us even force the crabs to peel, but thats something i know nowt about.

might be worth a try in some of the more secluded spots during the summer!
cheers!