Arma Mesh

[willhands]

Hi there was looking for bait of advice on loosing bait to crabs. I have been fishing an estuary in east cork and am loosing bait to crabs constantly. I am relatively new to fishing so any advice on this subject would be great I have heard of a product called arma mesh used by freshwater fishermen but is made of PVC which may cause harm to the fish. Any advice on this product would be great.

[saving private brian]

never heard of arma mesh but maybe try something simple like adding floating beads to just give it that lift off the sea bed

[blackwater1]

You are thinking of PVA which is a dissolvable mesh used by freshwater anglers. You fill a PVA mesh bag with samples of your hookbait, attach it to your baited hook and cast out. Once it hits the bottom the mesh dissolves in the water and you are left with a closely grouped area of bait samples with your baited hook sitting in the middle.
Arma Mesh works on the same principle, you add samples of hook bait to the mesh bag and secure to your baited hook. The difference is that it does not dissolve but does leak bait juices etc.
For the crab issue you could just use the bag on the hook I suppose with a few small holes in it to help the juices/scent ooze out. I believe Arma Mesh was designed for freshwater venues where crayfish were stripping baited hooks.

[bhoy32]

what baits are ya useing worm and fish baits will be stripped in seconds by the crab. peeler crab is about the best option with plenty of bait elastic. useing the mesh wont stop the crab from takeing your bait

[willhands]

Thanks for your tips lads will try and get my hands on some peeler for next trip and give the Arma Mesh a miss.

[Labyrinthfish]

Use a two hook Rig with a 6-8 foot body with both baits above the lead.

Use stop knots instead of crimps.

Use a grip lead.

Move the snoods about 2 foot up the body so when your grip lead fixes to the bottom and you tighten the line your baits will be fishing 2 foot off the sea bed.

The snood height should be adjusted up till the crab activity on the baits stops.

Dave.