Crab bait, best and how often to replace?

[fish_4_all]

I use a lot of things for crab, chicken thighs, turkey necks, turkey legs, fish carcasses and the rest. The problem I have is they work good for a while but then they become less and less productive over time. I thought it might be nice to get some kind of idea on how often everyone replaces their bait. I try to use the best and freshest bait I can but would also like to know how long everyone leaves their bait out to get stinky or of everyone tries to use them fresh.

I only replace my bait when catch numbers drop off, I should replace earlier but I don't so I pay the price of slow fishing until I get tired of it and put fresh bait in.

To make it easy, let's add what we use to the list and then put how often we replace it. I will start with what I use.
Chicken thighs - 2 hours
Turkey Necks - 1 hour
Turkey Legs -
Fish carcass - frozen I replace every 2-3 hours
Salmon carcasses, best for lasting longest, second beast for catch numbers, will fish all day until the meat and guts are pretty much all gone.
Tuna carcasses - 2 hours as the meat is taken off pretty fast but is best bait for numbers I have ever used, especially fresh.

I do not let mine thaw much more than over night.

Once we have this done I want to put everything in a chart for others to use.

 

[mikeredding]

I mostly use fish of some sort. Chicken and turkey are great when you have to compete with seals. I add more bait as often as needed when it is looking picked over.

 

[Halfthrive]

This year I started using tuna heads and have pulled some of the most packed crab pots I've ever seen. I'm 6'5", 290 and strong but I needed help lifting them over the side of the boat. I've also notice that tuna heads, even though they crab so well, last a long time, probly cause their so big. I know theres a bait shop in Winchester that sells them.

 

[cobias]

I went with a guide on a salmon/crab trip and all he used was turkey legs. we caught our limit in no time....thats where i learned to use them myself. I dont know the legalitys of game waste but a friend of mine was using old freezer burnt/spoiled deer burger and they loved it. Some people say to also strap glow sticks to your traps and weight the doors a little to keep the small crabs out. Just my 2c.

 

[Fish Fight]

I started using bait cages. I chop up the bait and stuff the cage. I use fish, shad, salmon, bottom fish and tuna. It milks out good and last a long time. Most crabbing I do this time of year is in the ocean. I drop traps on my way out to fish so I need the bait to be fishing all day long.

 

[Fish Fight]

If you want some crab bait, I have some tuna carks that I will be dumping in a day or two. They are fresh and on ice.