Rigging a Blue Crab

Rigging a blue crab whole or rigging half a blue crab is an easy task and a variety of gamefish love to eat them.

Blue crabs are most well known for being bait for tarpon and permit but you can catch many other species of gamefish like black drum, redfish, cobia and the occasional snook along with many other offshore reef and bottom fish.

Before you start to rig the blue crab you will first need to remove the claws for everyones safety. These claws will really hurt if they get ahold of you.

The best way to remove these is by grabbing them at the base of the claw with a pair of pliers.

Sometimes the crab will release the claw on its own but sometimes you will have to squeeze your pliers and break the shell for them to come off.

After the claws are removed insert the hook from the bottom of the crab in between the rear leg and the one next to it. When pushing the hook through, aim for the hook to exit the top of the shell where there is a light colored, almost white spot.

When doing this you will want to move the hook back and forth to work its way through the shell without breaking it or making a larger hole than what is necessary.

If you make a large hole or crack the shell your crab will most likely not stay in position on the hook very well.