Alien Invasion

Craig Pope Shows How Using Your 'Spidey Sense' Can Find You Some Great Bait.

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Each year in early summer, the southwest of the UK is invaded by millions of spider crabs as they come to the shallows to peel en masse.

These big, long-legged beasties are the bane of many shore anglers; scoffing bait, getting tangled in lines, and even shearing hook snoods off with their sharp pincers.

But revenge is never far away, and when these alien looking creatures move inshore to peel, as peel they must, they go on to the bait menu.

You want a big bait? You’ve got a big bait.

So, when James and Josh Atkinson called to tell me: “Now is the time to get some spiders,” I packed my gear up, jumped into the car and pointed it towards north Devon.

Within the hour, I was looking over a clear flat sea and knew we were going to have good time chasing bait.

A couple minutes later the boys arrived. They were armed with a small net, a pole hook and a few buckets to store the crabs in… and because it would be rude not to, we all had our fishing gear as well!

We headed off a long the rocks to an area James knew would hold a few crabs for us and I wasn’t disappointed.