# east of portofino



## getbent (Oct 2, 2007)

went out with a buddy and nothing fished from 10 till 12ish sandfleas were their{lots of males caught but released} but no bites,, tried peeled shrimp too, water still to cold ...
not very good report but its a report


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## Sunshine17 (Dec 11, 2009)

R the males sopposed to not be used for bait if caught? May be a dumb question. Just wanna make sure. Were there any birds working?


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## tbstimber12 (Nov 28, 2008)

I did catch a tan/sunburn!


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## bullminnow (Mar 2, 2008)

I fished yesterday same area. Surf was up nice conditions but no fish. Lots of sargassum gettin tangled in the lines :furious:


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## Nat-Light (Oct 9, 2007)

Sunshine17 said:


> R the males sopposed to not be used for bait if caught? May be a dumb question. Just wanna make sure. Were there any birds working?


You can use them for bait. Many prefer to throw them back because the number of males is relatively low compared to the number of females. I suppose the reasoning is that by not taking the males the breeding population is more sustainable. I don't know whether or not it ultimately affects the flea population or not but I generally return them. I suppose the same line of reasoning could be used for the egg bearing females...I don't know many pompano fishermen that will return those, myself included, as the egg bearing females are one of the PRIMO baits IMO.


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## navkingfisher (May 14, 2009)

Use them. They are not boy sandfleas, mole crabs (Emerita Talpoida). Boy sandfleas look just like girl sandfleas only smaller, about a third smaller. What you are most certainly thinking about is the spiny mole crab (Blepharipoda Occidentalis). Not too common because this is really not their main range of habitat. I had often wondered the same thing and have heard many times over my 40 years of pompano fishing them referred to as the male species. This finally caused me to do the research which led to this little tidbit of crab trivia. 
Now this beach renourishment is ruining my life! You have to get away from the shell debris in order to hunt sandfleas and fish.


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## gaffy (Sep 24, 2008)

*Mole Crabs*

Navkingfisher, Do the pompano hit the mole crabs? Thanks, Gaffy:notworthy:


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## navkingfisher (May 14, 2009)

slurp 'em up like candy.


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