Here ya go! all you need to know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AIJCc9T3X4

This.

Stop putting crabs on ice use fresh lively crabs.
Break off the points with a pair of pliers and pull the claws off. Leave the legs on so it can crawl around on the bottom. You don't need to break it in half a 30" red will eat a 4" crab with no problem.

A friend of mine brings rubber bands and rubber band the hook to the the shell. I hook mine through the back swimmer fin where it meats the body.

Not trying to be a smart*** but you could save yourself a lot of headache and get some 1/2 oz. johnson weedless gold spoons and fish some shorelines of gm lakes and bays with a little grass and catch all the reds you want.

yes but that IS how I was fishing only to find my bait wasn't grabbed within a few seconds of hitting the water and the minnows quickly sucked all the meat out.

im sure the method works if you have active fish feeding in the area to grab it quickly before the minnows clean it out but that doesn't seam to be the case for me and a slower bite results in the bait becoming an unattractive empty shell far too quickly.

no, I get it and I understand the comment but ....

well im living in laplace right now and lake ponchartrain is 20 minutes away including stopping to get gas and launching the boat plus just a short 10 minute boat ride from the launch to the power lines so im fishing in 30 minutes after leaving house.

yes I fish GM all the time but that's a near 3 hour round trip driving plus $20-$25 gas in the truck.

lake ponchartrain red fishing is also easier because you dont have to get up early, you fish from 10am to 2pm when the sun is high and the shadows caused by the sun are tight to the powerlines. the fish use the shade and that is where you catch them and in the middle of the day they hold tight to the powerline poles.

so the question is why go down south when the fish are biting right in your own back yard? granted it doesn't require expensive bait to fish but other expenses out weight the bait costs

I was talking about where you said you were buying cut mullet next time in golden meadow. Thinking you were going to fish cut mullet and crab there.

well I find as you said its easy to just catch on artificial and I prefer to stay on the move when fishing but when its slow and trout aren't biting or in "season" so to speak, I do plan to sit on a few cuts and reefs to use cut mullet to catch the reds on those days when most people just stay home.

only place I can think of to find mullet for bait anywhere near me is terrys in leeville so that's why I was planning to go down there to buy bait next time I go cut the grass at my house in GM

Not hard to believe at all. After three trips you know it aint working. Fished with crab one time from the beach. Nothing all day on them. Before we left I caught a few finger mullet with my cast net. My son grabbed one and baited up. Within five minutes he had a bull red on. People catch with crabs but I prefer mullet.