Anyone crabbing yet???

[honda53s]

where did you go Honda

Somewhere in middle river...I have no idea what the place is called. I slept the car ride over.

 

[bigred]

Ok i got a 16' bayliner and and a few traps, I put in at Wilson point park in Middle River. If anyone knows a good place in this area to crab and has more experience crabbing then me( I have no experience) we can use my boat and we can split what we catch.

 

[Jaybeez]

Ok i got a 16' bayliner and and a few traps, I put in at Wilson point park in Middle River. If anyone knows a good place in this area to crab and has more experience crabbing then me( I have no experience) we can use my boat and we can split what we catch.

you want the boat license and a good 1000 ft of trot line to make it interesting.

 

[6cylrider98]

Went last Sat, got@ 3 bush, only 1 were good heavies. Lot of whites were good but lite. Last year was good for crabs.Should be good by Aug-Sept . As the norm.

 

[Redneck]

Went tonight to our secret local pier around fort howard. My brother and I went just for kicks and to see whats going on. We had 13 hand lines out, kept 20, but threw back a lot that will be keepers next sluff. If I had to guess we easily caught 4 dozen. We thought not to bad for early June. We grew up on the water and haven't seen crabbing like last year in 15 years. I also knocked the shit out of perch on a chartreuse and orange spinner.

 

[itsslow98]

Ok i got a 16' bayliner and and a few traps, I put in at Wilson point park in Middle River. If anyone knows a good place in this area to crab and has more experience crabbing then me( I have no experience) we can use my boat and we can split what we catch.

too early for middle river, go just a tad further south. liek out the mouth of MR and to the right hint hint.

 

[jeepin13]

Damn, you guys are making me wanna get out and I havent had the chance yet this year. Looks like maybe next week if I can.

 

[bigred]

you want the boat license and a good 1000 ft of trot line to make it interesting.

I have never used a trot line but am willing to give it a shot.

 

[bigred]

too early for middle river, go just a tad further south. liek out the mouth of MR and to the right hint hint.

There is a lot of crabs right in middle river they are just small. My son and I caught about a bush last night off the dock but only about 6 keeper

 

[AtomicAge]

I'm hungry.

I'm thinking steamed crabs this weekend.

 

[jeepin13]

I have never used a trot line but am willing to give it a shot.

Once you use one and start catching a ton of crabs, you will never look back. My topless traps have not seen water for 2 years.

 

[duckslayer]

Last year was the best year commercial crabbers have had in a long time. But they focked us(retailers) hard. There were tons of md crabs last year just nothing that was a good size, well to me at least. I sold all the local ones (which we pay top dollar for) that should be asl large and jumbo as mostly all mediums and for $1 crab during the week. there's been a lot of crabs this week just nothing worth me buying and reselling. All the light crabs I won't buy cause I can't sell them cheap enough for people to buy them and not complain. When people catch them themselves they dont care as much about the quality vs when they buy them.

/end rant sorry lol

Well I certainly never get $ 200 / bushel the money is not on our end. Crabs are the same price they were 20 yrs ago. Everything else is more. Its hard to throw borderline crabs in the 20 dollar basket instead of the 70 dollar one.

 

[Jaybeez]

I have never used a trot line but am willing to give it a shot.

-You need 2 baskets or 2 five gallon buckets.
-1000' of 1/4 - 3/16th inch line, I use nylon "clothes line" in 100ft sections, whatever you use it needs to sink and not float. I've seen some paracord that works and some that doesnt.
-You need 2 anchors, i use two really old windows sash weights maybe 15-20 lbs each.
-You need 2 buoys, i use real ones, but alot of people use old detergent bottles, they both need to be the same size and color.
-about 20 feet of lightweight chain
-about 20 ft of heavy rope
-about 4 brass dog leash type clips ( like to split my line in the middle, makes things a little easier to set/retrieve, or seperate to rebait)
-rocksalt
-a case of chicken necks
-a wire dip net
-some type of outrigger, i have 3 different designes for the different boats

Its only worth it if you go out every weekend.

 

[bigred]

-You need 2 baskets or 2 five gallon buckets.
-1000' of 1/4 - 3/16th inch line, I use nylon "clothes line" in 100ft sections, whatever you use it needs to sink and not float. I've seen some paracord that works and some that doesnt.
-You need 2 anchors, i use two really old windows sash weights maybe 15-20 lbs each.
-You need 2 buoys, i use real ones, but alot of people use old detergent bottles, they both need to be the same size and color.
-about 20 feet of lightweight chain
-about 20 ft of heavy rope
-about 4 brass dog leash type clips ( like to split my line in the middle, makes things a little easier to set/retrieve, or seperate to rebait)
-rocksalt
-a case of chicken necks
-a wire dip net
-some type of outrigger, i have 3 different designes for the different boats

Its only worth it if you go out every weekend.

Ok dont stop there once I got all this stuff how do I set it all up

 

[Jaybeez]

Ok dont stop there once I got all this stuff how do I set it all up

Anchor weight-
8'-10' rope-
buoy-
little bit of rope-
10ft of chain (weighs down the line to the bottom)-

brass clip clips to chain-
tied to 1000' line-
tied to brass clip-

clipped to 10ft chain-
tied to little bit of rope-
buoy-
8-10'ft rope-
anchor weight

You can split the line into two 500 ft sections like i do, tied to a brass clip on either end, to make it into manageable sections. You can do smaller sections if you want, or just go the full 1000 ft. Actually max is 1200, but i stick with 1000 because my leaders add length, and to avoid any issues. Each section of line basically needs clips on either end, to clip to the leader chains or another section of line.

Bait with chicken necks every 3-4', use a slip knot. Clip to a five gallon bucket handle, coil a little into the bucket, bait, coil, bait, coil, on and on. every 50 ft or so add a handfull of rocksalt. when the line is all coiled and baited, clip the other end to the handle and add water. You really want the line to be briney, it brings the crabs in. Refridgerate till morning.

http://www.bluecrab.info/crabbing/trotline.html

 

[bigred]

Anchor weight-
8'-10' rope-
buoy-
little bit of rope-
10ft of chain (weighs down the line to the bottom)-

brass clip clips to chain-
tied to 1000' line-
tied to brass clip-

clipped to 10ft chain-
tied to little bit of rope-
buoy-
8-10'ft rope-
anchor weight

You can split the line into two 500 ft sections like i do, tied to a brass clip on either end, to make it into manageable sections. You can do smaller sections if you want, or just go the full 1000 ft. Actually max is 1200, but i stick with 1000 because my leaders add length, and to avoid any issues. Each section of line basically needs clips on either end, to clip to the leader chains or another section of line.

Bait with chicken necks every 3-4', use a slip knot. Clip to a five gallon bucket handle, coil a little into the bucket, bait, coil, bait, coil, on and on. every 50 ft or so add a handfull of rocksalt. when the line is all coiled and baited, clip the other end to the handle and add water. You really want the line to be briney, it brings the crabs in. Refridgerate till morning.

http://www.bluecrab.info/crabbing/trotline.html

Thanks for the help and the link was great

 

[Redneck]

We also use salted eels and bull lips on our lines. The worse it smell the better, if the smell of your bait makes you puke you're good to go.

 

[Jaybeez]

We also use salted eels and bull lips on our lines. The worse it smell the better, if the smell of your bait makes you puke you're good to go.

Bull lips last forever because they are so tough, and they stink in the brine, but eels and necks are sooo much better.

If you have the time, and live on the water, you can catch eels for free bait, so thats a plus. I know one guy, and thats all he uses, he never pays a dime for bait.

But crabs dont like rotten bait, or fat, or ckicken skin.

 

[haoleboy]

My friends father would trot line years ago. He swore by eels. We would go out and catch herring when they were running and use them for eel bait. Fresh salted eel caught more crabs than chix necks or bull lips combined.

 

[travistheone]

eel. that what tony uses, and he catches more crabs then I thought humanly possible.