|
Mr. Carkington
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Not all that wander are lost.
Posts: 10,882
|
Are you happy with just a few crabs?
Pilar
Ifish Forum Guide
Member # 270
posted 03-25-2002 09:29 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is there anyone out there that does not limit on crab ... like every time?
I almost feel guilty when I overhear someone at the dock say "we got 6 crabs". There's 3 of them and they will split that bag 3 ways.
For some time now I have enjoyed great success with the brine spiders. It's starting to look like I am one of the few who do.
So why do people not catch limits of crabs every time?
Here's a few common problems I avoid.
1) Crabbing in the wrong spot. What can I say, the crabs have places they like to be and you have to go to them. More important is the pressure factor. Lots of boats in one spot means that the good crab will be divided up between more people. Where is the good spot? More on this later .... but they prefer sand or muck bottom not rock or boulders.
1) Wrong bait or pot baited wrong. Crabs feed mostly on clams and whatever dead fish they find in the bay. Old reliable for me is the leavings from a rockfish after you filet it. Bloody fish carcass of any kind is good bait. Some baits are better than others. Fresh Tuna, Shad or Halibut works better than any other. Salmon, rockfish and other fishes work too. Cabezon, sturgeon and baitfish make poor bait. Having said that I see people using squid (this actually works well with a bait bag), cat food and all manner of things that smell bad. Don't forget Chicken, turkey and mink or nutria carcasses they work good too. Sea lions will mot eat chicken, turkey, mink or nutria. Those are the baits for Newport Bay.
Baited wrong! Don't let the crab dine and dash. Tie the bait to the bottom at the center of the trap. Stay 8" or more away from the doors and at least 6" from the top or sides. Bait cages, folded chicken wire or mesh bags are good to make the bait last. Fresh fishbacks go away quick. Tie both ends of your bait to the trap so it can't be pulled out the door. If they can reach it from the top they will stack up on top of your trap and bail as you wind in the line. Bait gone and no crabs!
3) Wrong tide. Always bay crab when the tide is coming in. The slack high is the most productive time. Re up your bait one hour before High slack and catch 90% of the crabs you will get that day. It matters not in the ocean, any tide works. In the bay the crabs are tumbleweeds blowing across the bottom in a strong tide. On the outgoing (Ebb) they sink into the bottom muck and wait for the tide to reverse. On strong tides either way they are hunkered down and will not travel far to get to your gear. But as the tide slows they pop up and scoot across the bottom to your trap full of bloody fishbacks.
4) Not waiting long enough. In the ocean I wait for one hour minimum. Pull the traps once and you are limited out. In the bay wait at least an hour and then do your first round. Keep a pot ready to throw, preferably a ring. When you pull a heavy loaded pot, toss the ring right then and there and clean up the stragglers on your next round. When we fish offshore the traps go in at the usual place and we come back 4 hours later to jam packed pots.
5) Wrong time of day. Try it at night. You are the only boat on the bay. GPS makes it easy to find your way through the shallows. The crabs have no choice except your traps if you are fishing all alone. The bonus the crabs are nocturnal and like the shallow areas no one crabs in for feeding at night. They are looking for clams in the channels near the clam beds. Some of the best spots are only 6 to 10 feet deep!
Hope this helps you be a more successful crabber. Limits for all that know the secrets of crabbing.
--------------------
The bend is your friend!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 1646 | From: Portland, Or., U.S.A | Registered: Aug 2000 | IP: Logged
live to fish
Chromer
Member # 1968
posted 03-25-2002 09:43 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the info Pilar i will have to try this wednesday when i go ou.I was planning on using sturgen for bait but i guess i had better re think this.
--------------------
Paul
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 32 | From: St Helens | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged
SjP
Chromer
Member # 109
posted 03-25-2002 10:10 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've always avoided sturgeon for crab bait until last year. I used sturgeon several times and did not find any difference in my success than with other baits. I like shad, mackerel, salmon, herring, smelt, bottom fish carcass (I've never used chicken or turkey, and don't want to use mink). I tried the sturgeon (especially the visera) and slayed em. I put the large pieces in the bait cage and the small stuff including the guts and old bait fish in the Scotty's (or other) bait can. As long as the bait is fresh or frozen fresh and not rotten, I find that most anything works if there are crab present.
I only crab the Columbia anymore because I don't like 14 keeper crabs for 6 pots being a good day.
It helps to crab where there is a natural (or unnatural) accumulation of crab food. There are areas where the commercial fisherman consistenly dump their left overs. Limits are the norm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 272 | From: Lake Oswego OR USA | Registered: May 2000 | IP: Logged
sturgn
Chromer
Member # 987
posted 03-25-2002 10:23 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have never crabbed in the open ocean, I am headed out of Newport wed and I want to drop some pots out side the jetties, what should I look for in a good spot out there? I usually put my traps in the bay and leave them till I come back.
John
--------------------
Sturgn
Fish On Adventures!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 87 | From: Columbia River, Oregon | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged
Pilar
Ifish Forum Guide
Member # 270
posted 03-25-2002 10:51 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sturgn, be careful. I'm still trying to figure out the Newport ocean crabbing. The area to the north of the north jetty was ok but the wave action there is pretty bad on all but the calmest days. You have to get right close to the beach break to find the right depth. If it picks up or blows you may not be able to get your gear back safely.
Or fish with 100ft. line and much further from the beach in 60 ft instead of 30.
The area south of the south jetty is ok but really shallow. We got quite a few females there last summer in June.
Does anyone know the hot spot offshore at Newport bay?
[ 03-25-2002, 10:51 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]
--------------------
The bend is your friend!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 1646 | From: Portland, Or., U.S.A | Registered: Aug 2000 | IP: Logged
Keta
Chromer
Member # 2027
posted 03-25-2002 12:27 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you set your pots at the bottom of drop-offs or just at a predetermined depth?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 105 | From: Klamath Falls, OR | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged
TundraIII
Chromer
Member # 2001
posted 03-25-2002 01:55 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pilar, here's a question for you: you are crabbing the little bay area above the south jetty Columbia (inside). You go to pull one of your pots and are suprised to find a foreign rope entangled with your own crab pot bouy line. This foreign line has no bouy of any kind. You pull up the line and find what appears to be a commercial crab pot.
What do you do with the commercial pot? I was in 15 to 18 ft of water and it had floating line that was approx. 22 ft long. The line was not cut but appeared badly frayed. The floating line seemed dangerous to me being the owner of a pump driven boat, but could easily pose a problem to a prop boat too.
What would be the proper protocol for something like this?
p.s. I kept the pot and it still sits in my garage today. Found another one a year before washed up on the beach in Seaside.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 63 | From: Aloha | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged
Keta
Chromer
Member # 2027
posted 03-25-2002 02:01 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You didn't ask me but you did us all a favor by removing this "ghost gear" that would continue killing until it corroded to the point where things that entered it could escape.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 105 | From: Klamath Falls, OR | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged
Pilar
Ifish Forum Guide
Member # 270
posted 03-25-2002 02:24 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good questions. The easy one first ... Its a hard call between Joe sport fishers wayward crab pot bobbing out the jaws to sea, never to be seen again and the commercial gear with no bobber. I agree with Keta. Disable it by tying the door open or remove the gear from the water. Most of the stuff I find like this is for the dumpster. Badly corroded and useless except as a place for crab to die. I think you did the right thing. Usually I will throw this kind of thing in the dumpster or up on the beach if I can reach it.
The other question is harder. The depth I fish at the south jetty in Tillamook is a matter of some experimentation. The bottom drops off beyond 45 ft. and the nice sloping sand bottom only goes out that far.
If you find a stretch of beach, plot it and find out how far out the beach extends underwater. Beach sand supports clams and other things crab eat. Almost always a sand beach is a huge clue on where to find crab in the ocean.
--------------------
The bend is your friend!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts: 1646 | From: Portland, Or., U.S.A | Registered: Aug 2000 | IP: Loggedsturgn
Member # 987 posted 03-25-2002 03:46 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Almost every time I head towards Seal Rock I see bouys floting a couple hundred yards south of the jettys I will look for a good soft spot out there to give a shot! Will let you guys know, decided Tuesday looks a little better than Wed so we are headed out in the AM.
Later
fish_on
Member # 485 posted 03-28-2002 06:47 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Being very new to ocean crabbing I have a couple of questions. Will the slip side rings (the kind that look like a trap but the sides slide up and down) crab in the ocean or are they too light? I have a 15' sled type alum boat, the brand is a westcoaster, on a good and I mean very good day is that enought boat to crab outside Tillamook?
FYI if you get to Fife, Wa go to Sportco they have 100' lengths of sinking crab line for $10.00/each. I think sinking line should be law!
Hamachi
Member # 1357 posted 03-28-2002 08:03 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's how I do it in South Central Puget Sound. Danielson collapsable trap with a 3lb. rockcod weight ziptied in each corner. Stainless tie wire wrapped around all edges to keep the STARFISH and GIANT OCTOPUS out. Drop them in 80' on the sand during the incoming tide, stuffed with salmon carcass in a bait cage ziptied to the bottom. Limits every time.
No need to use anything else because it's cheap, works, and you're not out very much money if they're lost or stolen.
BY THE WAY....
If anybody sees 2 pots like I described please let me know. I had 2 stolen off my skiff late last year while it was parked in the storage lot at my apartment complex in Federal Way, WA.
finclipped
Member # 127 posted 03-29-2002 01:01 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a question regarding the crab bait people use.
I have found it nearly impossible to use any fish, due to the seals stealing bait. I use the collapsable traps, and the seals will break them down in order to steal the bait. My question is do bait boxes stuffed with shad work? Or do the seals still break/open the traps?
[ 04-03-2002, 09:10 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]
|
Linear Mode
