Newport Crabbing and theft.

Salty Walty · 03-13-2004, 06:17 PM

I finally got my kicker on the boat and decided what better way do the breakin than by picking up crab pots. The crabbing was slow we got 4 for the day. The part that sucked was we went back to the dock for a head break, the wife and 2 kids are too many for the bucket. Went back out and someone bagged one of or crab pots. There were alot of boats out and some others checking your pots for you too. Doesn't say much for your fellow man does it? Live and learn; Don't leave your pots on a busy day. Otherwise it was a great day on the water.

Reel Creel · 03-13-2004, 06:32 PM

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That SUCKS... Ive had that happen to me and it burns my a##. Some day Im going to find somebody helping them self to my stuff and I wont give an inch till the CG gets there!!! That takes the fun out of being able to leave your traps down while out fishing.

[ 03-13-2004, 09:54 PM: Message edited by: Reel Creel ]

Bendman · 03-14-2004, 06:04 AM

I've never had a problem with someone helping them self to one of my pots. But I have had people not pay attention and run them over chopping them off. Put flag set ups on your stuff and MARK them well.

Chum King · 03-14-2004, 06:36 AM

Salty Walty,

Not to imply that you would have made either any of these common mistakes but I thought I'd throw them out for digestion.

1. Make sure that you have enough line on your pots for the water you are crabbing (including the incoming tide, and scope needed for any currents). If you don't use enough line, you will either sink your float, or your pot may lift up and travel.

2. The floats you are using need to be "foam" based (or similar construction). If you use empty "bleach" bottles, they may get nicked and fill with water, and eventually sink. Also if the plastic bottles get pulled under then the pressure may pop the caps off.

3. If you put your pots in the channel, then the Coast Guard may pick them up. I have been advised that pots picked up by the Coast Guard are stored on their dock until owners come to claim them.

4. You should make sure that your floats are using a fairly unique color scheme and that you also mark your name and phone number on the floats. There are bound to be a few klutzs out there that only remember that they had a yellow and white float, and didn't really keep track of how many pots they had out there. By putting your contact info on the float, if they did screw up they could at least get your gear back to you after the fact.

In the interim, if you need to borrow some rings, come on by the house, and I can fix you up with some... I'd better mark the floats first though.

ChumKing :grin:

corrirod · 03-14-2004, 07:27 AM

Sorry to hear that SW. :depressed:

Like Chumking stated, anyway you can make your pots stand out will be a deterent to a would-be-thief. Putting your name or special markings on the float means that if they decide to steal it they'll have to buy a new float. Painting your pots in a unique manner means they'll have to repaint it before they can use it or they'll have to go to a lot of trouble to hide it all the time.

Anything you can do to cause them a hassle will help deter them from taking it. Most thieves are lazy and don't want anything they have to work at. Kinda sums up their whole lives: too lazy to work for it.

Silver Eagle · 03-14-2004, 07:27 AM

I've found Crab Pots floating 10 miles off shore, make sure you have enough rope and weight, I have done it myself, got all excited one afternoon fast tide threw out four and turned around and could not see one. Had to wait three hours to low tide to recover and then only got three. I think "most" crabbers are honest people, but there is always one or two..........Sorry for your lose seems to be part of the game......Ray

Salty Walty · 03-14-2004, 07:47 AM

Thanks for all the advice. I did have the floats marked with My name and boat name. Cut with a prop could have happened by someone else checking pots. We were no where near the channel and out of the high speed traffic. I will get some paint and mark the traps too. I guess it is kind of like child proofing your house trying to deter these people.

Ride Red · 03-14-2004, 08:14 AM

I have to make a comment about one of the suggestions that Chum King gave. We picked up a crab pot right at the jaws of the Yaquina, near the center of the channel and the ocean was closed to crabbing. It was an out going tide and it was snagged on the bottom so you could only see it between swells. It was identical to the floats that we had on our pots so we pulled it. It took a few tries to be in the right spot at the right time. As soon as we got a hold of the float we realized that it wasn't ours but decided to pull it and look for some other floats in the bay that matched it. But we couldn't find any others so I brought it home and called the number that was on it. In couple months the owner stopped and picked it up at my house. The bad news was that he had 4 altogether, but at least he got one of them back.

RR

love2fish · 03-14-2004, 10:15 AM

A couple of weeks ago when we were crabbing Hammond, and were the only ones out there, we noticed a few floats just barely under the surface. Two of the floats had contact info on them, so I called and found out that they had left them for lost. We pulled the pots and returned them to the owners the next day. Two other pots were sanded in and couldn't be pulled up. They didn't have any info at all on the floats. You should at least put a phone number on the floats just in case you do lose them.

love2fish

1pump · 03-14-2004, 03:11 PM

I've had 2 pots stolen at Newport. 1 up bay by the gas tank and another down near the CG station. They're might have been a slight chance that the one up bay might have been pulled under, but I doubt it.
There is a theft problem down there. I've been crabbing more than long enough to recognize conditions that can sink a float or drag a pot out to sea. Not to say I'm immune to making mistakes, but if you rig a ring or pot correctly it's not going to move on it's own.

Salty Walty · 03-14-2004, 06:43 PM

Well this had a good end to it. I got a call this afternoon from a sheepish sounding person. They were going home and realized they had an extra pot. They had the same floats with black writing on them like mine. I am glad that my phone # was on the float. They were very apologetic and said it was an honest mistake. I told them thanks for calling and all was well. I will make my floats more distinct now though.

Half fast Toyn · 03-14-2004, 11:21 PM

Lost three new pots last year at Newport...... not to mention 6 rings tied on the public pier back in the early 90's....Its a great way to ruin a trip. Double floated and flagged.....so I know they didnt sink. Now I crab while anchored up with the rings tied to my boat and the pots sitting where I can watch them with bino's

Mike

Spoiled Daddy · 03-15-2004, 04:27 AM

Here's another suggestion for marking your floats. Take a soildering iron or an old wood burning iron and melt your initials and phone number into the foam floats. It makes it almost impossible for someone to say they mistakenly picked yours up. Just be careful, as it doesn't take much heat to melt the floats. I haven't lost a pot in the Yaquina since I marked all my floats this way.

SW, glad to hear you are going to get yours back. The person sounds like they were being honest and corrected their mistake!

SD