Crab pot floats??

[rags]

I am new to this crabbing thing. Bought a couple of pots, 3/8" rope 50ft, bullit floats and some of those line weights. I tied the rope onto the side of the pot(told it was easier to pull this way). Is there any special way to rig up the floats? How many do you use, etc.?

[Full Freezer]

I guess it depends on where you drop the pots as I had learned the hard way this week.

Lat week out at the mouth of the CR we dropped 3 pots with just 1 bouy. Lost all three. Don't know if they were stolen or swept away. Dropped them at low slack in 31ft of water with 100ft of weighted rope & checked for them at low slack 2x. Even put flags on mine just in case! They were no shows. I noticed all the traps had 2 bouys & some with large flags.

The NEXT time I will use 2 bouys & WEIGHT them down. There really isn't any reason we couldn't find them cause we scoured the area very good. Even looked for them up against the A jetty & North Jetty. I think someone didn't like a tourist dropping spankin' new traps in "their" spot.

Make sure you prepare for all eventualities. Maybe 3 bouys, 200ft of line & a lighted beacon.

Have fun!

Full Freezer

[Old Coot]

Tie the floats to the end of the line that isn't tied to the pots! Use good knots so they don't unravel and allow your floats to just float away. We zip-tie our knots for insurance. I suggest that you might want to custom color your floats so that you can pick them out in a crowd. Name and phone number might not hurt either, in case the floats get sucked under in a strong current. There is always the (slight) chance that somebody will notice them after a couple of days and recover them for you.

I use two floats per line - less likely to get sucked under if the tide gets to ripping.

Sad to say, you need to keep an eye on your stuff when it's in the water. I lost a setup earlier this year, guess somebody confused the only zebra-striped orange floats on the bay, with my initials on them, with their bleach bottles. I can see how they got confused.

Avoid dropping your pots in a navigation channel.

Let us know how you do. Good luck, crabbing is a gas! Watch your fingers, and don't crab barefoot.

[Grits]

Try this post http://www.ifish.net/cgi-local/ultim...c;f=1;t=025753

I don't know if it is mentioned anywhere but if you run double floats leave about 5 feet between them.

I run doubles on pots and singles on rings. The above advice on marking them is good advice. I used to have a smorgasport of color set ups but I recentely made all my rins one color and my pots all another color so I can remember which is which when I work them in a line.

[Slugranch]

Because the state of Washington says that we have to paint our floats red and white, I run a 10' 1/4" tag line with a small 4" gill net float at the end of it painted Chartreuse. Makes it easy to identify and won't suck under in a fast running tide. The two bigger floats will go under but the little float just stays on the surface.