Small Rant-crab pots

[saltwater only]

A week or so ago someone got a crab pot line in their prop.
I always worry about that and try to keep an eye out.
Last Sat I had to turn around and return to port early, well that puts the sun in your eyes and makes it harder to see floats.
Lots of floats on the heading to the ranch.
Now just asking does it make that much difference where you drop your pots an if not is it possible to drop them a little north or south of the main traffic line?
Thanks

[Smily]

As we were coming in we talked about how close some of them were put in the channel or traffic lane and real close to the jetty as well. If someone got a line in the prop it could turn into a dangerous situation too quickly. We put ours north a ways like a couple of miles and got limits and were out of most people's way.

[Threemuch]

Here's another small rant. How about weighting your crab lines? At slack tide it is easy to avoid a set of buoys and then hit the 30' of floating poly line. It's almost always recreational gear and usually set near the jetty traffic.

I have a sneaking feeling that most of the "stolen" crab gear have succumbed to this sort of fate. I know if I snag someones floating line, I don't pay to much attention to salvaging their gear for them when I untangle it from the prop.

[flapbreaker]

As much as I hate government regulations I think there should be some designated areas at each port where it's illegal to set pots. And anyone who breaks the law loses their pots or something. We passed some over the columbia bar. They are quite hard to spot in rough water.

Improper floats is another problem. Milk jugs and the like should not be used, good floats are cheep.

Only a blind person will miss my floats.

[Salty Walty]

**Not intended to Flame**
Look at your charts and you will see that the Navigational Channel runs out to the Red can and is about the width of the jettys. The area outside of that is open to putting down crab pots in. If you choose to cut the corner and get outside of the Navigational channel you run the risk of running into navigational hazards. As for the ones past that it is open but might not be a good idea to put them there. I will second the use of weighted or non floating line.

[Orca]

Find any in the channel? Call the CG and tell them there is a hazard in the navigation channel.

[oregonoutdoors]

All pots should have a weighted line.

[Mr.Kitch'nPass]

How about weighting your crab lines?

Dumb question of the day...How do you weight you line?

[ron m]

I'm pretty new at this, but I've learned two ways to weight the lines. One is to get the commercial version that clips on, englunds and probably other places have them. The other way is to use a plastic tie and put on about 6 ounces very tightly about 15 to 20 feet down the line from the float---that's here i put them on the traps I drop outside. Probably 10 ft down on the pots droppped in the bay. Those distances are estimates, folks that have done a lot of crabbing can probably tell better what dept from the float is best.

ron m

[Salty Walty]

good floats are cheep.



Keta, Did you mean sheep or cheap? :grin:

[Ride Red]

Another good way is to use pencil lead. Just put short pieces inside the rope every 10ft. or so.

[slowbuilder2005]

As much as I hate government regulations I think there should be some designated areas at each port where it's illegal to set pots. And anyone who breaks the law loses their pots or something. We passed some over the columbia bar. They are quite hard to spot in rough water.

You'd have to make it a BIG keep-out zone. The first thing people will do is to place ALL their pots just on the edge of the keep-out zone, thinking that there are more crab in the area where you can't crab ...you might accidentally encourage people into making the problem 2X as big!

- I'd vote for a keep-out zone that keeps the traffic area open to 1/2 mile or further, both north and south of the jetties AND the law ought to required weighted lines when crabbing outside the jaws.

Just my 2-bitsss......

Brian

SW,
Baaaaaadddd!!!!

Mr.KP,
I prefer leaded ilne for my pots.

[Miss B Haven]

The CR does have a shipping control zone from the Bouy 10 line out to...uh oh...is it 4 (and the corresponding green bouy?? (Been to long :depressed.

I've never understood why they allow crab pots in the area between 10 and the tip of the South Jetty. It's not the channel but it is inside the control zone. They sure don't allow any type of fishing in there so why the crab pots?

[Billfisher]

Okay... I got all this (and was not among the hazard creators.) Now where do I get rid of all the non-keepers and females? The south side of the jetty positively sucked last weekend! I also came dangerously close to eating a crab pot with my out drive. I was dead center channel, just inside of the whistler.

[Puffin]

Hear Hear. Just what we need more government regulation. Perhaps with enough regulation we can remove common sense from the mix. Just do what the government says or your computer. We could all be replaced by robots. Try hard enough and we can make sure there are enough regulations no one has any fun. The government was not meant to rule every aspect of life. Pay attention and if something bad happens deal with it dont regulate it.

[OceanBlue]

Puffin, you missed the announcement - Common Sense died last week.

Here's the notice:

The Passing of Mr. Sense


Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense.
Mr. Sense had been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm and that life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not kids, are in charge).

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place - reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from
school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but, could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and was awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two stepbrothers; My Rights and Ima Whiner. Not many attended
his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

[ICHTHYDEMON]

Mr.KP,
I prefer leaded ilne for my pots.

I agree,leaded line is the easiest way to get your line to sink. You don't have to worry about extra hardware on the line getting tangled.

Up here in Washington,I can get 100' of leaded line and a crab bouy for less than $20.

[flapbreaker]

Perhaps with enough regulation we can remove common sense from the mix.

If it was so common why do so few people have it

[saltwater only]

Puffin regulation NOT requested by me.

Just pointing out it was geting very busy in the traffic line
and at under some conditions floats are hard to see.

Not everyone has theirs as well marked as Keta, weighted line definately a big help.

Ocean Blue got it. Thanks Ocean Blue I can see why Pilar thinks you are special.
See you on the water.

[flapbreaker]

I'll tell you when floats are hard to see no matter what kind of bouy you use. When they are partially underwater that's when. There's a lot of people out there that don't plan for the tidal change apparently. How many times do we hear "someone stole my pots!", ya it's called the Ocean! Anyway, sorry if my suggestion of regulation regarding this safety matter rubbed someone the wrong way. I did preface that saying I don't like it.

[BUGLEMAN]

0

[jocose]

i usually do one thing or the other, crab or fish if i am crabbing i drift nearby keeping a watchful eye on my pots.. i mark the tops of my bouys with the length of line tied to each pot, i note the depth on my fish finder prior to dropping and tie up most of the excess line, leaving only enough to keep it on the bottom and my bouy floating upright.. no one has fouled on my line yet..

[lingslayer]

"I don't know why they call it 'common' sense when It's so Gawd Damned rare'"

My apologies to Will Rogers if I got it wrong.
I hope you get the gist.
Jamie