How Best To Rig Your Crab Gear!

[Billy Tillamook]

How do you crab veterans like to rig your crab gear? Floating rope? Extra Bouys? Long Ropes? Sinking Rope?
I personally don't use pots...
I have the slip ring style rings as I like to stay active on my gear and I won't be going in the ocean to crab. Thanks for any advice BT

[Pete]

Never use floating rope, unless you want someone's propeller to cut it. I have that yellow braided stuff - it floats, but I put lengths of pencil lead inside it to sink it.

I like two buoys, about 2-3 feet apart. The first buoy may go under, but the second will stay on the surface. Even with slip rings, you want good floatation. Check the tides, so you know what the flow will be like. Strong tides will suck down the best of floats if you get them in the current.

I like ropes about twice as long as the depth I'm crabbing.

The ocean is closed for crabbing, as of August 15th.

[Barviewrocks]

I just rigged some traps and am no expert but I used weighted rope in 50' lengths to 2 floats. I have a small float at the trap where I connect to the bridle of the trap. I am using the inverted funnel type of trap and slip rings. I think I am going to rig up a flag on one of the floats so people will avoid cutting the lines.

I am not a knot person so do not know how to properly tie the ropes. Perhaps someone can advise. Then I suspect we will have to tie off the ends.

Good luck!

[Keeper]

Floats!!!

Be sure to have enough floats on your crab traps. We nicknamed a trap "slider" after it disappeared twice! Be sure to use two or three large buoys if you plan on crabbing in any of the larger bays.

Always make sure you have plenty of shad for bait.

We don't like to drop our traps any deeper than 30' and our traps are rigged with 50' of rope.

[garyk]

All good suggestions. I'll add...

Use paint and tape, and even a soldering iron to make your floats very distinctive.

a. Unique floats are a little less attractive to gear thieves.

b. Makes it tougher for crab rustlers to claim they mistook your set for one of theirs.

[HammondSeaRanger]

mark your floats with your full name, or your boats reg. # or license plate #. .. something trackable that would indicate the traps belong to you.

This serves two functions:

#1. If someone is caught hot lining your traps and they get cited this will eliminate all arguments that they beleived the pots were theirs.

#2. If OSP is routinly checking someone that is pulling a pot for a shellfish license and they see that the pot is marked with aonthers information ... they can contact you and inquire as to if the subject contacted had permission to pull your pot.

a Good hint ... Use light sticks in your crab pots it atracts the crabs .. also when you pull and check your pots. If you plan on dumping them back into the water leave a few crabs in the pot .. the noise will draw others.

Matt

[Hammer Down]

Billy T...

Do a search on the Salty Dog board. This topic has been covered many times. Pay close attention to what Puffin notes. He is a MASTER. His pot formula fishes extremely well and is extremely cheap.

Some great threads there on this subject.

[Buck]

I wouldn't recommend SSN myself, especially if your name or ODL# is included as well. No sense in giving a pot stealer a chance to steal your identity as well.

[Gettin' Birdy]

We use a single large buoy (mostly crab nehalem bay) but we also insert a small piece (18") piece of pvc and our ropes have a handle with a small piece of pvc (4") on the top...makes it really easy to grab with a boat hook or by hand and is distinctive. I would second not putting your soc. security number on your buoys but address numbers and phone number probably are sufficient. Great idea on the light sticks.

[Billy Tillamook]

Thanks for your reply's gang! BT

[Spoiled Daddy]

All my gear has the same colored floats and reflective tape on them. I use double floats and have marked them with distinctive tape colors. I took an old soildering iron and melted my initials in the foam, in addition to my phone number.

I would strongly suggest not using your SS# anymore for ID marks on your property.

Spoiled Daddy

[fishaplenty]

What are light sticks

[KROY]

Matt,
I understand what you are saying about uniquely identifying your floats but it isn't a good idea to put identity theft information like SSN and ODL on crab floats. It's way to easy for someone to pull a pot and see that info, snip goes the pot and the float goes to the computer. Maybe use some unique numbers you branded on the float that you can pull from your wallet to show the OSP officer?

Thanks for the tip on the light stick.

KROY

[Pete]

I had a trap stolen a couple years ago. I believe the way it was stolen was the bad-guy watched me drop my traps, then waited for me to go off to fish. Then he cut off my buoy and tied his own buoy on my rope. His buoy must have had about a 10 foot weighted rope on it. When I came back, I couldn't find my buoy. When I gave up looking for it, I imagine he pulled my trap and went merrily on his way.

The point is, marking your buoys is relatively pointless. You need something permanent on your traps, too. It may not be enough to wire a metal tag onto them, but that would help. I haven't figured out a good way to permanently mark my traps, yet.

[HammondSeaRanger]

Kroy,

your right .. my mistake. I meant some sort of personal identifier that can be traced back to you .. i think your boat reg # is good or even your license plate number. Thanks for correcting me.

light sticks ... snap sticks ... break 'em shake 'em and u got light.

Matt

[otter]

Look HERE

[INSAYN]

I have been really successful with my bouy system.

I run a sliding white float on my main rope so it keeps the line snug between water level and the crab ring.

Then I have a round weight (I poured out of lead) that slips over the rope on the slack side of the slip bouy.

Finally, I have a yellow bouy that has a 3' piece of PVC running through it, that stands upright in the water with a flag on the top, and a weight on the bottom (this WILL NOT tip over). This bouy attaches to the end of the slack rope. The slip weight pulls the excess rope between bouys down and out of boaters props way, and the flag waves in the breeze easily seen by everyone.

I have 3 traps and have my last name, and phone number on each bouy. I put a #1, #2, or #3 printed on the sides of the upright bouys so I can easily remember which pot I just pulled, and which is next. I also have psychedelic cow print designs drawn all over my white bouys.

Did my dads the same way, only his uprights are white/red so we can identify the difference between each others rigs.

When we motor up to the upright we just leave it in the water, and use the boat hook to grab the rope on the crab ring side of the slip bouy. Then just pull like crazy leaving the bouy's in the water. The slip weight will pull the excess rope down between the two bouys while the crab ring is being pulled up. Then the ring is dumped into the boat, bait checked and then ring put back down in the water where we choose. Everything settles back down on it's own.

I don't go down and fish, while crabbing, so I spend the entire time tending traps. Going against current I drop each trap in at various distances between each other. Then drift back to the first pot, tend it, drop it and move on to the next and so on. With 6 pots in the water, dad and I shoot for 15-20 minutes of soak time between tendings.

We have a blast and do really well.

Up till this year, we have rented boats out of G-baldi, but now that I have a boat, we are in hog heaven!

INSAYN™