crab thieves?

greenbuttskunk · 10-17-2005, 08:28 AM

I decided to drop a few traps at garibaldi sat. Never had this happen. One rope seemed to just "come loose"

:whazzup: I just bought the darn thing!!! It's a smaller size round trap, with no rope attached. Lost it in the shallow bay accross from garibaldi. While driving home I stopped to buy some crap pots and the guy mentioned divers there where deliberately untying ropes from pots. He thought this might have happend to me. It did seem strange. Anyway, if you happend to come upon one in that area that fits my description, please let me know.
Thanks!
GBS

Phil Layer · 10-17-2005, 08:39 AM

Quote:

While driving home I stopped to buy some crap pots and the guy mentioned divers there where deliberately untying ropes from pots.

Thanks for sharing this info but how in the world would anyone learn something like this was going on, if it truly was? Did a diver confess to him? Did someone see a diver do it at the bottom of the bay? And finally, why would someone do that? What would be the logic?

Before we take our last pieces of rope and string up these divers (I realize you are not advocating this but others will on this post), we need to get some facts in the picture before proceeding.

It is strange that the pot would come off when you just tied it but I honestly doubt someone was down there untying it.

TundraIII · 10-17-2005, 08:53 AM

Tillamook Bay is a favorite place for many Portland area divers....and yes...some of them mess with you when they are out there. I had a pair of divers actually pull on several lines on our fishing poles while fishing in front of Lysters for sea trout years ago. How do I know? Because of the obvious
yank action of the pole tips...the periodic burst of air bubbles at the surface 10 ft from our boat and then the divers actually surfacing near the beach a few minutes later.

Rip'N'Lips · 10-17-2005, 09:00 AM

When you say bought some on the way home, do you mean from the guy setup on Hiway 6 selling from a truck? I wanted to stop but was running late. If it was this guy, how are they? How much?

Thanks,

Rip'N'Lips

greenbuttskunk · 10-17-2005, 09:15 AM

He mentioned that two divers had been caught doing this.
Now this is just second hand info from him, but he seemed to be very interested and when I told him where I lost my pot, he seemed to know just where I probably lost it. Just found it interesting. Being a diver myself, I'm not saying they are bad folks, they actually rock. Just a possible head's up.
Yes, the guy selling stuff from his van, near forest grove on
hwy 6. Great prices, and good quality for the money. A bought a few. He had a great selection of hand made gear.
Just nice to buy from a little guy once and awhile. His wife seemed very nice.

Abalone · 10-17-2005, 11:10 AM

It could be that the diver got hung up in your line rather then he jerked on it on purpose. I have had that happen to me before. One year I did a dive on the Willy.
I dropped in at the mouth of the Clack and swam down the river below Meldrum. I pulled a float and it was during shad season. Thank goodness they weren't using heavy leaders.

You should have seen the looks on their faces. They had no idea I was down there. I think they thought I was a huge Sturgeon.

Divers get blamed for a lot of stuff. I don't dive the bays anymore but even when I did I kept clear of peoples traps.

flapbreaker · 10-17-2005, 11:18 AM

I thought that divers were supposed to use some floating flags to indicate their presence?

Norm · 10-17-2005, 11:48 AM

I doubt it, most people who dive around Tillamook usually dive the jetty's. Most of the crab pot "thieves" are actually a heavy out-going current and seaweed attached to the line

. Just go out to the beach near the jetty on low tide after a busy weekend and you'll see lost rings and traps sanded in all over.

whatugetemon · 10-17-2005, 12:05 PM

Quote:

I thought that divers were supposed to use some floating flags to indicate their presence?

There is no law that requires divers to use flags and there�s no law (in Oregon) that requires boaters to give them any distance. Many boaters don�t know what a dive flag is and I�ve heard of boaters that have approached (and even picked up) dive flags out of curiosity.

As a fisherman and a diver, I see divers and fisherman make negative assumptions about each other. I think most of these assumptions are way off base (we all know what happens when we assume :-), but there are bad apples in both groups.

sandman · 10-17-2005, 12:19 PM

I'd don't know what i'd do if a caught a diver in my pots?I'd probibly pull his wet suit over his head like a hockey player would and go to town

fishboys · 10-17-2005, 12:31 PM

sandman now thats funny

ArimaRees · 10-17-2005, 12:37 PM

Kind of spooky diving in tillamook bay right now with all those trebel hooks being pulled through the watter would be my guess but I dont dive. was your float in the same spot then you pulled it up with no pot?I would think most divers would have better things to do while under watter and most divers are mostlikely well educated people with enough money to be out diving. It's not a cheap sport

Abalone · 10-17-2005, 12:41 PM

And that's exactly why I stay away from Crabbing areas.

If you are a diver you have had the experience in the bays of people accusing you of things. Everybody naturally assumes that you are up to no good. A diver in a Crabbing area is assumed to be taking crabs out of pots. While this may or not be true I would never want to take the chance of running into some POed moron that decides to runs around the surface with his prop hanging in the water.

Bay Diving is the worst diving there is. The jetty are terrible place. It ticks off everybody on the bank because they think the divers are scaring off the fish but in reality it is the opposite. But try to explain this with a regulator in you mouth and the lead is flying.

I doubt any divers are stealing pots. It's intimidating being around a lot of boats, sooner or later you have to surface.

Jeremy · 10-17-2005, 12:46 PM

Quote:

I would think most divers would have better things to do while under watter and most divers are mostlikely well educated people with enough money to be out diving. It's not a cheap sport

Believe it or not there is not much to do after you have been on the bottom for an hour or so.

EULACHON · 10-17-2005, 01:36 PM

I never leave mine unattended work a string of 6.

I have almost lost one to the jaws on outgoing but never had one messed with in Tillamook.

I did however watch one move about in the bay that you speak of still have no idea I though seals but it went up the bay down the bay across the bay so I know itwasn't the tide.

I should dust off the scuba gear!!

Paul

Abalone · 10-17-2005, 01:41 PM

"I never leave mine unattended"

Right on ! If I say Crab pot stolen that means I was there and caught them.

I have caught thieves raiding my pots and they have ready made excuses for pulling them. That why I have my Name and Address written all over them.

If you want to fish then fish, if you want to crab then crab. The good old days are gone.