[Mark Youngblood Sportfishing]

I put (2) brand new crab pots in the water at Chnook between channel marker 5 and 3 on Saturday morning. I checked them Saturday afternoon on the way in and took 6 keepers out of them. I then put them back in the water for the night (as I have many times before) and the next morning they were gone. They were brand new ($110.00 each) and heavily weighted, I have never lost a pot before due to it floating away, I can't say for sure but I sincerely believe they were stolen, so just make sure you keep an eye on your stuff in this area.

Just venting,
Fish Slapper

 

[BottomFeeder]

Head Slapper,


You're kidding right? Do you really think people are going out to Buoy 3 and 5 at night looking for other people's crab pots? Look at the tide swings for the early mornings. They are ripping out, hard. Hey wait a minute, ....Bonneville is releasing more water right now. hmmmmm.... And you've never lost a pot before so it couldn't be that. Yep, has to be the people at Buoy 3 in the middle of the night stealing crab traps :smile:


Just fun'in ya' of course. Never underestimate the Columbia dude. Never.


-BottomFeeder

 

[Sore Back]

I hate to say it but I have to agree with Bottom Feeder. The current up at the river is so strong it's hard to hold anything on the bottom, especially through a large ebb. Dam spills only complicate and fuel the ebb.

The only time I had a crab pot stolen was out of my boat and never out of the bay.

Sorry

 

[Lepper]

regardless of if they were stolen or swept out to sea, this is a good reason why I only put in OLD pots that
1. no one would want to keep if they did pull them up.
2. they get swept out and I can't find them? who cares! they were crapola pots anyway!!
d

 

[Pitch Pocket]

It only takes about an hour or two to get enough crab for multiple limits. Why not just stay with your pots, collect the crabs and take your pots home? Just put your pots in about 1 hour before high slack check them in one hour and pick them up an hour after high slack. If you don't get enough crab in that period of time, you are either in the wrong spot or you are doing something wrong. When you crab, crab. When you fish, fish. You can do both, but when you leave your traps, you can lose them, one way or another.

 

[Killertraylor]

You guys are sure being awfully hard on a guy who lost a few hundred dollars worth of pots! "When you fish, fish, and when you crab, crab? Give me a break!" You CAN do both successfully.

I have a friend who is a commercial crabber and he leaves pots in the river in that exact same area most of the winter (when the flows are even higher) and never loses them to the current. Of course they are BIG HEAVY POTS, but if yours were sufficiently weighted and had big buoys, I'd guess someone took them as opposed to the current moving them.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Mark Youngblood Sportfishing]

Killertraylor, thank you for your response. I appreciate all of the replys and will take each one with a grain of salt. The pots were not in a normal fiishing area, they were out of the way and in the same area as several other crab pots. I fully understand the flows of the Columbia and have crabbed every year at buoy 10 at the same time, the pots were very well weighted and had no problem before the day in question. The reason I assume someone took them is because the next morning when I was looking for them another boat was putting their pots in and after talking with them they said their friend actually caught someone a few days prior attempting to take one of their traps in the same area. I simply just meant this as a warning to anyone who crabs in this area. It is possible that the traps washed away but very highly unlikely in my opinion.

[ 09-03-2003, 03:13 PM: Message edited by: Fish Slapper ]

 

[Pitch Pocket]

You're taking my statement out of context Joe. I said that you can do both, but you risk losing your pots from either the current or theft. I stopped fishing and crabbing at the same time years ago when 4 unattended pots turned up missing. Haven't lost a pot since and my freezer is not lacking in fish or crab meat. It is simply your option.

 

[Killertraylor]

I hear you, PP - sorry if I took your statement out of context. I no longer do both at the same time - seems like when I do I end up with fish, but a crab pot full of weeds and no bait! I do know guys that do it successfully with better/bigger pots than mine.

 

[1pump]

I never, ever leave my pots out overnight, and I'm seldom out of sight of them. And I pull them after high slack. Even then, I've lost 2 over the last 2 years, both of which I'm sure were stolen, and both times at Yaquina. I'm way too careful about how/when/where I drop them to have 'em sink or drift away.

I'd like to crab and fish at the same time, but I just can't bring myself to trust people like that. Even if they don't steal your gear, they'll take the crabs and leave you with no bait, and no crabs. Next to impossible to get caught for that.
I've also had crawdad traps stolen. :depressed:

 

[SEA DOG]

If your pots were in navigable, fishable waters, there is the possibility that they were cut free.

It is an almost guaranteed reaction that if a fish is lost due to a crab pot, the crab pot will become a victim.

 

[Uglygreen]

Maybe try going back at slack tide... there is a good possibility that the floats were just pulled under due to the current and will pop back up at slack tide... I had 3 that I was SURE were stolen several years ago, till I saw my floats a week or two later (on a different trip) just where I had left them. The current in the Columbia on a tide exchange will pull the floats underwater. Even double or triple floats.

UG

 

[Slugranch]

Another thing to consider are those big Sea Lions that are hanging out in that area by the wing dams. At the end of the tide on Tuesday morning, we were finishing up out by the 11 bouy and a crab pot came racing by us like it was self powered,,,,,,,,actually it was sea lion powered. They love good smelly salmon, and tuna carcasses. Because of the fines involved in pulling other people's pots, most of us won't try to rescue them. They end up on the outside of "A" jetty, and soon silt up and sink.