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Topic: General Crabbing Tips  (Read 47595 times)

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G-Whiz

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Maybe it will be a WFO crab season like a couple seasons ago and we can experiment with things. Last season was tough going for me.

Crabbing comes in 5 year cycles; we are in the 2nd year of the down-cycle.... next year should be the slowest, than it will pick up again the following 2 years....
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vwool

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I only put "bait" in the jars that I might eat normally.....fresh chicken (wings and drumsticks), fresh frozen fish (carcasses and sardines etc)  and frozen squid. Cat food and road kill ?.......you are what you\they eat..... :smt002

Haha thats one of the reason I don't put it in anymore. When I thought of it that way, I decided to keep it simple.
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Squidder K

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One cheap item I tired using was a bird feeder Suet cage.  These go for $5 bucks or so at Home Depot.  You can find them in the outdoor bird feeder stuff. Nice part they are smaller then some other cages or nets.  My promar net holds an ungodly amount of bait. Suet cage about half as much.
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SmokeOnTheWater

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After doing my research on here and the web, I'm just starting to get my gear ready and have a few noobie questions.

So my setup is a crab trap to 4 point harness to 100ft lead core line with pool noodle float.  Am I missing anything here or is that how most people set it up?   

What I'm curious about is lets say I'm dropping in 50ft of water, add 20% extra so that is 60ft of line.  What would I do with the excess line so it doesn't just hang down and possibly cause tangles?
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KayakJames

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After doing my research on here and the web, I'm just starting to get my gear ready and have a few noobie questions.

So my setup is a crab trap to 4 point harness to 100ft lead core line with pool noodle float.  Am I missing anything here or is that how most people set it up?   

What I'm curious about is lets say I'm dropping in 50ft of water, add 20% extra so that is 60ft of line.  What would I do with the excess line so it doesn't just hang down and possibly cause tangles?

Lead core mainline is not needed. For most occasions  neither is 100 feet of rope. Most places we go 50 feet of rope is perfect. If anything a top shot of about 10 feet of weighted line is more than adequate hope this helps.

I've been kayak crabing for 5 years and have never dropped over 50 feet.( too far to pull haha.)


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AlsHobieOutback

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For me I have been using 1/4 poly rope, cheap at OSH and such places.  I use a Float line, and a Main line of varing lengths. My float line is 25ft, which if I crab in shallow water can also be used as just the main line.  I weight down the float line with weights so that it doesn't pool on the surface.  Then have two different lenths that can be added to the Float line in either 25ft, or 50ft. ( WOW!!! HOME RUN!!!!  :smt007 ) The Main line I have some electrical cord wraps to wrap up the excess length.   Like James, I rarely ended up in deeper than 50-60 fow for crabbing, especially early in the season.   :smt002
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G-Whiz

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What I'm curious about is lets say I'm dropping in 50ft of water, add 20% extra so that is 60ft of line.  What would I do with the excess line so it doesn't just hang down and possibly cause tangles?

you must remember, you bouy will not float directly above the pot because of current; so in 50' of water, if there is ANY current, your bouy will be drifting under water down current of the pot. See illustration below. Ziptie a couple of 1oz sinkers to the line at 10' and 15' below the bouy; this will keep the excess line from floating....
« Last Edit: October 24, 2012, 06:33:27 PM by G-Whiz »
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SmokeOnTheWater

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Perfect.  I know exactly what I need to do now.  Thanks everyone.
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Squidder K

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I tired the tuna can thing at Doran last year, and got a lot of rock crabs and a few undersized dungies.  For my money stick with real bait. Tuna has been processed, and you have to play with it after the fact.  AS the Tuna is "cooked"  I don't think it gives off enough oily output.  I like to lube my bait with some cooking oil to get that extra slick going. On a slow day with JTfishing as my witness I would get 20+ crabs in a ring on a pull.  Sad part was, all were undersized (late in the season). 
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vwool

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Just a reminder of how to measure your Crab this weekend, and also make sure to use a crab gauge.
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FISHALLDAY

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I started using this rope from Harbor Freight last season. It's been holding up well so far and what I like about it is that it feels great on the hands on a freezing day. Also, the rope stays submerged in the water.

It's on sale at Harbor Freight right now for $2.49 (3/16" x 50ft).



http://www.harborfreight.com/3-16-inch-x-50-ft-glow-in-the-dark-polypropylene-rope-65569.html


AlsHobieOutback

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I started using this rope from Harbor Freight last season. It's been holding up well so far and what I like about it is that it feels great on the hands on a freezing day. Also, the rope stays submerged in the water.

It's on sale at Harbor Freight right now for $2.49 (3/16" x 50ft).



http://www.harborfreight.com/3-16-inch-x-50-ft-glow-in-the-dark-polypropylene-rope-65569.html
+1  :smt002  I bought some last year but hadn't tried it until this years opener.  Nice on the hands and sinks itself unlike the poly rope i've been having to weight down.  It also glows in the dark  :smt003
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