Crab Pot Theft - Fact or Fiction

Let's get some numbers on this problem. Thanks! Scott

Pots lost....zero.  Pots pulled by other people while I soaked em, several times and its still messed up. 

I have seen/caught them pulling and filching from others pots... Why steal when you can get the others to do the setup for you and just reap the rewards of another's hard work (.gov thinking) Usually in a POS 70's trihull in broad daylight....

I have seen/caught them pulling and filching from others pots... Why steal when you can get the others to do the setup for you and just reap the rewards of another's hard work (.gov thinking) Usually in a POS 70's trihull in broad daylight....

Trihull got me at HMB! Right in front of me, honey badger crabbin..

I have had quite a few pots robbed of crab but only 3 pots stolen over the years at doran beach.

Pots lost....zero.  Pots pulled by other people while I soaked em, several times and its still messed up. 

+1

Two stolen at doran

Haven't crabbed that much so I'm not going to vote.It would be zero.
Think I'll keep a wrist rocket on board. Rocks are cheap.

However I do not leave them, so the thief would have to be really bold

I clicked one ...  but that's over a period of well over 100 days on the water crabbing.   How do you factor time on the water into a poll like this?

At an even 100 days, with 4 pots on the water, that would be a loss rate of .0025 pots per day.  Yup, I have no issues leaving my pots unattended.

-Allen

For kayaking I clicked none....none that I can prove. Seals, swells, or boat strikes were more likely the culprits the few times one of mine has turned up missing.

 Our "boat" pots are kept in 200 fow off Tomales most of the season. We can tell when they have been raided as we usually find them way off their original positions. We have lost a few of those over the years (heavy commercial pots) but again more likely by gear failure or boat strikes.

Many years back we lost all ten of our boat pots off Salmon Creek due to a huge ground swell that came through one week. I walked Salmon Creek beach and actually found a couple of our floats/ropes leading into the surf. Those were so sanded in I doubt a tow truck could have pulled them out. That year we found huge rafts of commercial floats off Ten Mile beach and Kehoe beach. The rafts of floats were in huge numbers ...fifty or more each.  They floats looked like huge flower blooms on the water. Somewhere I have pictures of the rafts of floats.

For kayaking I clicked none....none that I can prove.

Well, I can't prove it either and I actually suspect the one I lost walked in some swell, so I'm changing my vote to 0.

-Allen

Somewhere I have pictures of the rafts of floats.

Please find that picture.
I'd love to see it.

I clicked "none".  I stay out and tend to my pots the whole time.  I often lay out 4 to 6 pots in a pattern and by the time I drop my last pot, it's just about time to check on the first.... and so on.  I don't do overnight soaks.

I never really had problems with theft. I think most POS just raid crabs. I heard so even rebait for you! left my pits over night zipped tied with no real problems. So (0) for me.