New to crabbing...help.

[Isaacm1986]

So i live north of seattle wa about a hour.

I took up crabbing this year, and have some questions i am hoping to have answered. So here we go, would love some feedback. I mostly have dungeness crab around here, but we do have king, and redrock crab.

1. what debth to crab at?
2. best bait?
3. what time of day? incoming or outgoing tide?

thanks for the feedback!

 

[ngt]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

I don't know about time of day or tide, but we usually use squid. I know people that drop cages anywhere from 30ft to 150ft, Just remember, unless you have a pulley system, the deeper you drop it, the further you have to pull it back up, lol. I've gone out and limited at lots of different depths, from 30ft-80ft and know plenty of people who limit out dropping much deeper than that. Sorry I don't have a cut and dry...this this and this for you. I do know that frozen squid really works well. We've used everything from squid to fish heads to chicken fat/skin/bones which you can usually get for free from big markets if you go in the morning, but we've done the best with squid.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Crabbed in lower Puget Sound. Any old meat will work for bait, smellier the better. Depth, as said, depends on how much you want to haul. When?, we set the crab pots on the way out to fish salmon and rockfish, then gather clams at the low tide. Retrieved the pots on the way back in. Best seafood orgy that can be assembled.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Crabbed in lower Puget Sound. Any old meat will work for bait, smellier the better. Depth, as said, depends on how much you want to haul. When?, we set the crab pots on the way out to fish salmon and rockfish, then gather clams at the low tide. Retrieved the pots on the way back in. Best seafood orgy that can be assembled.

thanks guys. I dont mind hauling some pots back in. I think we are trying around 120 feet today. I made a mix of bait that includes sardines, pink salmon, mackrel, tuna, and some of the pink crab jelly. It smells terrable so i am hoping for the best.

let you know how it works.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Report please.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Report please.

I came up with a big 0.

I was dropping pots with the bait mixture i made. I had high hopes for it. Would pull pots every 2 hours. everytime they came up empty. Friend of mine caught 1 with the same mixture. pretty big failure. Going to get some fish heads and try those.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Chicken necks and a longer soak. Crabs don't move very fast and you're probably pulling the bait out of their mouths. So to speak

 

[robert graham]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Chicken parts, fish parts, most anything with fat, bones, gristle, that's tough and stays together...that way the crab has to stay there and pick away at it. I'm thinkin' 4 to 6 hours minimum to pull up your traps. If you're not gettin' much crabs then try a different location, like the mouth of a creek, shallower water.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Try frozen bacon...winco sell's it for $2 a shot....Use it frozen cut the slab in half put in the bait box...Its Caviar to the crab world..and get as far away from seattle as you can.....The area is heavily harvested.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Try frozen bacon...winco sell's it for $2 a shot....Use it frozen cut the slab in half put in the bait box...Its Caviar to the crab world..and get as far away from seattle as you can.....The area is heavily harvested.

I will have to try that!

we are about 1 hour north of seattle, and have our own little cove we can crab in. i know some of the neighbors do well, so i know there is crab around.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Bacon!! That's sacrilege, won't bait with my food, that includes shrimp, or crawdads for fishing.

 

[coastalrichard]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

OK...I'll admit, I'm jealous. I can get Blue and an occasional Stone (claw). Those Dungies, King and Reds must be exciting to bring up

 

[ngt]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Try frozen squid. You can get a big box for $10 at safeway.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

I made up some chicken and bacon bait. my wife had some old chicken and bacon in the back of the freezer. Gonna try it out on saturday.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Today went well! had 6 or 7 in the pot only after 1 hour soak (we were short on time). 2 dungeness were keepers! 7.5" and a 7". And then 2 red rock crab were keepers as well!

going back out tomorrow for longer soaks!

heres the pics!

 

[pscrabber59]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

The fresher the bait the better the crab fishing will be. Old, stinky bait is just a myth. Squid, Clams, Fish heads&body parts, Chicken are the most common baits used here in Puget Sound. I personally use butter&horse clams with very gd. results. I don't think there are any king crab here in the sound maybe the ones you saw were spider-crabs. Best time to crab is 1-hr before and 1-hr after the highest tide of the day. Most dungies here in the sound are caught in 40'-80' of water except for this year in the areas where I'm crabbing(area 10-Hood canel) the big males seem to be in deeper waters like 100'-130'. I have a elec. pot puller so deeper sets are not a problem.
I have a friend in Edmonds, Wa and he has been killing them near Camano Island. Gd. luck

 

[ngt]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

I wish dungeness season was still open here in Cali

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

The fresher the bait the better the crab fishing will be. Old, stinky bait is just a myth. Squid, Clams, Fish heads&body parts, Chicken are the most common baits used here in Puget Sound. I personally use butter&horse clams with very gd. results. I don't think there are any king crab here in the sound maybe the ones you saw were spider-crabs. Best time to crab is 1-hr before and 1-hr after the highest tide of the day. Most dungies here in the sound are caught in 40'-80' of water except for this year in the areas where I'm crabbing(area 10-Hood canel) the big males seem to be in deeper waters like 100'-130'. I have a elec. pot puller so deeper sets are not a problem.
I have a friend in Edmonds, Wa and he has been killing them near Camano Island. Gd. luck

Thanks! today we crabbed right off the south end of camano island it we killed it! it was awesome. and there were only a few other pots out there. when you crossed the bay to kayak point it is a freaking mine field of crab pots!

were going back out there tomorrow.

thanks for the tips.

 

[Grizzz]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Hello Isaac, I live just north of you. Right on the 49th parallel. We crab lots here, the best areas are eel grass beds with a depth of 40- 80 feet. The best bait is Fish frames (Halibut, sole or any flounder will work best). Chicken etc. is ok but nowhere near as productive as fish frames. Do not use Salmon for crab bait unless you like seals that crush your traps. Cheers

 

[Boats-A-lots]

Re: New to crabbing...help.

Been crabbing Newport and along the Oregon coast for 30 years. Some times it's great crabbing, some times not. I mostly use chicken, but have used cans of cat food. Crabs go after the oil in cat food like crazy. Best time to crab in at slack tide. Either high tide or low tide, but not when the tide is moving. Crabs don't move around too much or eat when the current is moving. I crab in 50 ft or under and use traps, and slip rings. Don't want the crabs to run out when pulling them up.

Here are some pics of my last crabbing trip. Had one other couple on the boat, and with in an hours time had all four of our limits.