Crab traps!

[robert graham]

First time I've done this....yesterday coming down the Ocklawaha River, lots of boat traffic, not watching for crab trap floats and ran over one....tore up styrofoam float and wrapped rope around prop....cut it off fairly easily with a knife....to the crabber, My apologies about your trap...maybe/hopefully you can retrieve it....

 

[DeepCMark58A]

It happens.

 

[robert graham]

I just feel sorta bad about screwing up his trap, but as you say, it's probably happened before!....

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Well part of the problem is where they place traps, right on a break in a narrow fairway and with wind and waves and tides the buoys will drift. Used to move a boat from Pickwick TN to Palmetto Florida back and forth every fall and spring and navigating the gulf all day avoiding the crab pots, when you went to bed at night and closed your eyes all you saw were crab pots in your sleep. I had to take a flashlight and dive under and remove rope from the screws on a couple of occasions. Kinda made difficult because most marinas will not let you dive under a boat in a marina. I was at one by Tarpon springs and asked the manager if I could get in and go under and inspect. No tank no fins just jump in with a knife and a light. They said ok but we want to watch you die of hypothermia. The water was 60 degrees Floridians wearing parkas at 50 degrees air temperature. They thought I was a mad man was in the water under a minute to get 3' of rope off a shaft.

 

[achris]

Same problem on my coast with 'cray' pots. Stupid fishermen drop the pots in 10m of water, and leave 40m of line on them. Don't know how many ropes I've had to cut off my props over the years, but I have no sympathy for the stupid! The water's 10m deep, put no more than 15m of line on it...

Chris.....

 

[sphelps]

Was running out of a creek that leads to the ramp I use and hit a trap .. It didn't have a buoy on it .. Luckily I didn't break anything but we did have to unwrap it from around the foot of the outboard ..

 

[dingbat]

A way of life in the Chesapeake. If you’ve not run over a pot or two your knot boating.

Far worst picking up the “anchor” on a trot line with your trolling spread

 

[kenny nunez]

I once had a customer with a 22 North American powered by a pair of 120 OMC electric shifts. One day he caught a trap on one of the drives, he thought that by disconnecting the throttle cable and having his son put it gear while the engine was wound up it would break free. So much for the clutch spring!