trotline crabbing

[keakar]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

I am, this a good report.

thanks, I found this is a great system that works well but it has a learning curve to it like with everything.

by the way, for reference as to the things im doing:

im fishing all by myself using a 17x52 flatboat with side console steering and the pick stick is about 2 inches above the water attached to the transom so this puts the crabs about 3-4" under water at the point where im dipping them about 24" in front of the pick stick.

if the float gets hung on the pick stick, trying to go either under or over it, it pulls slack in your anchor so you need reposition and reset your anchor to stretch it back out again which often makes any crabs on the line let go so its a real PITA when that happens.

about the only times my float gets stuck on the pick stick is where I come in to start raising and im too close for the float to pass on the outside of the pick stick and it gets caught under it and dragged a little as I am concentrating on catching the line and putting it into the pick stick

[keakar]

just thought I would add an update to this thread.

I have been having regular success (now that I fish where they actually have some crabs lol) and I use two lines with 12 necks each spaced at 15 ft apart so that's 24 necks or baits out total.

I get my chicken necks at the grocery store by the case, its $10 for a case and a case has an average of 150-160 necks so I strip off the fat (fat makes the bait float off of the bottom) and I bag them up one dozen per bag for the freezer because that's how many baits I have on each line. if you try to buy necks in small packs they are 5 times more expensive.

I first used marks on my line but they wear off fast and cant be seen so I tied a knot on the line every 15 ft so I know where to put the baits and have your line baited before you go, trying to do it on the spot is just a PITA and wastes time on the water. I don't know if line color matters but I use the dark green trot line line just in case they can see it.

sometimes if the bite slows you have caught whats in the area and need to move your lines but this doesn't mean you have to move more then a few hundred yards. if you have tide moving in a relatively confined area then you seldom need to move because the tide brings the crabs to you.

for the anchor lines I used 50ft of 1/4" nylon rope with brass swivel snaps on each end and a float tied in the middle (25ft on each side) and it clips onto 2ft of 1"x3/4" galvanized chains on each end of the crab line. to attach the crab line to the chains I used a loop of string I hook onto swivels tied on the ends of the crab line so the line is free to twist and untwist without it being a problem (it will want to twist on you so it needs swivels).

I usually catch about a 1/2 bushel to 2/3rds bushel in 2-3 hours and sometimes a full bushel. certainly not killing them by any means but its more then enough for me to eat

using two lines lets me try a different spot to "search" for the better location where they are biting. when I find a good spot (which isn't too hard) I will set both lines about 100 yards apart so I idle from one line over to the next which leaves a soak time of about 10 minutes since I have to run the other line first before idling over to start the next one. this seams to be just about right timing since I pick up 1-3 crabs on each raise out of 12 necks.

using digging style anchors on the end you start your raise from seams to be a necessity in our soft bottoms so just dead weight anchors (unless 25 lbs) will move on you too much and you will have to keep readjusting the line.

after you set the line out go straight back and raise it so its laid out and stretched out correctly, always seams its a little wonky when first set.

I bought big artillery shell looking floats thinking they would be better to see but I think using two or three of the small round or egg shaped floats would have been just as easy to see and cheaper.

finally when making your dipping net don't put the wire on the outside of the loop as it may not look grabby but it catches the line like Velcro.

and I find 6-10 ft of water and more better 8-10 ft is the depth you want to try to fish, any shallower and the crabs let go too soon.

I hope this info helps someone and this is a fun simple and easy way to crab and for someone like me with a bad back its the only way I can go crabbing without suffering with back pain after.

much thanks to AceArcher for taking the time to answer all my questions (and I had a lot of em lol) and through PMs with him he got me links to things and taught me what he knows about it enough for me to be able to do this

[AceArcher]

Glad you were able to out it all together and make it happen!

[keakar]

Originally Posted by AceArcher

Glad you were able to out it all together and make it happen!

mainly because you were there to bounce ideas to, it gave me the incentive to learn something new knowing i had a teacher.

even on slow days i can eek out 2 or 3 dozen by staying out 4 or 5 hours, heck im retired so i got nothing better to do as long as i get to go home with good eats

we actually used to do about the same thing with my grampa when i was very little. we used to just stretch a string across the canal and tie to a tree on each end and one guy was paddling the boat as another guy raised the trotline by hand and dips, or i would dip, but you needed 2-3 people and a lot more work to do it the old way