9/27/06 Dividing Creek Day

[gkrangers]

Much better.  Like I said..no English lessons from me...just hit enter and break things up like you did.  Makes it easier for everyone to read.

Spelling is no object.

[Sam Hill], some smart person once said that as long as the first and last letter of a word are correct, the brain still reads the word without issue.

Eevn if the rset of the wrod is all srcweed up.

[gkrangers]

    Ranger whats the crabbing like where you are?   A few years ago,  right down the street from you,  in New Smyrna Beach,  I cooked up a batch of crabs for an Aunt and Uncle there.  We had to buy them as I have never crabbed in Florida and neither did Uncle.   They were monsters,  but very little meat in them. 
      The seller had a big pool of them,  about 2 feet deep and about 15 feet long by 10 feet wide or so.  I got a daughter and son in law in Jacksonville,  they gave me a grandson last year,  and he wants to get a boat.  Are there a lot of areas to crab?   I don't think I would like crabbing around a bunch of gators.   But then again,  I have had aligator meat it was good.
                           Williecrab

Willie, the crabs are here but it takes patience and having a boat really helps.  Can be tough from docks and piers because the water tends to be very shallow (but the crabs are still there).  I'm planning on hitting a new spot soon which I have high hopes for.

Jacksonville has a lot of rivers and creeks, so I'm sure the crabbing is good.

My biggest problem has been finding muddy bottom.  So much sand....

Gators stick to freshwater, so saltwater fishing and crabbing is safe.

I'm from NJ and crab the Navesink.  Usually an easy bushel in 3-4 hours.  Biggest this summer was 7.5".

[tattoo]

good luck.hope you find them.

[ReelQuick]

DC turnning on???

[CaptWilliecrab]

Johnsons Ditch is where the arching wooden observation bridge is.  Under the bridge some people put there boat in.  On the bridge you can see fortescue to the West.

The North end of the creek ( very short distance )  where it hits back to the main creek is a great area right now.  My neighbor the trooper and his son caught 36 nice ones today and the son caught a striper on a plug. ( 19 inches )  They had a short trip.  If you head South in Johnsons,  it also takes you back to the main creek.  This comes in handy if the tide is to high to go under the Turkey Point Bridge.  ( the Turkey Point Bridge is the Bridge that goes over that main creek ) 

Now if you head North to the main creek and then go left,  all in there is good crabbin,  that creek takes you to what I call the Beaver Dam Mud Flats.  Did great there last year,  but this year is slow.  There were a lot of Manna Rays in there stealing bait, but I did catch a keeper weakfish in 3 feet of water.
 
If you hand a left instead of a right near Beaver Dam,  that is the Ouakin Oak Creek ( I dont know how to spell it )  that takes you to the Bay.

[lindabutter4]

By the way, he does have 6 paragraphs. I did teach English! What you meant is double-spacing between the paragraphs, which only belongs in business letters. Therefore...."he done just fine."

[gkrangers]

By the way, he does have 6 paragraphs. I did teach English! What you meant is double-spacing between the paragraphs, which only belongs in business letters. Therefore...."he done just fine."

You see six paragraphs in the first post in this thread?

[lindabutter4]

Yeah, 6 indents which constitutes a new paragraph each time...is what I see, anyway

[CaptWilliecrab]

Ranger,  sooner or later I gotta crab in Jacksonville Fl. ( my grandson is 13 months old there )  When he is around 6 he should be about ready,  maybe even 5.  The things is,   are there gators there when you crab,  don't gators sometimes go in brackish water?        concerned williecrab

[PHILLY JOE]

Went out of Owl's  Nest yesterday and went straight across Div. Creek and up another creek. I assume this is Johnsons Ditch. Went up a little ways and dropped 14 traps, dropped anchcor and perch fished. every 20 min. would check traps.  Caught  around 20 keeper crabs and 10 nice perch. Headed further up creek, under a low wooden bridge, past a mud creek(low tide) that had a metal bridge crossing it, and up where the creek branched left and right. Some one told me left went to  fortesque and the right went to mud flats. Set traps and went left to a creek that shot off to right. anchored and caught a couple more perch and 2 doz. more crabs. Everything then stopped at near dead high tide. finished with 12 perch and 43 crabs. Headed home.

 Well we were heading back down the creek and got to wooden bridge.  Only a foot or so of opening and water rushing under. No way we were going under. Rode back to a boat we saw at the creek that had a metal bridge  and asked if he knew another way around the wooden bridge. He said that he thinks this creek will head around bridge and put me back in the creek I wanted but he was not positive. Not good enough confidence for me. I don't need to get lost  out here. Only saw 2 other  boats all day and it was 3 pm. we  had 2 choices. Fish for 3 more Hours till the water went down or unload boat and carry it across bridge and reload. Thank God boat is only 145 lbs empty. We were  on our way in 30 minutes and headed home without further incident.

We got back to boat ramp, trailered boat and were strapping down and ready to leave. Right trailer bulb blown. Was replacing bulb when Mr Fish Ranger shows up to inspect catch of the day. He dug through a cooler of ice, crabs and slimy dead fish to check. All legal. We threw back all crabs under 4 3/4. Spoiled on MD crabs. Asked about the wooden bridge and he told me the creek with metal bridge does go around and lead back to creek I want. Good to know for future reference.

Headed home at 5pm considering we started back at 2:45. Still, I had a an enjoyable day.

One queatio. Where are all the abundant, large crabs usually found this time of year? Only had 1 doubler all day. Usually tis time of year in NJ, I get 3-4 crabs in a trap many times  in a day. They don't seem to be in a feeding frenzy this year. Maybe a couple more weeks.

[tattoo]

thanks for the report , glad you had a good day.

[Maximus]

finally made a trip out to DC via owls nest on Sunday afternoon @ 3:30. There were about 7 trucks with trailors at the ramp. More than I thought would be out that late in the afternoon. Recieved some bad crab reports so decided to try for some early season stripers. Its still ealry for stipers but had to scout for some hot spots. Headed out to the mouth of DC. We were the only boat out that far. Didnt even see a boat in the bay. Only had some old frozen clams and GULP blood worms. Clams didnt even get a nibble on the striper setups but the bloodworms pulled in a few croakers on the smaller poles. The wind was blowing hard and we watched 2 huge storms blow by about 10-15 miles away. It was a good to get back out fishing. Next time I have to get some fresh clams and bunker. Water temp was 63 and we caught the last hour of incoming and the 1st hr out going tide.
See you out there
K

[tattoo]

nice going.

[Sunpal]

You see six paragraphs in the first post in this thread?

English discussions!!! Math discussions!! (I know what you're thinking, "Did you see 6 paragraphs or only 5", well frankly with all this excitement I lost count myself, so you got to ask yourself, do ya feel lucky, punk....)
If someone starts handing out homework, I'm quitting!
"Dear teacher, Jimmy can't hand in his homework today because his mumbo ate it.  Then we ate the mumbo.  signed Jimmy's mom"

[lindabutter4]

I was joking...or attempting to joke.....

[Sunpal]

I was joking...or attempting to joke.....

Me too!!   Sorry if the humor failed.  Now let's go get some crabs!!!

[salt hay]

Philly Joe ,
 The low bridge was on Weir Creek , Johnsons ditch was the mud creek creek you were referring too.

 The is a metal observation deck right near it ,  but it has an arched cedar bridge over the water way.

That creek is the high tide route back to the owl's nest.  You can also launch there at mid tide or better.

[ReelQuick]

Max, thank`s for the report,just marked  the entrance to DC on the GPS from the Maurice.Did you see all the pots out there?Caught  4 in the pots on sat all LARGE,only soaked a couple of hours.Caught 10  fat males at the mouth of the Maurice.Still learning to navigate that area.Newer  boat,almost 2 1\2  ton is a lot to push in the mud.

[Maximus]

Max, thank`s for the report,just marked  the entrance to DC on the GPS from the Maurice.Did you see all the pots out there?Caught  4 in the pots on sat all LARGE,only soaked a couple of hours.Caught 10  fat males at the mouth of the Maurice.Still learning to navigate that area.Newer  boat,almost 2 1\2  ton is a lot to push in the mud.

There were only a few pots in the water on sunday. earlier in the season there were pots all over the water.
good luck out there with the crabbing. soon the stripers will be running hot. May take the day off Friday and head to the beach.
K

[SEMPER-FI Crabber]

Sunpal,
            I thought your response was hilarious!

                          Semper-Fi