Question regarding Small Soft shell Operation

[phishown]

Hello, I'm new to the board! Great forum!  Mucho Info here....I have a few questions regarding the start of my soft shell operation.....
1.  On an average prime season hall, how many peelers can one expect to pull out of every 100 pots on a 2-3 day sit?
2.  How many pots do you commercial guys recomend
for producing 50 dozen peelers weekly in prime season?
3.  If I were to purchase my peelers live from other commercial crabbers....what can I expect to pay for(whites, pinks, and reds)?
4.  What is the best recommended way to aquire peelers?
Thank You for all your answers and good luck to all you guys on the board!!!!!!!
 

[jonriggi]

Hi,
Regarding peelers, pots etc. The runs vary from location to location. The first run is the best for doublers around mothers day. A baited pot will yield up to an average of 1 dozen per day on a good day. 100 pots working right 1200 peelers. That is the first run only. After that you can check your area with the moons etc. Some areas can do well he peelering or with blank pots. Here the males look to hide to shed and each pot may yield 2 to 4 male peelers a pot per day. Do the math. peeler pots need to be fished every day to take out the crab before it sheds.
Peelers average anywhere from $9.00 to $12.00 dozen wholesale. I sell them for $12.00 wholesale and $15 dollars retail.  I don't keep, buy or sell white peelers. They are dangerous in a float and not worth it, there mortality rate is higher before they shed.
You can contact me and I may be able to help with your needs

[phishown]

Thank You for your info....that helps a lot!  You say you don't keep the whites.......What if you keep them separate?  Keep whites, pinks, and reds separate....Have you tried this?
By blank pots you mean..... no bait?  
what about jimmy pots...does this work well if so, how do you change your regular pots into this?

jonriggi, you've been most helpful
thanks
Mark

[jonriggi]

Yes you can keep the whites in a separate float and go through them every day and take the pinks out as they turn. Another method is to nick them. You carefully bend their picncher back to the first click. This sprains there claw and they can't damage the other crabs. In fact nicking them has been the most sucessfull if I do it to them on the boat and put them back into the pot. Usually they will turn up in a day or so. In a large float the longer you hang on to them the higher the mortality rate. Try putting them back in the pots.

A blank pot is with nothing. The he peeler will use the pot to hide and be safe to shed.  A jimmy pot is used for catching doublers. A male crab is used as bait to attract the females to mate. The jimmy crab is put into the bait box with a small piece of bait, you can also put a few upstairs to strengthen the attraction.

[jack1747]

Some peeler potters break all the legs and claws off of a jimmy and stuff him in for bait.