Catching NO females in Fort Lauderdale

[legasea]

I recently started crabbing again in the canal behind our NE Fort Lauderdale home.  After several weeks and perhaps 50 or so crabs, I've caught NO females.  Is this due to breeding habits, or something else?

[Crabcruncher]

The last time I went crabbing, we caught about five dozen, mostly all males, it wasnt by accident that we only caught two females, the area we were crabbing in usually held males. You should be happy to live on a canal like that. Males contain more meat than females, because they dont have to make room for all that reproductive gear.
I usually release all the females, mainly because of the above, and also because they seem to have more points to tear my fingers apart picking them.lol.
In times when there is little rainfall, you will see more females moving into the newly made saline areas of the bay. And conversely, when it rains it will drive them out. Males seem to like the fresher water areas of the bay. The females require the salinity for egg development, but they will enter the fresher areas when they feel like gettin it on with the males.
Welcome to the forum.

Cc

[Riverrat247]

Where is a good area around Ft. Laud to crab eith a handline?

[tattoo]

WELCOME . at least you are catching crabs . thats more thet ehat we are doing up here.