07/19/08 York River Trotline

[ruger77]

Ran the trotline with a visiting friend today and caught a whole mess of crabs, but the keepers were few and far between. Lots of sooks, sponge crabs, and too smalls between the keeper jimmies, but we did manage the usual dozen for the table. The wind was up and we were really limited in places we could effectively run the line. Ended up back near where I run the little boat. A 21’ walkaround is a great platform for fishing, but when it comes to crabbing I think I prefer the jon boat. Had to run against the wind to keep the speed down and a few other ‘problems’ made for an interesting day though…

A couple of firsts today with some spider crabs and my first buck-n-rider getting scratched off the list of things to dip off the trotline. Baited the line with chicken gizzards, cause they were cheap and all I could find on short notice. I did take note that the crabs were all over the gizzards and didn’t touch the left over/too old wings. The gizzards worked in a pinch, but I lost quite a few to prop stick impact and most didn’t last the full trip… Guess I’m going to have to end the procrastination and order some necks.

Great day on the water!

James

[tattoo]

Thanks for the report , glad you had a nice day on the water . for me any day on the water is a good day.

[dredgecrab]

i moved my rig of pots just below you. from the bridge down. did you catch mostly sponges? all i seem to catch is about 40 sponges to the pot. i don't think i've ever seen so many crabs. so many are trapping that they are killing each other in the pot. do you see 25 bushels a day above the bridge? i want to start working that way.

[ruger77]

dredgecrab, Affirmative on the high sponge count in that spot. We moved further up towards Carmine Is., but 3 runs netted about 3 crabs that didn't measure. As for 25 bushels a day... you are seriously asking the wrong person. I call 5+ hours of running 300' of trotline to pick out a dozen 5"-6" jimmies a "great day".

I have fun though and consider myself in the initiation stage of a very long learning curve. I doubt seriously that I will ever enter the realm of 25 bushel... 1/2 a bushel is my lofty goal for the moment. I was going to give the Severn a try soon if the wind keeps blowing from the South. All in good time....

Good luck up river!

James

[dredgecrab]

the severn ought to do all right. i heard some of those boys were catching some really big jimmies. ecspecially for that area. i just got word on crabbing that is about 10 pots to the bushel. gonna make a big leap and head for the smoke stacks. good luck.