NEW GUY HERE AND A BAD STORY

[KILBO]

Hey everyone I'm new to this forum and I wanted to relay a story of some bad sportsmanship. Took a friend of mine out in my boat around Dividing Creek. I dropped off my commercial trap in a spot thats been very good for me and then left for other spots to use hand line traps.  I returned to the area where I dropped my pot off and did a little hand lining. We were having some good luck with our nets so I was real excited to see what had made it into my pot. Here is when my day went bad!!!! When I got to my pot I noticed my bouy was near the grass on the side off the creek. When my friend grabbed it he pulled the rope and my trap out of the grass. Someone had pulled my pot, taken my crabs and threw my pot into the grass probably trying to hide it so they could return later and take it. Pulling up my  ( SPELLED NOT YOURS ) crab pot and taking my crabs is one thing but throwing my pot in the grass is ignorant. Just wanted to vent this to you all and ask if anyone else has had this problem. Still managed to get 30 crabs on this trip so it wasn't a complete bust. I'm just glad I got my pot back and that I didn't catch them in the act because I'm sure it would have ended in a bad way. Thanks for letting me vent guys and I hope everyone is having a great crab season.

BRIAN

[tattoo]

Welcome . sorry to hear that . but i thought in NJ you are not suppose to leave your traps unintnded.

[jrccrab]

Man , hear it more & more. You have to be a low life [son of a beeoch] to do something like that!!! Sorry about the misfotunes? Though i don't have crab pots i would feel sorry for anybody that messed with my gear!!!

[jrccrab]

Welcome . sorry to hear that . but i thought in NJ you are not suppose to leave your traps unintnded.

Hey Tat, think they were pots he was talking about.

[tattoo]

Ok . my Bad. 

[KILBO]

Yes I was talking about my commercial pot. I bought a permit that allows me to use 2 commercial pots but I only use one. I love it when I pull it out of the water because it's like Christmas when your waiting to see what you got. I new someone had messed with it because my bouy was floating on the water. According to NJ law you have to have your line staked on the embankment which mine was. Never did find my stake either. Really ruined the day for me.

BRIAN

[jrccrab]

Yes I was talking about my commercial pot. I bought a permit that allows me to use 2 commercial pots but I only use one. I love it when I pull it out of the water because it's like Christmas when your waiting to see what you got. I new someone had messed with it because my bouy was floating on the water. According to NJ law you have to have your line staked on the embankment which mine was. Never did find my stake either. Really ruined the day for me.

BRIAN

Is that from land (throwing out) or dropping from a boat? Not that i use pots just courious?

[Hibby]

That is wrong.  No one should touch your trap.  Although almost all of the area in and around Dividing Creek is restricted for commercial style pots.  Check the NJ web site.

[squidly]

Hi KILBO, sorry to hear about your bad luck, but i think someone was trying to tell you something that maybe you didn't know.  commercial pots are NOT allowed in dividing creek. check the game laws closely. there's a section that explains where you can't use pots, even if you have a 2 dollar license  to use 2 pots.it also encludes using trout lines. i don't have the link to it, but you can try looking under the nj fish and game web site.  i've been to dividing many times, and i've haven't met a slease ball yet. good luck.

[PHILLY JOE]

Hey everyone I'm new to this forum and I wanted to relay a story of some bad sportsmanship. Took a friend of mine out in my boat around Dividing Creek. I dropped off my commercial trap in a spot thats been very good for me and then left for other spots to use hand line traps.  I returned to the area where I dropped my pot off and did a little hand lining. We were having some good luck with our nets so I was real excited to see what had made it into my pot. Here is when my day went bad!!!! When I got to my pot I noticed my bouy was near the grass on the side off the creek. When my friend grabbed it he pulled the rope and my trap out of the grass. Someone had pulled my pot, taken my crabs and threw my pot into the grass probably trying to hide it so they could return later and take it. Pulling up my  ( SPELLED NOT YOURS ) crab pot and taking my crabs is one thing but throwing my pot in the grass is ignorant. Just wanted to vent this to you all and ask if anyone else has had this problem. Still managed to get 30 crabs on this trip so it wasn't a complete bust. I'm just glad I got my pot back and that I didn't catch them in the act because I'm sure it would have ended in a bad way. Thanks for letting me vent guys and I hope everyone is having a great crab season.

BRIAN

I hope you weren't IN Dividing Creek. No commercial style crab pot are allowed except if you have a dock. regardless if you have a permit. The only traps allowed are continuously tended collapsible traps.

AREAS CLOSED TO COMMERCIAL STYLE CRAB POTS


Cumberland County – Cohansey River, Back Creek, Cedar Creek, Nantuxent Creek, Fortescue Creek,
Oranoken Creek and Dividing Creek
Cape May County – West Creek, Bidwell Creek and the Cape May Canal
Atlantic County – Hammock Cove (also known as Dry Bay).
Ocean County – on the eastern shore of Barnegat Bay, that area of

This is the web site for NJ crab regulations. It may have been the Fish commission or police that emptied your trap if it was in the  Creek or another P.O.ed  crabber. just my opinion.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/non-comm_crabpot_regs.pdf

[woogiebear]

Lousy luck.  At least you got some crabs and got your pot back.  I always keep an eye on mine.  Been more and more reports of this happening.  Whats this world coming to?  Even though it was a bad day, it could have been worse.  Hope they get better!

[CaptWilliecrab]

   Hey new guy,  your day might not have been as bad as you think,  you see those traps are not legal in Dividing Creek as a few posts have stated.  I learned this the hard way several decades ago.  I did what you did,  left my commercial trap with my number on the buoy and was going to pick it up the next day,  got a call from the State Police,  they told me come to the Port Norris Barracks and get my trap,  along with a 35.00 ticket. ( that was a big ticket back then )  The trooper was pretty good to me though,  over the years when I would see him on the creeks,  he showed me some maps he had on board,  and taught me a lot of short cuts and neat areas of the creeks.  Anyway,  I have seen a trooper cruising ( the one I knew is retired now ) around in the creeks lately.  One thing you can do is shoot out to the bay and leave your traps in the Bay at the mouth of one of the creeks,  ( but not in the creek )  then pick it up there later,  that is legal.   So don't feel to bad,  at least you didnt get a ticket and have to go to the barracks and get your trap.  Lots of folks do not realize they cant use a commercial trap,  probably would be best if a sign was posted.  Best wishes out there in the creeks.  Capt Williecrab, creek explorer in the 21'rst century

[tedbo]

Capt. Willie and others have it right.  That $2 PERMIT MEANS NOTHING back in that area.

Even with the permit, the regs. state that your pot must be attached to "a shore or pier structure"  that doesn't mean a "stake" it doesn't mean a "duck blind".

I think you were being sent a message, the cheap way.  I would even guess that the person who did it probably dumped your catch back in the creek.

There's only one guy who has a permit for pots back there, and that's for ell pots.

Don't take it personal, but if I saw you dropping or pulling a pot I would stop just to see if you knew the regs., clarify them for you and then go on my way.  Like others I learned the hard way. 

[OBGuy]

I had an overnight trap stolen from on my boat this year.  I really didn't think that anyone would come on the boat, but I learned my lesson.  The current trap is locked to the boat.

[aman]

Greetings Kilbo,

Next time bring along good binoculars. Attach a three foot wooden stake to your bouy marker with a neon pendent and monitor it. Additionally, while some people wouldn't care, but built into every human soul is a conscious. On the pendent inscribe "Thou shalt not steal" Similarly, you can add the following..."Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for life."

[jack1747]

I thought it was:

"Teach a man to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer forever." 

[tattoo]

sounds good to me.