NJ Report

Well....Kicked off the season on Friday afternoon on the Mullica. My buddy and i were out there about 3 hours. Caught 30-40 crabs.... all but two were small. I actually believed this was a good sign since I've seen over the years, that the small crabs are always active before the big heavy sluggish blues in colder water. The tiny crabs have more energy and spunk. However, that's just my opinion. Went out sunday in this miserable mess of a day and should've stayed in bed. Went to Somers Point and caught two tiny crabs in 2 hours.So, at this point....nothing doing yet I'm not panicking in Jersey yet but i do believe that this season won't even come close to last year. Last year was my best in probably 15 years..... Also, my father had talked to a kid that works for him that's a commercial guy (runs the operation w/ his pop) His buddy checked 400 pots over the weekend and caught 6 CRABS! NOT 6 BUSHELS....6 CRABS. However, there was some hope behind this dreadful tale. He said something about...that they are mating right now and don't eat....then the shed comes soon thereafter and then they are starving and eat everything in sight but still are very light b/c they just shed so....if we get some warm weather and decent conditions after this late week washout.....in about 3 weeks or so, we may have some crabs on our hands. It's grim but i'm hopeful I'm supposed to be going out again next weekend. I'll post reports.
take care and good luck
-Bdc:'(