crab migration on the chesapeake

[crabeezle]

  how does this work?  as the water temp rises they head down the bay or up?  i heard it was one or the other.

[jack1747]

http://www.bluecrab.info/lifecycle.html

[Potty Mouth]

Welcome to the board...
Having posed such a broad question, I am sure you will find a lot of good info on this site if you research.

In short, the crabs winter over and breed in the saltier waters closer to the ocean and head north up the Chesapeake throughout the summer with the males being the first to head up and the last to leave and head south...  thats not to say that the ocean and southern areas of the bay have no crabs in the middle or end of summer but just a general observation that they are not in the northern areas in numbers until these areas get to be a more salty form of brackish...

...that should open a can of worms or two 

[genecrabman]

Welcome to the board...
Having posed such a broad question, I am sure you will find a lot of good info on this site if you research.

In short, the crabs winter over and breed in the saltier waters closer to the ocean and head north up the Chesapeake throughout the summer with the males being the first to head up and the last to leave and head south...  thats not to say that the ocean and southern areas of the bay have no crabs in the middle or end of summer but just a general observation that they are not in the northern areas in numbers until these areas get to be a more salty form of brackish...

...that should open a can of worms or two 

ARE YOU SURE?

 


E

[Potty Mouth]

NO WORMS GENE?  

[genecrabman]

NO WORMS GENE?  

NONE??

[Potty Mouth]

They all come in the C&D and go south? 

[Crabby Crabber]

They don't head north till we let them go from Virginia. Won't be long till we share them with you guys. 

[jack1747]

Blue crab mating typically occurs from May to October in lower salinity areas of the Chesapeake Bay. After mating, males remain in these lower salinity areas. However, because blue crab larvae require high salinities for proper development, females will begin moving south to the spawning grounds near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and nearshore coastal areas. Periods of peak spawning (larval release) along the Mid-Atlantic Bight have typically been documented from late July through August. After spawning, many females use flood tides to return to the lower estuary, where they may produce subsequent broods, but do not move back into lower salinity zones. Some mature females may also move into nearshore and offshore coastal waters after spawning.

http://serc.si.edu/labs/fish_invert_ecology/bluecrab/migration.aspx

[crabeezle]

They don't head north till we let them go from Virginia. Won't be long till we share them with you guys. 

 probably headin to maryland to do some crabbin on sunday. not sure where we will launch yet.
 (my first time)....so start letting them go.

          thanks for everyones input. it is greatly appreciated.

[SlickCam]

They all come in the C&D and go south? 

I'll bite on that one.  I really do believe that in certain years, such as last year.  The crabs do arrive first from the Delaware Bay and some cross through the canal and turn right up the Elk, not south towards the bay.  The same migration pattern happens in the Delaware Bay, but its a lot shorter trip and shallower, warmer water so it makes sense I think.
There are some worms for ya.

[Potty Mouth]

 

stir the pot... that's it... 

[The-reel-diehl]

I've got 2 cents to throw away.... I have to agree, and my father first said this to me 25 yrs ago.  You will often catch crabs heavily in the Elk but not in the Sasafrass.  If the crabs were coming north from the Chessie, you would think that they would be all over the Sasafrass river first, then the Elk.  The food sorce and cover is fantastic in the Elk compared to the Del. river and the crabs follow the deep water through the C & D canal and end up staying in the Elk once arrived.  I catch a lot of crabs right out of Delaware city on the other end of the canal, so I know they swarm up the Delaware river and it makes sense that they head through the canal also.  IMHO. 

[csbooher]

sassafras probably puts more fresh water out than the elk so the salt levels probably rise slower in the sassafras.


/stir

[Mr. Ray III]

I also believe that alot of crabs come through the canal.  Im willing to bet that the Delaware Bay is catching alot of sooks right now...

Also, in the beginning of this year, I heard the delaware bay was catchin real good and there were some crabs to be caught near the elk...


The Susquahana puts out more fresh water then any of them...

[Potty Mouth]

 

Well, the canal was manmade, opened in 1829, so, while I guess crab didn't have the option to come in the canal in the old days, they been using it for quite some time for sure... and, the susquee is pushing a lot of water out that's for sure depending on what the folks at the dams are doing... When they let loose for a storm, you know it downstream here...  You know how the area below Conowingo looks with the boulders and really rocky bottom, I was talkin' to an old guy the other day and he was saying that's the same all the way down the bay.  As in, that river bed and that type of rock, that's the "floor" of the  whole bay but it's just sanded and silted over in most places now with all but the biggest boulders covered up... just something the susquee and the bay may have in common

[DipNSip]

And therefore the name for the deepest parts "Baltimore Canyon" because is probably was a canyon way before the water intrusion whenever the heck that was.