Need Some Assistance

[ober51]

Hi All,

My brother and i are really excited to take the new boat crabbing. I've been reading up, but cannot find where to put our boat in either for free or a nominal charge. We would go early AM, and be traveling from Paramus down to the shore points. A few questions:

1. Where exactly should we crab in the boat? What are some locations?
2. Are there free ramps?
3. Should we stay in one place for more than an hour if it yields few crabs? How long between "spots"?
4. How deep should we be crabbing in?

We are buying our traps tomorrow and will get the bait - chicken necks - the night before, but really don't know where to go! Please advise!

Mike

[fishingtom]

Use the search box or just read your local reports..........

[ober51]

Use the search box or just read your local reports..........

I guess this means help myself, lol.

I can do that, and I have been. I just haven't found where I should put my boat in? Where are some ramps for access? I would like to stay as far north as possible and yet not sacrifice quality of catch.

Any additional help would be appreciated! I will be sure to post a report when I get back...

[fishingtom]

Well basically yes.  I live nowhere near you but I bet by researching old posts I can find a place to crab in 5 minutes.  I am not being an a$$ I am trying to show you the wealth of information that is right here at your disposel.  Each time you check crabbing reports and resources you are basically having a look at every persons log of activities on here.  The info is there just take a minute and read it.     OK?

[tattoo]

WELCOME . Plenty of info on here. 

[fishingtom]

Any question that you have type in the search box just on the internet and look.  I put in boat ramps in new j.   http://www.jerseymarinas.com/ramp.htm

[Skiff]

 just pm you some south jeresy ramps  good luck let us know how you make out

[ober51]

Thanks, all. I am continuing to look and have found this spot, which is our most likely as of now:

Oceanport Municipal Ramp at Blackberry Bay Park
Port Au Peck Ave
Oceanport, NJ 07757

My question really is whether or not we can use the ramp around 5:30am or so? We don't want to start at 7, but rather earlier than that. Anyone know if we can use the boat ramp that early?

[Crabs n clams]

I've used that ramp in the past but it's been a while. I could be wrong but if memory is right that park is open daylight hours so check for sun up time and there you go. I don't remember if they had a gate or chain at the entrance that someone opens and closes but they might...Charlie

[The Crab King]

Use the ramp at Chris's riverside plaza in red bank it cost 20 bucks but you can put in at anytime it will put you in the heart of the hot crabbing in the navisink.

Chris' River Plaza Marina 
483 West Front Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701-5552
(732) 741-9676

[Zee Man]

I believe that ramp is $10 daily fee. I do not believe there is a gate to enter the park. They have parking near the ramp but you must have your permit from the city. The rest of the parking is for the Oceanport pool and recreation area. There is also a ramp in Rumson that will put you out on the Navesink.

Happy Crabbing+Good Luck with the new boat

[spinfreak]

I was actually going to recommend Blackberry Bay Park (after I Googled it to recall the name). It's been many years since I used that ramp (probably 12 years or so, and I moved to FL 9 years ago), but back then there was no fee, and no parking permit was needed. I'm not sure if things have changed since then.

As for a bit of help with your other questions....

If you can launch in the Shrewsbury River, we always crabbed near buoy # 36 (we crabbed there so often, that I still know the number after all these years. Lol). Outside of the channel most of the water is relatively close to the same depth, which is roughly 5 ft or so, depending on tide.

No matter where you crab, if you're using hand lines, stick to water on the shallow side...say under 8 ft. If you're using traps, you can go deeper (you can stay shallow if you want).

As for how long to stay in a spot if there's no action, I used to give it about 20-30 minutes, and if nothing, then I'd move. Sometimes you don't need to move too far....75 ft or so might be all you need. But sometimes you have to move to a completely different spot altogether.

Here's one more tip...if you're anchoring (not running traps on buoys), and you're getting crabs, but then the action slows down, instead of moving, just let out some anchor line to drop the boat back 20-30 ft. Not only does it put you over a little "fresher" bottom, but it puts you right on top of any crabs that might have been moving up current, coming towards the scent of our bait. If you do that and there's no new action, then pull anchor and move.

And one last tip...if you're anchoring, bring 2 anchors, and put one off the bow and one off the stern, and anchor sideways to the current. If you're not familiar with it, just motor your boat sideways to the current, toss out both anchors, and let out enough line until both anchors catch, then tie them off on your cleats. This will allow you to fish/crab your lines straight out into the current, instead of having them all tangle up on you. If you aren't familiar with anchoring this way, be very careful if there's a strong current, because you can swamp your boat. But if you're crabbing, you wouldn't want to be in a strong current area anyway.

Good luck