Wareham Mass/Mattapoisett 9/16/11

[Fairhaven Crabber]

Setting this thread up so I can enter my report tomorrow.  Heading out today around 4pm, going to check out Wareham, and then if we don't come up nice there, we will hit up Mattapoisett for some night crabbing after!

Wish us luck!  Might be the last time I get to go this season.  Temps went down to 49 degrees last night here on the coast, but I don't think that one night's temp drop will affect the overall temp of the water, which is around high 60's/70 right now.  About 65 out there right now, dry, sunny and GORGEOUS.  Perfect Crabbing Day.  I cannot wait!

[robc22]

Good luck!!!!....the weather is great!!.........

[crabbyjim]

wish i was there,this could be the first weekend i've missed all summer. gonna miss next weekend too.
looks like i'll be october crabbin. still plenty there if you can get to them. good luck!

[Fairhaven Crabber]

HElllllzzzz Yes!  What a great time we had!   Man, the cove where I go in Wareham hasn't been a hit like it was last year, we basically walked around everywhere, constantly using the laser vision to spot em, and kicking the eel grass, or whatever invasive seaweed it is that lines the shore and is all over the bottom.   Most were hiding in that seaweed to some extent.  Took home a solid 13 keepers from wareham after 2 hours of crabbin.  Tossed back at least 10 more borderline keeper females, but they really were small.  Then we left at dusk and headed over to Mattapoisett and did some night crabbin.   Awesome time!  Just a few headlamps with LED's and a net and they were just sitting there on the bottom staring at us!  Ended up taking home 10 keepers from there, and tossed back about 10 or so more. 

Very odd the male/female ratio we are witnessing.  In Wareham, most of the crabs were males, mostly big too, and some of the males were doublers holding the tiniest female underneath them, totally robbing the cradle bastards, they were not even legal!

Then we get to Mattapoisett and it's like 99% females, even the keepers.  I think we saw maybe 2 males out of 20 crabs!  Wareham Jimmies need to make their way to Mattapoisett where the Sooks are!

Only pics I have are of crabs in the pot, steamin away this time, my mouth was drueling the entire time!

[Ronster]

Great job and photo.

[masspi]

The reason you are seeing more Males in Wareham is the water salinity compared to Mattapoisett.  If you had access to a meter to measure the waters salinity, it would generally be much "saltier" in Mattapoisett than Wareham.  The closer to the fresh water source, the less salinity in the water and that is what the Males prefer.

That "invasive grass"  is not invasive to the environment, it is Eel grass and is very important to the continued availability of crabs and many other ocean species.  You uproot much of that Eel Grass and someone from the State will be knocking on your door or rather your billfold.  Don't damage the Eel Grass !!!!!!!!!

Glad to see your nice steamer full of crabs, keep up with the reports.

[Fairhaven Crabber]

The reason you are seeing more Males in Wareham is the water salinity compared to Mattapoisett.  If you had access to a meter to measure the waters salinity, it would generally be much "saltier" in Mattapoisett than Wareham.  The closer to the fresh water source, the less salinity in the water and that is what the Males prefer.

That "invasive grass"  is not invasive to the environment, it is Eel grass and is very important to the continued availability of crabs and many other ocean species.  You uproot much of that Eel Grass and someone from the State will be knocking on your door or rather your billfold.  Don't damage the Eel Grass !!!!!!!!!

Glad to see your nice steamer full of crabs, keep up with the reports.

I find this incredibly interesting, maybe because you aren't aware of where I crab in Wareham.  But my wareham spot is right on the ocean, not even close to any rivers, and all the ocean water that comes into fill the muddy areas is just that, ocean water.  So I think it's basically the same setup as Eel Pond in Mattapoisett, where there's a spill off from the tides that fill the back coves with salt water.  but there has to be some fresh mixing in somewhere or the crabs wouldn't go there, right?  No clue where fresh water comes from in either situation.  So that is eel grass!

I wasn't damaging any of it, 99% of what I said I "kicked up" I was basically running my boot through the grass to see if I could kick any hiders out.  A lot of that grass is attached to rocks, or old quoahog shells so even if you kick at the latter, it just moves in the water a bit and settles back down. 

Funny about the state knocking on my door.  Dude, there is so much eel grass there, I could pull it out by handfulls every day for an entire 20 years and still not even make a dent.  There's THAT MUCH.  Irene washed thousands of pounds of it up onto the shoreline too, it's about 4-5 feet THICK in some spots!

[masspi]

You are right, I do not know exactly your spot but assumed wrongly that you were working the Narrows.  I recall prior posts you made talking about that spot.  I can assure you that every area on the Southcoast has fresh water intrusion.  Weather it is direct flow like the Weweantic or Agawam, etc.

Everytime we get a Southwest blow, we get the Eel Grass "Roll".  Tons of it washed up on the beaches.  The locals know that when the grass comes, you have to be prepared............get that old 5 gallon pail out and go to the beach and unroll the grass to reap the bounty.  Lobster, scallops, crabs, etc.  Lots of them.  No permit or license needed.  Remember, Eel Grass is your best friend, it is where the juveniles hide.

[Fairhaven Crabber]

WOW, I never knew that trick about the eel grass rolls!  That's nuts!  wished I lived closer to tell when it was a fresh blow and the eel grass on the beach hadn't been sitting there for a looooong time. 

[crabbyjim]

good to know