09/27/11 - Barnegat Bay (Chadwick Beach & Kettle Creek)

[njjoe_II]

My very first crabbing report!

I left the dock at 1 PM in heavy fog and headed east into Barnegat Bay and anchored a few hundred yards off the islands to the west of Chadwick Beach.  Dropped two traps and used 5 drop lines all baited with frozen bunker. 

During the first hour I had maybe 10-12 undersized crabs.  I decided to head south to the Seaside Bridge and as I pulled up the first trap there were two relatively large crabs in the trap, unfortunately one was a female that I let go.  After tossing the single keeper in the live well I decided to stay put.  It turned out to be a bad decision because after another hour I did not land a single keeper.  With thunderstorms forecast I motored closer to home and started crabbing in Kettle Creek.  My first retrieval yielded THREE large crabs on a single drop line!  One was a large (5.5") male, another a large female, and the third fell out of the net as I was pulling out the bait.   I figured it was only a matter of time before the live-well would be stuffed.  Boy, was I wrong!  That was the last keeper I saw for the next two hours.

So after 5 hours all I had to show for my efforts was 2 keepers.  Not a very productive outing.  However, there's always tomorrow, or the next day, or the next...

-Joe

[tattoo]

thanks for the report , hope you do well next time.

[jason22]

Nice try Joe, just saw this post.  Next time you head out try further south,  The area you were in is tough due to the high boat traffic as well as other environmental factors.  South of the TR bridge would be better than at this time of year (if even that).  There are more rivers and creeks the crabs will be feeding from.  Plus the water is deeper for them with the colder airs moving in.

Also there are a lot of NJ folks in the New Jersey Crabbing Reports board.  Many have crabbed those areas and can offer you advice before you head out to get the big catch 

Good luck if you make it out again.