Should have stayed home- Woodland Beach 9/30/11

[Grizzly36]

9am- 1pm Caught 8 or 9 crabs using traps with chicken necks and bunker. Only 4 keepers. Mainly crabbed around the road into woodland beach on the southside. I lost 4 traps to the current/ water depth and one big pot. Very tough day for crabbing the current was really moving. The wind wasn't bad but it didn't help things.

I guess i should have gone a little farther up the creeks but my first few runs looked promising. I tried to stick it out in the area i was in but once the tide started moving it was pretty tough to keep and eye one everything. Everything i got came from 6-12 ft of water mostly near ledges.

[tattoo]

Thanks for the report.

[danielmancari]

That was a costly trip.  I've only lost one trap crabbing, and I remember how pissed I was, so I'm sure you're pretty livid.  Were you in a boat?

[danielmancari]

I re-read and saw that you were in a boat...  I've crabbed from that bridge going into Woodland and did just ok, I've read people doing really well from it, but I was out there once at bad weather.  I've also crabbed the pier twice with not so much luck. 

[Grizzly36]

Theres a pretty deep channel running along the road and i think the current was pulling the traps into it and i don't have 25+ ft of line on them. Either that or i was dropping into the channel when i would put them back. The tide didn't help any either it must of rose 6 feet from the time i started unitl i left.  I had water half way up my tires on the drive out back to route 9. The road flooded in a bout 4 or 5 spots. I got pretty nervous at one point but i was already half way so there was no turning back.

Definately learned my lesson. I went and bought some replacements but it would have been nice to add to what i have instead of just replacing.

[danielmancari]

Theres a pretty deep channel running along the road and i think the current was pulling the traps into it and i don't have 25+ ft of line on them. Either that or i was dropping into the channel when i would put them back. The tide didn't help any either it must of rose 6 feet from the time i started unitl i left.  I had water half way up my tires on the drive out back to route 9. The road flooded in a bout 4 or 5 spots. I got pretty nervous at one point but i was already half way so there was no turning back.

Definately learned my lesson. I went and bought some replacements but it would have been nice to add to what i have instead of just replacing.

I now have spools of line on each of my traps that are 48' long.  The way I figure I can toss em in just about anywhere and never need more line.  

[suzyq52]

I now have spools of line on each of my traps that are 48' long.  They way I figure I can toss em in just about anywhere and never need more line. 

OK - inquiring minds want to know, just how does that work? What kinda doohickeys are you using? I admit I'm an escapee from the Home for the Mechanically Inept. so keep it simple!

[Grizzly36]

From readiing his posts i think he only crabs from bridges and peirs where a spool would be easy to use. When on a boat that much line attached to a trap or pot would be overkill and a pain to work with. Most guys only crab in water less than 20 feet probabaly even shallower. 20+ feet of extra rope would just cause a mess and mean alot more pulling. Tying it off at certain length would work but if you guess wrong you still could lose your equipment.

I used to have about 20 ft of rope attached to my traps then I realize it was overkill and shortened to around 12-15 ft. The frist place I crabbed wa pretty deep but i also got in to some shallow water and i always had 10 ft or mor floating down river of the trap so I shortened them. I didn't realize that Woodland Beach had such deep channels until i got on the water. I had only been in a few spots and they wer all less than 6 ft. I know now tho.

[danielmancari]

OK - inquiring minds want to know, just how does that work? What kinda doohickeys are you using? I admit I'm an escapee from the Home for the Mechanically Inept. so keep it simple!

It's this idea: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nylon-D-Braid-0.25-50/16879719

Comes with 48 foot of line on each spool, got them for $2.57 each, so it was pricey, but worth it. 

[danielmancari]

From readiing his posts i think he only crabs from bridges and peirs where a spool would be easy to use. When on a boat that much line attached to a trap or pot would be overkill and a pain to work with. Most guys only crab in water less than 20 feet probabaly even shallower. 20+ feet of extra rope would just cause a mess and mean alot more pulling. Tying it off at certain length would work but if you guess wrong you still could lose your equipment.

I used to have about 20 ft of rope attached to my traps then I realize it was overkill and shortened to around 12-15 ft. The frist place I crabbed wa pretty deep but i also got in to some shallow water and i always had 10 ft or mor floating down river of the trap so I shortened them. I didn't realize that Woodland Beach had such deep channels until i got on the water. I had only been in a few spots and they wer all less than 6 ft. I know now tho.

Nah, I only unravel as much as I need and then you can lock it into the sides so it doesn't continue unraveling.  I actually got the idea from a friend who only crabs from a boat and he swears by it.  You'll just never be in a situation where you don't have enough line.  When he puts a float on, he puts it in a way that it's built into the spool. 

[suzyq52]

If the crabs are in 20 ft, well, as far as I'm concerned, they can just stay there - this girl isn't going to haul 30 traps from that deep umpteen times! I'm just not as young as I used to be.

We have 12-13 ft of line on the traps and that's more than enough a lot of times - I wrap fat rubber bands around the floats to shorten the lines when needed. I was curious about the "spool" idea - you can always learn something new!

[Dreampixels]

If the crabs are in 20 ft, well, as far as I'm concerned, they can just stay there - this girl isn't going to haul 30 traps from that deep umpteen times! I'm just not as young as I used to be.

We have 12-13 ft of line on the traps and that's more than enough a lot of times - I wrap fat rubber bands around the floats to shorten the lines when needed. I was curious about the "spool" idea - you can always learn something new!

Aye Missy when ya be on the GP ya need a wee more twine over the side gal.