At least I tried.

[Tom Powers]

I went out this morning to try dipping some crabs on the flats near my house, whcih is near the mouth of the Poquoson River.  I have been doing so in the same waters for the last 12 years.  Some years I did good some years I did not so good,  but always there was plenty of thick grass beds to push through and (in theory) catch crabs.

I got out there and found . . . . NO GRASS BEDS . . . they were all gone.  I had heard that there was a big die off in the lower bay last year and it looks like my favorite spot is now a dead zone.  I did see a few scattered plugs of grass that were about the size of a dinner plate or smaller.   I hope that there is a chance that it will come back.

Now my question are:  Where are the baby crabs going to hide? and Where are the doublers going to mate?

Yes I am bummed.

Tom

[tattoo]

sorry,  hope your situation gets better.

[CRABGUY]

COME A LITTLE SOUTH EAST TOM
ILL SHOW YOU WHERE THEY ARE

[Tom Powers]

It is not that there were not crabs there.  There were a some commercial pots that had a reasonable number of (small) female crabs.  The problem is the condition of the bay.  In this case the dead eel grass is very likely due to global warming.  One of the things that I will be doing over the next month or so is to do a survey of the waters near where I live that used to have vibrant SAV beds.

The nice part about this spot was that it is a few blocks from my house and in addition to having permission from a waterfront property owner to cut through his yard it is about a 20 minute row from the public landing that is 100 yards from my house. 


Tom

[tattoo]

NICE. IT alwasy good to have a short cut.