Never crabbed before need tips

[ArkansasChaw]

Hello all. Never crabbed before but I am going on a trip to Slidell, LA in a couple weeks. We have rented a house with a pier on Lake Pontchartrain. The house host will be giving us access to crabbing equipment for pier use. The host said that visitors have been doing great this season and it's only gotten better. My friends and I have never crabbed before but I have watched some videos and somewhat familiarized myself to the square baskets/nets use and somewhat of what bait to use. However I am needing more information such as:

-Best times to put out traps?
-Best bait to use for that area?
-How long to leave traps in water, or timed intervals to check traps?
-License/permit requirements for pier crabbing?
-Or any other advice you guys could give?

The pier is 400 ft long, location is near Eden Isle on North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Thank you in advance to anyone that helps me out!
If there is a different forum section to post this please let me know. THANK YOU!