07/30/21 ICW North of Boca Grande

[crabbinggirl]

Not a Stellar Day, but I'm still trying to find my ground, spot, and of course, the Blue crabs.   Air temp north of 90, water temp 89.36, mostly sunny, 5'-8.5' of water. Chicken parts as bait in five traps.  Lost one trap half way through the adventure when the string chaffed through the noodle float...feel really bad about leaving a trap on the bottom.  First run, nothing. Second run a  6"+...woo hoo....next two hours moved traps trying to find the elusive Blues...got three more.  Took a friend who is not a boater, fisher, or crabber, but she loved the day on the water learning to pilot the boat.  Also, she's never tasted a Blue, so we got back, set those Blues on steam, took a short dip in the pool to cool off, then I taught her my technique to get the most meat out of a crab.  She LOVED the taste of the Blue.  Sorry, no pics..we were just two giddy girls enjoying time on the water and feasting.

[harivney]

Thanks for report. How long do soak before checking?

[tattoo]

sounds like a nice day

[crabbinggirl]

Only soak for about 10-15 minutes before checking the traps...figuring/hoping, with no one else crabbing where I am, those crabs are hungry for my chicken and are going right for it once it hits the bottom.  Of course, that's purely optimistic, rather than scientific, on my part.

[Stabilizer]

No worries about that lost pull trap.  It will rot away quickly down there and its not trapping anything while it dissolves away.

[crabbinggirl]

Wanted to mention that those 4 crabs we got, after steaming them up, tasted a bit off from the one caught two days earlier in the same general area.  Then received news that the 'red tide' was creeping its way south from Manasota Key.  Needless to say, I won't be steaming up any more crabs from these waters until I hear the red tide is gone.  Thankfully those crabs were alive and kicking when I caught them and neither of us got sick.

[flatfish4x4]

should've boiled them in about a # of louisiana crab boil   them things would have been just right

[rdbeard]

2 things for your info. water temps at 90 or above can kill a blue crab# 2 a red tide is an algae bloom moving with the tide that depletes the water of oxygen and it will kill crabs if they can't stay away fr4om it.