2021, Sept 10 ~High Water Creek Crabbers in Blustery Winds ~PN to Dividing Creek

2021, Sept 10 ~~ High Water Creek Crabbers in Blustery Winds ~~

A Capt Williecrab Creek Adventure from Capt Williecrab’s Fishin Daze

"If you are a boat that wants to sail in windy weather, you must be more stubborn than the waves!" ― Mehmet Murat Ildan

The adventure visions all started with the craving for fresh crab meat, thinking about all the monster crabs caught the previous week, a nice Sept weather report and knowing several of the Capt’s crabbing friends would be out on their creek ships.

Just after sunrise the CES Madison Rose launched with her 1 man crew into the ebbed tide of Hanseys Creek in Dividing Creek NJ. The air was crisp and cool and the ship was loaded for action. On board were 3 fishing poles, 4.5 gallons of petrol, 10 topless traps, chicken necks, 2 nets and 2 holding tanks for today’s anticipated catch.
Capt Williecrab was not the first on the water. Out there somewhere in the Crabmuda Triangle was another crew already working the creeks. The creek ship Sea Senore and her crew of Capt John, First Mate Nate, and the Boatswain Blueclaw Fever Blair are special to the Capt. They are the Pennsylvania Crab Paparazzi led by their leader Blueclaw Fever.

These 3 crabbers travel several hours in crab wanderlust from PA a few times a year to creek explore and crab and they are loaded with intense crab ardor. In other words, these guys are just plain fun as they laugh and crab the day away with great creek zeal for adventure. The Capt would keep in touch with them and visit them several times today. Most photos taken for this story were from the PA crew.

The Capt had an order of business to take care of first. He had read on a crabbing fishing site a fellow crabber had lost 2 nice crab traps in the current about 1 nautical mile from Maple Pond. He described the area, and the Capt thought he knew just where those traps were. It gets very deep there with a fierce current. The only hope to find these traps was at ebbed tide. In his younger and stupider years the Capt jumped overboard there to find a trap.
The tide was ebbed and starting to flood, the current was moving fast. The time frame for finding these traps was now very small. The Capt popped a creek ship wheelie and then headed at top creek warp speed toward Maple Pond. He moved at about 28.8 knots and the mighty 50 horse Tohatsu was blasting out 5,800 rpms.

The Capt loves creek speed and it only took about 5 minutes to get to the trap lost area. The ship was in dead creek center now and in the fast flooding current the Capt spotted an orange float that was held just slightly underwater, he recovered the trap and spotted the other float about 200 yards ahead and it also was just under the water.
The adventure of the day was fun already!! The Capt was thrilled and texted the owner with a photo of the recovered traps. He informed the owner he found his traps but was keeping the 4 giant crabs in the trap, all over 7”. Of course there were no crabs in the trap, and another few minutes and those traps may have been gone forever and tangled up at the bottom of the creek.

It was now time to track down the Pennsylvania Crab Paparazzi crew. The Capt put his creek ship back to max plane and headed into the Crabmuda Triangle moving at hat ripping off speed.

The Crabmuda Triangle is an area between Turkey Point, Fortescue and Beaver Dam. It is a crazy water zone where traps just disappear and then show up miles away days or even months later. You can catch a bushel of crabs in one area, then never again. Some areas have no fish or crabs at all, some are packed. A wild place of strange currents and even crazier in the middle of the night. On one adventure the Capt lost a new crab net. Weeks later he found in far from where he lost it sticking straight up in the mud like it was waiting for him.

Just past Johnsons Ditch the Capt found traps through Weir Creek lined up and placed very well. At the end of the string of traps around a few creek twists there was the happy crew of the creek ship Sea Senore. The crew cheered the Capt when they saw him, of course this gave him the a big head and he almost fell overboard from the great weight. The guys were having a blast!

Being overall landlubbers they had lots of questions and so some crab catching and creek exploring topics were discussed. They had their ship very well rigged with a nice bimini top set up with storage under it. Great work by Capt John.

The Capt told them he was going around the bend for some perch fishing. He told the crew when they heard him yelling, that means he was nailing the big perch. They would never hear the Capt yell at all. He would be having perch humble pie, because he would only catch 2 eels all day. In fact the Capt has not caught a perch all year, it’s a perch slump like he has never had. He did pull in a couple nice crabs while fishing. The wind was really picking up now.

Coming back to the Pa crew, the Capt made a big decision. He was going to show them his top secret area in the Grasslands Critch Maze. Now they were catching crabs and it would take them time to pull all their traps. The Capt would go ahead. He told them to call him when they reached a certain point and he would come back they could follow him through the flooded maze. The Capt headed for the critch. First he had to go under the Weir Creek Bridge, it was a tight fit and he only had 2” of clearance above the helm. He just made it. On the way he spotted HardCrabHarry and he was on a big creek ship and catching crabs very well.

The Capt arrived in his secret area up near Port Norris near the Delaware Bay. He had nailed the monster crabs last week in this area, today would be different. The wind was now howling, the creeks were choppy with white crested breaking wave up to 15” high. He strung his traps in the very high flooded waters. He worked the creeks and there were only 3 crabs caught. The wind was brutal and it blew his ship about like a gnat in a cat 5 hurricane. He had to cancel this whole idea. The PA crew met the Capt at the Owls Nest Dock. At the same time Val from PA arrived and so did Admiral Ed with their ships.

At the Owls Nest dock the Pennsylvania Crab Paparazzi wanted to take all kinds of photos. They jumped aboard the Madison Rose and took pics with the Capt. Now everyone knows the humble Capt only seeks publicity when it is available. He said to the Paparazzi “Hey fellas, I am only a creek Capt, right there on the dock is a creek Admiral, Admiral Ed”.

Suddenly they left the Capt and swarmed the Admiral for photos and questions. The Capt then said he was heading back out crabbing and took off. He advised the Pa crew he was heading for creeks behind Fortescue. They then caught up with him there and he told them where to string their traps. He would be around the corner fishing for nothing and crabbing. The Pa crew did as instructed, and started catching crabs again, it was a nice setup for everyone.
While crabbing the Capt got a call from Capt Sam and his way much better half Sherry, a top notch flounder fisherwoman. They were doing well catching crabs near the Weir Creek Bridge. Everyone was catching crabs, but they had to work hard for them in the high winds and hard currents. The overall flooded tide was now very very high.
The Capt kept fishing for nothing but catching nice medium size brown belly crabs. Only a few NJ #1’s but the crabbing was steady.

It was around 3pm when the Capt checked in with the PA crew. They were happy as ever and having fun with no desire to go in. Capt John suggested they head for Maple Pond. Both ships headed there. The Captains set up their string of traps on opposites sides of Maple Ponds in the howling wind. Maple Pond was 6 feet deep in lots of areas on the sides that are usually just 2 or 3’ deep in flood tide. Between them only 3 crabs were caught. Capt John realized he only had about ¼ gallon of gas left in his tank, asked the Capt to follow him in. The Capt was happy with the day and the 30 decent crabs in his holding tank. The PA crew had half a bushel. It was about dinner time and time to head in.

Capt Williecrab then suggested Capt John shut off his engine and he would tow him to an area near the Owls Nest. The Madison Rose then towed his ship to within a mile of the dock, then let him go and moved on. Around a few bends and with the dock in site the Madison Rose shut down. She was out of gas. The current was heading toward the dock. The Capt did not want the PA crew to see him sitting there out of gas, and then have them tow him. The Capt has never run out of gas in the creeks, but he covered a lot of territory on only 4.5 gallons today.

The Capt has a long gas line from the front of the helm where the tanks are to the motor. He squeezed the line ball for about 20 seconds hoping to draw some of the gas to the motor. It worked and he moved to about 50 yards and the engine died. He repeated and she fired up and he was near the dock, then it died. The current was moving him to the dock, but he would miss it by about 10 feet. He pumped that ball and the motor fired up, he moved the ship toward the ramp, the engine died but the current put him in perfect position to bump the dock and he secured the ship.

The crews and Capts had some laughs and small talk, then it was time to depart. Capt Williecrab arrived at home port and hosed down the trailer and ship, put some ice bottles in the hold tank to keep the crabs alive for a cleaning in the morning. It was now 8pm when the Capt came indoors. He was very tired, happy, and satisfied with such a great and long adventurous day. He had some of Sweet Cindy’s cream of broccoli/ potato soup then soon fell asleep.
Capt Williecrab, creek explorer in the 20’th and 21’rst centuries!

The mix is ready here on Saturday afternoon for cooking crabs. Ghost peppers, long hots, and habanero are in the mix.

Psalm 37:3–4 Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Notes: It was a wonderful delight for the Capt to see so many fellow crabbers today on the water with their ships. Each setup with different styles and ways of catching crabs. Most folks on the water in boats are very nice and always looking out for on another. The Capt feels so overwhelmingly blessed to know these folks, and today everyone caught crabs! The last one in of course was the Admiral, he is the most aggressive on the creeks and normally will not come in until he bushels out, and so it was today. Crab on my friends!! Crab on.