I remember the first time out on the Wye River, when we set traps right on a commercials trotline. Excited we were to be there, did not see the mans bouys and know where we were. He ran his line then pulled up the trap and moved it. A charitible and fine fellow he was for not simply cutting our lines and we apoligized to him for not knowing where we were to him, and felt very foolish too for being in his way and being green. Then I have seen rec fellows bellowing to keep 100 feet away from their traps when we were laying traps too. Course that fellow did not know the law is 100 ft from a trotline not a rec trap.. Oh well I hope its a better year for crabs.. not much rain so thats a good sign as it allows a good spawn for crabs and rockfish but we will see how it all goes. License fees will stop no real die hard rec crabbers like most of us here even a 100 dollar license , but it will get lots of people steamed up and how much money will it raise?. Catch limits and days allowed for crabbing ,gear regs will do more then fees. We will see what happens with all this.
Houses being built like crazy all over the area due to the Federal govt presence, run off, fertilizer, nitrates, ad bad weather too much rain ect are all hurting old crab!
