SEBASTIAN, JENSEN BEACH 5-8-16

[navypatriot]

Well, I have pretty much given up for a while! 

I went to Turkey Creek on Thursday and only found 7 out of 11 pots!  And they only caught 8 good crabs.
Being disgusted, I put the rig on the boat, loaded on 3 more pots and went 55 miles South to home (Jensen Beach).  I dropped them in a favorite spot I haven't worked in 3 months and checked them on Saturday, 5-7.  NOTHING but one huge blowfish and the smallest stone crab I've ever seen!.  Bait hadn't been touched!

Not being my first rodeo, I did some talking around.  A good friend and former waterman from the Chesapeake couldn't wait to tell me that he saw the first doublers swimming on the surface that he has seen since moving here 30 years ago!  When they do that up north, usually in late summer, crab potting drops off bad!  Could it be a lunar thing?  I don't know, but it seems awful strange!

For now, I'll use personal connections to BUY good crabs when I want them. 

Around the 20th, I will move to the Bradenton area with a few traps tied to my RV.  Maybe I'll shake em up over there!

Until then, it's been nice,  Watch the moon phases, salinity and temps!  Crabs are HERE!  You just have to out think them!

Tom

[SHELLFISH]

Thanks for your report but sorry about the outcome.

[tattoo]

Better luck next time

[navypatriot]

Thanks for your report but sorry about the outcome.


Shellfish
I've lost more pots here in Florida than I ever have!  The buoy lines are NOT coming loose because they are double knotted AND hog ringed.  They're not moving with the current or wind because they have been in very shoal water and every pot has rebar on the bottoms!  That leaves only THIEVES, and as long as the up-north snowbirds are here, that's what happens.  It didn't happen on the Chesapeake because the thieves KNEW we would shoot them.

In Bradenton, I'll set them off of bridges and public piers at night with NO buoys.  I pull them with a short line with a 14/0 treble hook the next day.  Haven't lost any that way.

[saltysenior]

  that's the reason my pots are in the back yard.....you do what you gotta, but don't let the man see you...
   I've never lost a pot when they were set  around comm. guys pots.     ?     in fact one time my pots were full but they were moved about 100ft inshore....found out a comm. moved them for me because there was no crabs where i set them..

[SHELLFISH]

I'm sure your are correct that it is thieves messing with your pots. Dolphins are also bad about moving pots and actually destroying them.
A buddy and I actually watched this happen one day with one of his pots he had tied off to his boat that was tied in the channel in about five feet of water. We saw the buoy going berserk and a Dolphin jumping around it. He told me later that the pot was toast and a throwaway! Evidently they are trying to get at the bait or a trapped fish.
I also had a buddy down here that finally pulled his Cudjo Stone Crab pot out because he kept loosing one or two every trip out.
The area here has a lot of homeless and they like a free meal. Another friend of mine was telling me a story of what happened to him. He lives in a gated community and  a car that he did not recognize followed him through the gate. My buddy parked his car in his assigned parking spot then watched this other car park. This fellow takes a five gallon bucket out of his car and walks down to the docks. My buddy follows him right down to his own dock! When the guy realized there was someone following he froze. My buddy walked past him and checked his crab pots tied to the dock; they were full. He said if he didn't follow the fella down to the dock his pots would have been empty. He said that his pots have been getting hit pretty hard lately. I asked him why he didn't confront this guy and he just shrugged his shoulders. I would have had him arrested for trespass and stealing his crabs. Messing with another fellas gear is a felony!
I did go to the court hearing for the 16 year old kid that broke into my boat. I even wrote the court a letter from the victim...me. The judge was not happy with the kid and ordered him to pay restitution. I really doubt I'll ever see any money from him. I got most of my gear back but I am still missing a lot. I put in a request for $200.00. Maybe I'll call his probation Officer today to find out how the little puke is doing.

[doggfish55]

Crabs seem to slow down around Memorial day, but it happened a little early this year. Today was an ok catch for me but nothing like it was before the fish kill earlier this year. I loose about a trap a week around that turkey creek area.....one day someones luck is gonna run out .