Why I love opening day of crab....and the ongoing season!

[wraithen]

If one of those red rocks gets hold of your dog(s) you are gonna be awfully sad when you see the vet bill! I can just about guarantee that stitches will be required!

No doubt. Wife was in tears when a little one got her. She only got a blood blister luckily. Turns out when a 5' nothing woman panics, crabs are as fragile as a dried twig.

[h20hunter]

So..........a little more feedback on my weekend of crabbing.

The Pautzes (still don't know the spelling) Shrim and Crab FUEL helped. The meat that was soaked was hit harder than the other pots. The turkey legs as well as the cut up chicken. Whe dropping the pot you could see a distint oil slick coming from the bait. I can only imagine that on the bottom it created a plume of scent that helped me get some crab. Heavy pots indeed.

Now....what really shined for me was the flounder. I will wait and hear from Skillet to see how his pots did. I baited mine two ways with flounder. I hung 'em Deadliest Catch style from the top of the cage with a few slices in the meat and I cut 'em up and put them in bait box/bag. The free hanging brought in more and bigger males. Not more crab per se....just bigger males. The hanging flounder were completely gone the next day. Not even the heads were left. The bait bags....not so much. I think the debris and smell from the crab eating the hanging ones bring in a higher level of crab. The overnight soak of three pots yielded eight keepers in the flounder pots. All over 6 1/2 inches and at least half almost hitting the magic 7 inch mark. Big healty hard shell crabs.

Ok....moving on. Fresh bait. I'm seeing that my 2nd and 3rd don't bring the crab in like that first soak. The quality of the crab goes down as well. I think the females are less picky. My best take for males and quality is that first good soak. I think adding that fresh turkey leg or extra chicken on your 2nd soak can bring good results.

Ok....moving on again. So..........DoubleJ.......I agree with FC.....better watch that puppy or she will be hurting. However, I am impressed with your stick to it attitude when going after these little buggers. I know Shelton is a bit of a drive but what do you have planned for Saturday. What is it to Everett.....2 hours? If you don't have plans and are willing to make the drive I'd like to take you out. I can run out, soak a few pots, meet you at the dock. I'll take care of gas, pots (I have plenty), and bait. All you need to do is make the drive. I have plenty of meat put away and would be happy if take the complete haul home with you. No strings attached day on the water. All you gotta do is make the drive.

So? Got plans?

[jjdavis2222]

 Quick qestion, how do you save your crab if you dont plan on eating them right away? Do you just cook them up and the freezer them?

[h20hunter]

I don't save them. I cook 'em up. Eat on them. Then shuck and freeze the meat while it is fresh.

[CP]

I can’t bring myself buy anything for crab bait.  I just use salmon parts of that I’d throw away anyway.  And it’s a good way to get rid of that stuff instead of stinking up my trash cans.  The head gets wired to the bottom and the guts, milt, roe sacks, odds & ends go in a bait basket and gets wired to the top. 

The crabs empty the bait basket pretty quickly but that puts a good chum trail in the water they can chew on the head for hours. 

[Skillet]

H20's "flounder bomb" worked pretty well for us.  We soaked 3 pots for 3.5 hours, all in about the same depth, all in the same general area.  Two pots had flounder in the bait boxes, one didn't (just chicken legs).  The score-

Pot one (flounder and chicken) - 1 big keeper male, several under males and a bunch of females.  Probably 15 crab in that pot.

Pot two (flounder and chicken) - 3 keeper males, three undersize males.  No females.

Pot three (chicken only) - Only four crab, all females.

Rebaited two of the pots with chicken and flounder and let them soak overnight.  Next morning we picked up 4 keepers between the two pots.  A lot of females.  I picked up and moved to a different area and rebaited with flounder only in two pots, combo flounder and chicken in another.  Two hour soak (we were on a time limit), and the results were impressive-

Two pots with flounder only netted us 2 keeper crab each.  Lots of undersize and females.  Not bad on a two hour soak.  One of the combo pots must have landed right in the middle of a mass of crab - on a two hour soak, it had 21 crab in it!  Two keeper males and the rest females, though.  Most crab I've ever caught in a pot to date.

Anyhow, I'm all about using the flounder as a bait component now.   Adds another level of fun to the project as well. 

[h20hunter]

Cool....nice seeing you and your better looking boat bi............mate. Yes....flounder bomb rocks.

[Skillet]

Always cool getting free bait.  We really have to get a "crabbage" game going out there sometime soon... raft up the boats and sit at anchor while the pots soak.  Boat bi....... mate keeps our cocktails fresh, etc.  Good times.

[DoubleJ]

Thanks for the offer h2o but Everett is a hell of a haul.  Not sure I could justify the gas on the budget we have for the next month.  I will try the flounder next weekend.  My kids are catching them non-stop off of the crabbing dock.  little 3-4" fish but, cut up and in the bait box their size shouldn't matter.

[h20hunter]

Hmmmm.....wonder if there is a meeting point that I could simply pick you up from.........Point No Point?

If anyone has any suggestions maybe something like that could work? Shorter drive and me covering some distance on the water is pretty easy as long as the water isn't bad. I think the Point no Point run is only about 30 min.

[Fishstiq]

Ok....moving on again. So..........DoubleJ.......I agree with FC.....better watch that puppy or she will be hurting. However, I am impressed with your stick to it attitude when going after these little buggers. I know Shelton is a bit of a drive but what do you have planned for Saturday. What is it to Everett.....2 hours? If you don't have plans and are willing to make the drive I'd like to take you out. I can run out, soak a few pots, meet you at the dock. I'll take care of gas, pots (I have plenty), and bait. All you need to do is make the drive. I have plenty of meat put away and would be happy if take the complete haul home with you. No strings attached day on the water. All you gotta do is make the drive.

So? Got plans?

Agreed, DoubleJ is a beast!   Let me know if you guys do go, I'll bring my boat too, plus I have 2 pots that you (DoubleJ) can have.  I doubt I'll be much help pulling pots, my back is still not too good, but I'm pretty good at bs'ing and I make delicious sandwiches!

[DoubleJ]

Hmmmm.....wonder if there is a meeting point that I could simply pick you up from.........Point No Point?

If anyone has any suggestions maybe something like that could work? Shorter drive and me covering some distance on the water is pretty easy as long as the water isn't bad. I think the Point no Point run is only about 30 min.

SemperFidalis made the same offer a couple of weeks ago and we went to his place since it was only 30 miles.  Point No Point is still 70 miles one way.  I am greatly appreciative of the offer but I think for now I'll stick around here and catch red rocks.  Maybe, one day if I'm in the neighborhood on a crabbing day I'll hit you up.  My wife still has multiple brain appointments in Seattle coming up so, maybe some time in the future.

[h20hunter]

Yep, that is a haul. Sometime then.

[wraithen]

Quick qestion, how do you save your crab if you dont plan on eating them right away? Do you just cook them up and the freezer them?

You can freeze the meat but if you mean short term I keep them in the bucket with a little ice on top to keep the temps down. I have a cheap plug in aquarium aerator with a weighted air stone. Those guys last a while like that.

[DoubleJ]

If you're going to freeze the meat, use this method:

http://wellpreserved.ca/2009/08/22/how-to-preserve-crab-meat/

Make sure to salt the water you're freezing in or you're going to end up with flavorless hunks of meat when you thaw them out.  This is something I remember vividly from my youth.