crab and pot thieves

[deltaops]

I drop my pots and fish where I can keep an eye on them. I thought about letting them soak all night but I never have. I hate thieves.

[seth30]

I drop them and fish for dog fish for a couple of hours, pull the pots and go home   I got sick of getting PBR beer in my pots or finding my knots where different on those overnight soaks.

[NRA4LIFE]

I believe the vast majority of stolen pots are due to operator error.  Not enough rope, don't know squat about tides, no depth finder, etc, etc.  11 years at it and I have never lost a single pot.  I have a minimum of 50-75 extra feet of rope margin at all times.  I've left them unattended the vast majority of times.

[RB]

Luckily I have found more pots than I have lost. Only lost one pot in 15 plus years and that was because I was new and used floating line that did not have the weight properly attached. Most of the pots I have found have been in deep water either barely floating, or caught on my down rigger. Have returned a couple and kept one because it did not have any names or numbers on it, the pot had about 30 feet of line and it was in 300 feet of water.

It is a pain but like bottom fishing it is the price a guy pays to fish, losing a pot is more expensive than losing a $10 jig, but if done right pots last for years. The worst experience I had was going out early one morning and as I approached the area a boat was taking off. I pulled up to my buoy started pulling and it did not feel heavy at all as it got closer I could tell it was empty. I pulled it into the boat and saw a suspicious object in my bait box as I opened it I found a partially eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

After that I found a new area that was better and had several years of no hassles, but in the last five years I have had my pots messed with again, but never stolen.

[Come Get Some]

They do rob pots in lwaco. A friend of mine had been doing well last weekend. He re-set, When he pulled them again all that was in them was juveniles and females. A couple of years ago a friend of mine watched a game warden rob some pots. When he was confronted he answered what are you going to do about it. Nothing happened to him. I think most are from current but some are robbed or stolen

[Bookworm007]

As a scuba diver I find a lot of your lost pots and can tell you it gets deep fast out there, and that a lot of folks lose pots based on the quantity I find rusting away on the bottom.

[brianmtsinc]

I just "lost" 2 yesterday    1 I am sure was stolen.  The other probably was but I am not positive.  The one that was stolen was by the mouth of the Puyallup.  Another boater was out there watching because his pots were also stolen.  This was a brand new Willipa Bay pot.  Over $150 GONE!!! 

Last year we had 1 pot stolen in quartermaster and actually saw the thieves do it!!    We called the cops, chased them down until we could get their boat numbers only to find out the boat was stolen too!! 

I am sure many are lost to tides and currents, but I know first hand many are stolen.  It makes me believe that we need to start being more like Iran when it comes to thieves!  You steal - you lose a hand!!  Maybe it would deter some of these low lifes 

[DoubleJ]

This is one benefit of fishing for red rocks.  Nobody wants those things so I don't get my pots raided and I fish for them in an area not frequented by crab fishermen/theives

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

Fix some fishing hooks to the top ten feet of your line.  Facing up and down.  That way when they go to pull it they get a hand full of barbed hooks.  Either that or razors.  Be the last pot they try to steal.

[Encore 280]

I found one floating out in front of Driftwood Keys last week. Had a big red and white styro buoy on it floating in over 100' of water with about 40' of polypro line and no weight in the pot. Had a name but no phone number. My wife couldn't find the name on FB either. If you lost one out there PM me and describe and i'll get it back to you.

[scottcrb]

Fix some fishing hooks to the top ten feet of your line.  Facing up and down.  That way when they go to pull it they get a hand full of barbed hooks.  Either that or razors.  Be the last pot they try to steal.

Not a bad idea ,until I forget when pulling my pots up . 

[hunt_fish]

I know there are crab and even pot thieves but, i also snagged a pot in 200+ feet on my down rigger. The pot had less than 100ft of line and the just chicken bones and no crab AND no weight.  I think this pot was pulled into deeper water by the tide. Maybe this happens to some instead of thieves?

Definitely happens also, or if they put out their pots at low tide and somehow they disappear during high tide. I know we had that problem our first time shrimping then found it later on.

[singleshot12]

As a scuba diver I find a lot of your lost pots and can tell you it gets deep fast out there, and that a lot of folks lose pots based on the quantity I find rusting away on the bottom.

Well of coarse there is derilect gear left over from the inexperianced careless recreational and commercial crabbers. But this thread is about the growing number of thieves taking crabs and pots It is happening and it is out of control.
Experianced crabbers know whether or not their gear is messed with by human hands.
We shouldn't have to guard our pots every minute. Over night soaks are history I guess until the scum that are robbing us get their Karma

[singleshot12]

They do rob pots in lwaco. A friend of mine had been doing well last weekend. He re-set, When he pulled them again all that was in them was juveniles and females. A couple of years ago a friend of mine watched a game warden rob some pots. When he was confronted he answered what are you going to do about it. Nothing happened to him. I think most are from current but some are robbed or stolen

Was the warden on or off duty? Big differance

Crap pot robbing is going on everywhere, seems to be a growing desease

[DoubleJ]

Fix some fishing hooks to the top ten feet of your line.  Facing up and down.  That way when they go to pull it they get a hand full of barbed hooks.  Either that or razors.  Be the last pot they try to steal.

Not a bad idea ,until I forget when pulling my pots up . 

Or until you're sued by the pot thief claiming he thought the pot was his and made an honest mistake and you injured him.