Crab pot theft

[Stein]

I have pulled pots drifting by during the weekend because I am a nice guy and ghost fishing doesn't help anything.

I use weight and have been doing it for 20 years and had two drift over a mile last year out of the blue.  It happens - get the depth wrong, a log comes by, monster waves, another pot drifts by and hooks it.  Stuff happens in the ocean.

[bulldogs40]

6 miles of drift in 2 hours is a drift rate of 3 mph... that's not unheard of especially in the right tide and wind

[Encore 280]

I've crabbed the P. Gamble area for quite a few years and it's not uncommon for a pot or two to come up missing and not from the tide, current or kelp either. After I set mine (with a 10-12' trailing buoy) I sit on em and never leave 'em over night. I know birddogdad and I'm sure he knows what he's talking about. I have found one floating in the middle of the canal though and called the number and brought it home and they came and picked it up. Had a big orange float on it with less than 50' of poly line and zero weight so no wonder it was floating out in the middle. The people didn't have a clue.

[birddogdad]

6 miles of drift in 2 hours is a drift rate of 3 mph... that's not unheard of especially in the right tide and wind

check the tides, for Saturday 3pm in Olalla, 5 pm in Bainbridge (on and incoming tide) sure in a backwards universe... tide would have sent it to the narrows bridge ..... TIDE WAS STILL NOT A FACTOR...

[rasbo]

Im thinking drift also,I used 10lbs weight and my last 50 feet of line was leaded and I put a weight on there to keep it below my bouy,I crabbed 200 ft in the canal..

[headshot5]

Off topic,  but I always thought it would be pretty funny to get a movie prop hand (looks severed) or something that looked realistic and put it in a crab pot.  I wonder what someone pulling your pots would do...   It'd probably shake them up a bit at least.      

[jay.sharkbait]

6 miles of drift in 2 hours is a drift rate of 3 mph... that's not unheard of especially in the right tide and wind

check the tides, for Saturday 3pm in Olalla, 5 pm in Bainbridge (on and incoming tide) sure in a backwards universe... tide would have sent it to the narrows bridge ..... TIDE WAS STILL NOT A FACTOR...

There are parts of Colvos passage where the current is always running north.

[bulldogs40]

Off topic,  but I always thought it would be pretty funny to get a movie prop hand (looks severed) or something that looked realistic and put it in a crab pot.  I wonder what someone pulling your pots would do...   It'd probably shake them up a bit at least.      

I had friends that use to throw pots off of the pier next to the naval academy in Maryland. I always wanted to put some giant snow crab in there and watch them freak out when they pulled it haha

[Miles]

Good God, someone returns something and they're the bad guy.   

May all your future pots float away or get destroyed...

[heronblu]

you guys are missing the point, I thanked his wife and left.. no negative interaction with them. this is right in line with game cams being taken. hey, your camper was just parked there, so I brought it home, if you want to get it come on over.......a pot isn't going to FLOAT 6 miles, past 2 islands with 10#s of weight in it, within 30 yards of the other set at the same depth (which didn't move) in less than 2 hours. been doing this a while and all of a sudden I have won the lottery with light fingers all in one day! you guys are fixated on weight, did you not read that people saw it pulled and taken right, boat description and all right?  . Just because he turned it over doesn't mean I have to give him a buy and they returned it way away from any boat. Its easy to do the math, just pointing out what may be a common practice to move and use others gear when the summer weather is nice out and for this one, maybe too near crowded areas for boating...

had a friend have the same thing happen in Discovery bay last week, found his trap moved a couple coves away and reset...

You don't think pots can float long distances because they are heavy?  You do realize that huge pieces of debris from Japan regularly end up on WA shores right?

[fish vacuum]

Thieves won't call you to return your stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What planet are you from to think they do?

[singleshot12]

Most thieves would not call to return loot. But there are some for whatever reason that would - - "guilt" or they just plain get their "kicks" from doing it.

I would say about half of missing pots are stolen by humans and the other half taken by the tide. If the OP thinks his pots were stolen then they most likely were,most people just know when their property is stolen so cut the guy some slack. Crab pot thieves are everywhere

[seth30]

I return a few every year.  Find them out duck hunting and usually the same answer, they thought they were stolen. 

[singleshot12]

That doesn't mean the thieves didn't drag the pots out to deeper waters,then pull the pot and rob the crab. I watched one guy cruise buy a pot at a slow speed hook the rope with a line hook and keep going.

[seth30]

That doesn't mean the thieves didn't drag the pots out to deeper waters,then pull the pot and rob the crab. I watched one guy cruise buy a pot at a slow speed hook the rope with a line hook and keep going.

I caught a boat pulling one of my pots once, since then I sit on my pots and fish for dog fish pull them up in two or three hours and limit out