How To Set Up A Crab Pot

How to Rig and Setup Crab Pots.

Dungeness Venereal are arable in every bay and inlet along the Pacific Declension and are considered a summertime delicacy. The beauty of living near the saltwater and being able to head out in even a small-scale boat and take hold of these tasty shellfish is not lost on thousands of people who go out crabbing every summertime. I wrote this post for those of you who are new to crabbing and need a piddling data on what equipment you need. You tin also check out our postal service Puget Sound Dungeness Crabbing Buying Guide for some of our favorite equipment.

A good haul of Dungeness Crab from Puget Sound. This pile will easily feed the whole family unit!

Crab Pots

There are many unlike styles of crab pots but basically you tin separate them into two groups, round pots and collapsible traps.

Pots are ordinarily geared more towards those looking to crab in deeper water or heavier currents. If you lot plan on trying to grab Dungeness Crab in the Pacific Bounding main, where currents are stiff, you lot desire to option up heavily weighted round pots. Pots tend to be heavier with the weight build into the frame, most counterbalance 10 to xx pounds. They are also more expensive than collapsible traps. However, collapsible traps are extremely popular in areas like Puget Sound.

Collapsible traps tend to exist less expensive. However, they are low-cal weight and you need to add together some pot weights so they don't drift off. I spend nigh of my time crabbing in Puget Sound and the SMI/Beau Mac collapsible traps are my favorite. We typically are setting our traps in less than 80 feet of water, and so a picayune added weight is all that is needed to continue the trap from globe-trotting. Collapsible traps are also easier to store. If you plan on keeping your traps on your boat they are real space savers. If you are crabbing from a small boat where space is an issue, bring along the collapsible traps and assemble them one-past-1 equally you become!

Both traps and pots can exist soaked for a long period of time. If yous are planning on soaking for a few hours while fishing or overnight, traps and pots are preferred over rings.

Folding Crab Trap — Folding traps are popular and inexpensive. They work swell when crabbing in protected areas.

Crab Rings

Crab rings are extremely popular, very effective, and preferred if you are looking to catch crab in shallow waters. Rings are popular with folks trying to catch crab from a dock or pier. I like to use crab rings when I am line-fishing in less than fifty feet. Rings lay apartment on the lesser but when pulled, they create a basket that funnels crab to the bottom and keeps them there. Because a ring will simply lie on the bottom, crabs are complimentary to come and go as they please. Fresh allurement volition draw them into the ring. When using rings, assuasive a soak fourth dimension of about 20 to 45 minutes is perfect. Crab volition apace eat away any bait. They will start searching for another food sources in one case the bait is gone.

Crabbing ring — Crab rings are perfect for short soaks from the pier or a boat.

Crab Trap Harness

When pulling upwardly a crab ring, trap or pot it is important to pull it up evenly. A ring that is pulled upwards slanted tin allow for crabs to clamber out the edge of the ring; a trap that is pulled up slanted allows crabs to potentially escape through an open door. A 3-way or four-mode harness solves this problem. These are designed to clip to the corners of a trap, or clipped evenly around a round pot or band for a smooth and level think. Harnesses are highly recommended over merely tying your line to the edge of your pot/ring/trap.

Crabbing Lines

There are 2 options for your crabbing master line, yellow ¼ inch poly line or leaded line. Yellow poly is thinner, cheaper and it floats. Floating lines can cause bug when crabbing in an area with gunkhole traffic. Let'southward but say you take a 100' line and make up one's mind to set your trap at a fifty' depth, lines can easily be tangled in a gunkhole's prop or cut off by 1. If you determine to use yellow poly, be sure to clip on some weight to the line to pull information technology under the surface. I discover snapping on a weight is a pain, and that a thin line is less comfortable to pull. Leaded lines are a piddling more expensive, merely they offering huge benefits! Leaded line is easy to scroll. You won't have to worry about getting it tangled in someone's prop considering it sinks.

Leaded crabbing ground line — Lead core ground line is the all-time line to use for crabbing. It doesn't tangle much and sinks below the surface.

Crab Beacon

Here in Washington, we have many requirements pertaining to our crab floats. They must be one-half reddish, half white. You need to write your proper name and address on the buoy. They must be on the surface and visible at all times. Identifying which beacon belongs to you can be challenging at times. Use a PVC staff and either paint it a bright color or attach a flag to it, this will help y'all locate your pot quickly. Some folks will connect a multicolored beacon to their required blood-red/white. I am a huge advocate of any grade of customization; imagine motoring into a body of water of red/white buoys and having to motor around looking for the one with your name written on it!

Dungeness Crab buoy — A crimson and white buoy is required in Washington State. I rig mine on a staff so they are easy to grab from the boat.

Allurement Boxes

Bait boxes are an easy way to store bait in a trap. A allurement box will boring down the crabs' attempts to devour your bait. I prepare all of my bait boxes in accelerate, then I put them in a cooler so they are fix to go. Adhere them permanently with wire ties or cipher ties, temporarily with small bungies.

Crab bait box — A rigid allurement box or soft bait bag will concord your allurement and keep the crab from devouring it quickly. I apply zip ties to secure them to the bottom of the crab trap.

Allurement Pins

If you are using a fish carcass for bait, a bait pin can be a bang-up alternative to the allurement box. Just run the pin through the mouth of a filleted out rockfish or salmon and into the lesser mesh of your ring/trap/pot.

Crab bait pins — I utilise a metal bait pivot to secure salmon heads or fish carcasses to crab rings or traps.

Best Dungeness Crab Bait

Fresh baits work best. Salvage whatsoever filleted carcasses of salmon, trout, rockfish or lingcod considering they make excellent bait for Dungeness Crab. Also, I accept done very well with chicken, turkey legs and herring. One of the funnest things to do is catch flounder or sand dabs and use them in the trap.

Best crab bait — Fresh salmon carcasses and heads are an first-class allurement for Dungeness Crab. I always salve the filleted out carcasses!

Crab Measuring Device

Having a measuring device with you is extremely important. Every marine area has a specific minimum size requirement for venereal, and a crab measuring tool is essential. Possessing a crab that is even 1/sixteen" nether the minimum size can potentially yield you a confiscation of your entire catch and a hefty ticket.

Pot Pullers and Davits

Having an electric pot puller is nice for heavy pots or crabbing in deeper h2o. If yous plan on doing whatsoever shrimping then you lot definitely demand to invest in one. Even having a davit with a pulley on the boat makes pulling much easier. Plus it keeps the line from rubbing on the gunwale of the boat and keeps the pot from scratching up the side of your boat.