CRABBING

[plugger]

How is crabbing in the surf when they arrive ? As a child we would do the stake , twine , chicken neck routine with a day at the beach . I don't see that done anymore . I've considered camping on Follet's beach and bringing my crab trap to stake down in the shallows . Might get lucky and fry some fish and boil some crabs . Frozen shad is good for the crab trap , right . What's the reasoning behind no game fish parts for bait ?

[FlyPelican]

We do it the same way in the surf from time to time. If they are there, you'll fill a cooler. If the seaweed comes in it's a hassle.

We use cut up chicken in our crab traps. Works well.

-Fly

[H.Maier]

Pleasant childhood memories, PLUGGER. I don't remember having much luck in the surf for crabs. I never really cared for them but my Dad did so I went along. Our spot was Crockett ditch on the way to Bryan beach. We'd smoke the shrimp with a six foot cast net also.

[plugger]

Oh yeah , personal shrimping would be fun too .

Cut up chicken , eh. ?

[R C]

Chicken necks, backs, or drumsticks which ever is cheaper. Whitings will work also.

First wade gut when the surf is mild can be good crabbing at night.

[planohog]

When the first jaws moving came out. Was a late teen in corpus and at that time we did lOTS of fishing off the beach to get jaws,
but something else was going on , the tide was way way out for days and days and the blue crabs were so thick you could
barley get past them to throw out bait. when you walked by they would put up both arms and try to snip toes off.
OK roll back the time 40 years.
I have always used chicken of some sort. I was thinking of dropping my traps and letting them soak to sunday .
I did have a nice crab hang on to dead shrimp to the boat last weekend in 9ft mid bay.
I have yet to catch anything in them , this time ill do a trick to make sure they have not been robbed.

[SCHU]

Beach crabbing is ok. Just that this time of year until summertime the females with eggs are more common and you can't keep them with eggs...never tried a trap there...no way I'm going to run crab lines in the surf at night...

[plugger]

Ok , thank you everyone , but , what is the reasoning behind no game fish parts for bait ? If you clean some trout you are throwing it in the water anyway . Do they think people would put cast net game fish in crab traps ?

[JT]

Same reason if you run over a deer in your car you can't take that deer either. Or if you hook a game fish in the gill and it's going to die anyway when you have a limit.

[JT]

. Do they think people would put cast net game fish in crab traps ?

Absolutely. And lie about everything else. And they will.

[Milkjug]

Yep, folks would keep them just for crab bait. This rule falls into the category of laws that I feel ethically fine breaking, provided that you are using scraps and not filling the trap with good meat.

Surf crabbing is hit-or-miss. When the come into the surf it can be non-stop action. Many have eggs, but most don't. This time of year is when they come in. You will know when they are here. They will be all over the place and you can't wade barefoot without them pinching you.

Surf crabbing is nice because it is clean sand and no mud. Also since they are in deeper water, you pull them up and it is very easy to scoop them. In the bay you mostly have to set the net down near the shore and gently pull them over the rim since its so shallow.

[plugger]

It seems like a stupid law . One is not suppose to keep netted game fish in the first place . If they do I would think they would keep the fillets and use the rest for crab bait . Legally caught fish heads should be able to be used for crab bait . They'll eat it anyway at the cleaning table site . There must be a lot of illegal cast net harvesting of game fish to enact such a law .

[planohog]

Water was to rough yesterday, Huge swells at the boardwalk. Did not drop traps mid bay.