crabs are running strong on kent island

[phoenixkeith]

for some of us it has been a slow start to the crabbing season but as of today the crabbing is rocking . my neighbor caught a bushel of jumbos from his motor boat and my son caught nearly a bushel from his kayak with handlines .

[Jman]

That's good news! I'm planning on trotlining part of the Severn this week. Hopefully it's just as successful.

[dasher]

I crabbed on Saturday in Assawoman Bay - wind was high & far too much boat activity - 19 crabs but on Sunday in 2 hours ~ 5 dozen & most really nice sized & could have caught double that with a little more time, but I really only wanted a couple of dozen. Will be picking crabs for a few days before I go out again. I'm pretty sure it's the full moon

[arti0972]

I go down to Dames Quarters Marsh. I was there yesterday and caught a bushel(71) in five hours. I was using 20 topless traps. I paddle down to the second dam area. Roughly 1.7 miles each way. There are other areas to go there also that are closer. This is just where I prefer to go.

[Bohunr]

Where and what kind of map do I need to get to find all these places (and other fishing places) everyone is talking about? I live on the eastern shore of Kent Island and see people crab, clam fishing out there all the time but don't know the names and places everyone is always talking about? Been real slow off of my little pier on my 2 traps. Thanks.

[Cowpokey]

Where and what kind of map do I need to get to find all these places (and other fishing places) everyone is talking about? I live on the eastern shore of Kent Island and see people crab, clam fishing out there all the time but don't know the names and places everyone is always talking about? Been real slow off of my little pier on my 2 traps. Thanks.

You can download nautical charts from the NOAA website, or look at what Navionics has available. If you have a FF/GPS is would also be helpful for navigating the waters of the Bay.

[bluestringer]

You can download nautical charts from the NOAA website, or look at what Navionics has available. If you have a FF/GPS is would also be helpful for navigating the waters of the Bay.

Cowpokey is right about the charts. Keep in mind some of these places are not local. Dames quarters is in Deal Island If I'm not mistaken and Assawoman is down by Ocean City. FYI

[moc]

Well, I picked the wrong weekend to crab near my house. As someone said, it was way too much boat traffic, and crabbers doing illegal things sad to say. I will have to venture to the eastern shore and try to find a location over there next time. I heard that the crabbing was better over there, and from this thread, what I heard must be correct.

I decided to do a shake down of my crabbing gear and catch some crabs for dinner. I decided to go to a western shore river that I am use to going to. Since I am on a kayak, I left my house at 4am so I could try to be on the water first to get my spot. I got to the parking lot at 4:35 am and there were two cars already in the parking lot. They were people getting ready to crab off of the pier from what I could tell. Well, I launched my kayak, armed with a 350 foot trot line. I head over to my spot and before I could get there, a gas powered boat zoom in from another creek and placed an anchor down to claim the spot. Darn... so I headed over to my backup spot and everything looked good until a commercial crabber came up to me, and said that he had a line down that must have been mile long. He basically took up the whole shoreline, in a location that use to fit 5 recreational crabbers. I went back to my first spot since I saw that the other rec left. I did not see a buoy so I proceeded to cruise around and make sure that it was good to put my line out. Well, here we, the rec came back over and said that her had two line out in this area. By this time, it was becoming daylight. I was forced to find a new area to crab. So much for waking up at 3:30am and getting on the water by 5am. The bottom was that some of the recreational gas powered boats illegally put their gear in the water long before they were supposed to. You can put your gear in the water and begin to crab 30 minutes before sunrise. For this time of year at that particular river, means that you can start at 5:45am. Some of the recs started at 5:00am. Way to early. They did this to try to claim a spot to crab on the river. I spoke to some other boater and they say these boats put their lines out way too early. Regardless, I did manage 3 dozen crabs in 2.5 to 3 hours, even though a started 30 minutes later in a location that I was unfamiliar with. Most of the best crabs that I caught were in 4 to 5.5 feet of water. I encountered many sub legal crabs (below 5.25 inches). My final take 18 medium crabs and 18 extra large to my surprise. They tasted good regardless.

[Cowpokey]

My final take 18 medium crabs and 18 extra large to my surprise. They tasted good regardless.

What seasoning is that?

[Jman]

JO spice! Super tasty

[buzz]

Well, I picked the wrong weekend to crab near my house. As someone said, it was way too much boat traffic, and crabbers doing illegal things sad to say. I will have to venture to the eastern shore and try to find a location over there next time.

You managed a nice take there moc.
Its a bitch about the rule breakers. I used to crab on the South River until the pigs clogged it up.

But the crabbing is hot. Steamed up a couple dozen last Sunday. Hope to catch some more this Saturday.