Crabbing Question / Razor Clams

[john from md]

Bay Country will have anything you want pertaining to crabbing. Marty's bait and tackle is in the same shopping center and they carry lots of fishing stuff.

[jdindino]

Thanks John. I can ALWAYS use more fishing stuff. Been wanting to pick up more jigs in different weights, additional bottom rigs of lighter duty for white perch, and a few other things. I appreciate the information!

[Jman]

Thanks for all the well wishes. If the crabs are on fire like they were last weekend, all should go well.

I have watched every video that MOC has produced. MOC is my Obi-Wan Kenobi of Kayak fishing/crabbing.

Thanks,
Eric

Crabs were running well today on 600’ (CN). Also, spooked two flounder in the shallows.
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[justeric]

Just wanted to give an update after my Razor Clam crabbing trip this past weekend.

First off, working with razor clams is harder than working with chicken necks.
The razor clams take longer to bait.
The razor clams take much more room. I can fit a 600' chicken neck baited line in a 5 gallon bucket. I had to put part of the 600' razor clam baited line in a 5 gallon bucket and the rest in a crab basket.
The razor clams are harder to unbait.

On the positive, the razor clams last longer and seem to attract more crabs.

I started laying my line at sunrise. When I started, most of the clam bags had crabs on them. The crabs were mostly small males and females. I pulled the line and reset it (oh what a pain in a kayak). After that I started catching larger males. This was probably a couple hours after starting and letting the crabs eat my bait. I ended up with a heavy bushel of keepers. When I pulled my line to leave, there were still crabs feeding on the clam bags.

I suspect the clams saved my day. If I would have been using chicken necks, I don't think my bait would have lasted until the crabs got bigger. I'm not sure if the crabs got bigger because of my move or because of some mother nature change like light or water flow.

I had the neighbors over for crabs last night and we had a great time. Everyone was impresses with the size and numbers. The only problem is that I was flat out tired!! I have to figure out how to catch crabs on Saturday and eat them on Sunday night. I put the crabs on ice in a cooler but I'm not sure if they can survive from Saturday morning until Sunday night on ice.

Going forward. I am going to put SnapBait closures on my clam bags. I think that will dramatically decrease the effort necessary to bait and unbait the bags. I will also find a bigger container than a 5 gallon bucket to put the baited trotline in. I am going to keep using clams based on my success and the hope that SnapBaits will mitigate the effort to bait and unbait.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions,
Eric

[jdindino]

Eric,

My son and I got a 1/3 bushel on 10 topless traps with chicken necks Saturday morning. We drove home 90 minutes, got home at 2:30, and didn’t have dinner until 5pm today. We lost ONE crab.

No ice, bushel basket, soaked burlap over top crabs on way home, and then a couple more times spraying them Saturday and Sunday to keep the burlap damp.

We were WAY too tired to even think about it yesterday.

Jim


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[Jman]

Thanks for the follow-up report Eric - glad to hear you found the crabs in good numbers and size. Good to know about the bucket size when using the razor clams. Do you know how much the clams were approximately for the amount you put on the trotline?

Also, I take an wet towel and lay it on top of the crabs in the bushel basket with a few ice packs on top to keep them alive for an extended time, I'll occasionally add some ice to keep the towel chilly. I lost only 4 crabs, but I'm pretty sure they died from crab-on-crab battle wounds based on the puncture marks lol

[justeric]

Thanks for the follow-up report Eric - glad to hear you found the crabs in good numbers and size. Good to know about the bucket size when using the razor clams. Do you know how much the clams were approximately for the amount you put on the trotline?

Also, I take an wet towel and lay it on top of the crabs in the bushel basket with a few ice packs on top to keep them alive for an extended time, I'll occasionally add some ice to keep the towel chilly. I lost only 4 crabs, but I'm pretty sure they died from crab-on-crab battle wounds based on the puncture marks lol

I paid $20 for a 1/4 bushel of razor clams. I baited almost 100 bags and still had about 1/2 of the clams left over. I suspect I will buy 1/4 bushel next time and put 6 clams in each bag. You also have to keep the clams alive so I put the baited line in a couple coolers with ice. I'm not sure what I am going to put the baited line in on my kayak instead of my 5 gal bucket. I've got a Hobie Revo so I don't have as much room up front as some of the guys that use cut 50 gallon barrels on their Outback kayaks.

Were you able to keep the crabs alive for 30+ hours?

Thanks,
Eric

[Jman]

Were you able to keep the crabs alive for 30+ hours?

Thanks,
Eric

Yeah, they were close to 48 hours two weekends ago and about 30 hours this weekend. I try to keep them comfy and limit their ability to fight each other.