Kayak Crabbing

[MetroMan]

Nice going!

We wanna see the crabs!

[Shady]

I really need to give this a try. Did you build your own line or just buy one? On first glance at your picture it looks like your prop stick is really far out and seems odd way behind the seat, but I bet its easier that way so its not right next to you to give you room to work under the line. I can usually get 1.5-2 dozen with traps in about 3-4 hours, which is plenty for me and my wife, but the line is obviously much better because of so many more baits in the water.

[moc]

Where do you store the bucket overnight and keep the chicken fresh? I spent the first half hour dropping the line and baiting it so that I can keep the line on a reel. It takes another half hour to bring it in at the end of the day. I may have to adapt some of your strategy to save a little time.

Thanks for the update...oh, btw, what part of the bay were you crabbing? I will probably try the gunpowder this weekend.

I typically crab south of the Bay Bridge on the Western side. As for the bucket of baited snood line, I would bait the line the night before, then I would place a piece of plastic ontop of the necks. Then I would throw a bunch of ice ontop of the plastic and store them in the basement where it is cool. This is what I do when I am going crabbing in the morning. Saves a lot of time. The plastic that is between the ice and the snoodline prevents the ice cubes from sticking to the line and fowling it up. Cold air drops to the bottom, so the ice ontop keeps the necks cool enough to stay fresh. I would love to avoid the ice issue in the future when I get one of those small dorm fridges that can hold a 5 gallon bucket in it.

As for the gas cans, they are floats to mark the begining and end of the trotline. I found out that the "bullet type floats" that sell at Anglers and other locations do not meet the DNR standard, and should not be used for trotlines. I was given a warning by DNR many years ago. They were nice about it since I was crabbing from a canoe which stands out, so they have seen me there for a long time.

[moc]

I really need to give this a try. Did you build your own line or just buy one? On first glance at your picture it looks like your prop stick is really far out and seems odd way behind the seat, but I bet its easier that way so its not right next to you to give you room to work under the line. I can usually get 1.5-2 dozen with traps in about 3-4 hours, which is plenty for me and my wife, but the line is obviously much better because of so many more baits in the water.

The prop turned out to work great where it is located behind my seat. I caught 1/2 bushel in about 1 hr and 45 mins. Not bad from a yak. I built my own trotline. I have been crabbing from a canoe with a trolling motor for years, so i just adapted my canoe setup to my Hobie Revo. I just need to come up with a more secure way of anchoring my prop stick. It has a tendancy to rollover a bit, but not bad.

[Shady]

Would it be possible to anchor the propstick into one of the flushmount rodholders?

[moc]

I was thinking of that, but I am not sure if it will interfere with the placement of the bait/snoodline bucket that I use to deploy the line.

[Yak Fish]

Would it be possible to anchor the propstick into one of the flushmount rodholders?

Yes, I believe it is possible. I happen to have the Hobie Sidekicks so I just fit a roller onto one of the arms, but as I was looking at it the other day I was thinking that I could slip a propstick through a scotty rod holder for something less permanent. I have two scotty rod holders that face away from each other so a prop stick could go through both of them giving it good support. You'd need a way to keep it from slipping out...probably using the locking ring on the rod holder somehow.

You may even be able to make a rig that takes advantage of the scupper holes.

[moc]

Ok Yakfish,

I finally got the video up of my maden voyage of my kayak crabbing setup....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJc4gfMzVGU

[Yak Fish]

Really nice job on the video!
I think the snood lines are a better way to go than just a baited main line. It keeps the crabs lower in the water and less disturbed. I wanted to do that but never did...but now that I see how easy it was for you to deploy the line with the bucket method, I may give it a shot. I was so worried about tangles but you seemed to have no issue. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me why not since any rope I've ever seen tangles by looking at it. How did you tie the snoods/bait to the main line?

Good job MOC! Now that everyone sees how they can do it we may have some more Hobie crabbers out there...and less boaters looking at us like we're crazy

[HokieDJ]

That's awesome. You make it look so easy

[MetroMan]

Damn MOC, nice going!

Deploying the line looked to be quite simple. How much of a bear was line retrieval at the end of the day?

[moc]

Damn MOC, nice going!

Deploying the line looked to be quite simple. How much of a bear was line retrieval at the end of the day?

It was not a problem once I replaced the empty bucket infront of me and began to pull in the line. I used the Hobie steering mechanism to keep the nose of my kayak pointed roughly to the line as I pulled it in. As I pulled in the line, I also debated it too. It too 20 to 30 mins to pull in an debate the line. My line was about 600 feet. I just loved the expressions on the faces of the boaters as they saw my rig moving across the water.

[MetroMan]

Good stuff. I'm gonna give it a go next Friday with the Torque. I'm inspired

[tufnik]

Wow, you have that down pat.

[MetroMan]

went to Lowe's and got my assembly materials. I'm using my two flush mount rod holders to secure my propstick. Instead of the bucket, I picked up a couple of hand-crank reels (designed for extension cords) to store/deploy/retrieve my trot line.