Kayak Crabbing

[moc]

From my years of trotlining, I found the bucket method to be the easiest. I use to use the real from Home Depot, but it became difficult to wind up and you cannot use a snood line on the reel. The bungies get tangled when deploying. Also, when reeling in, you have to debait your line which slows down the winding up of the line, unless you plan to go down your line twice. Once to unbait, then once to wined up taking more time. This is what I found over many trips. Let me know how it works for you.

BTW, snood lines are better than attaching the bait directly to the line. One advantage is that when you hit the line while missing or catching a crab, the vibration through the line spooks the othe crabs on the line under water that you cannot see yet. So they jump off.

[Yak Fish]

I use the reel but I don't go down it twice to unbait it. I pull myself along the line pulling off a few baits, then reel a bit, pull off a few and repeat. It does take about a half hour for 600' of line. It does keep everything neat and tidy though.

So the snoods are actually bungee cords? Is there just a little elastic loop on the end to slip in the chicken neck? I could see those not working with a reel.

[MetroMan]

From my years of trotlining, I found the bucket method to be the easiest. I use to use the real from Home Depot, but it became difficult to wind up and you cannot use a snood line on the reel. The bungies get tangled when deploying. Also, when reeling in, you have to debait your line which slows down the winding up of the line, unless you plan to go down your line twice. Once to unbait, then once to wined up taking more time. This is what I found over many trips. Let me know how it works for you.

BTW, snood lines are better than attaching the bait directly to the line. One advantage is that when you hit the line while missing or catching a crab, the vibration through the line spooks the othe crabs on the line under water that you cannot see yet. So they jump off.

I see what you're saying with the bucket vs the reel. I used to have a decent sized spool (used for rope) that I always thought would be perfect for something like this. Unfortunately I threw it away a few months ago. We'll see what happens come next week. I might try to give it a test run one evening next week.

BTW, I tried emailing you to ur cbka address.

[Shady]

Awesome video Moc! I am definately doing this. If not this season, definately next season. I'm sure you already know, but be careful with those orange-clawed crabs... you are not supposed to keep those...

[moc]

Yes I know Shady. When crabbing on the Yak, as compared to a larger boat, it is very difficult to toss out the crabs that your should not bring back to your car on shore. I normally try to beach somewhere to cul the crabs. Make sure you through out any females that migh have mistakely go into the basket, or any undersize crabs. If you like very full male crabs, then pinch the crab at his point on the shell, and it does niot flex and is hard, then that is a full heavy crab. If it flexes then is is not full.

Just call me the "Crab Whisperer".

[mmanolis2001]

Moc,
That setup is awesome thanks for the video. Do you sort the crabs after every run? How do you handle them to limit the pinching and possible crab in the lap problem?

I was going to pick up some heavy duty leather welding gloves to handle the suckers while measuring them.

[moc]

Moc,
That setup is awesome thanks for the video. Do you sort the crabs after every run? How do you handle them to limit the pinching and possible crab in the lap problem?

I was going to pick up some heavy duty leather welding gloves to handle the suckers while measuring them.

Well, the crabs never seem to get into the boat. Once they are scooped, they go right into the basket that is on the front of the kayak. If I do have to grab a getaway crab, then I also have some heavy duty orange gloves like the commercial crabbers use to handle the crabs and some crab tongs. On the Yak I do not sort after every run. On my canoe, I do, but when the crabs are running, you would want to catch as many as you can before they shut off when you are on the yak. I will then cul them before I get to ramp. I try my best to cul them as I am catching them by estimating their size before I toss them into the basket. If it is a female or undersize crab, then I would toss them back. I may cul them at every 3rd run, if I think I will do better by letting the line soak a little. You will have to determine that yourself.

One advantage the Hobie yak has over my canoe with an electric trolling motor, it that the yak has a greater range to explore and crab in other areas. The canoe is limited due to battery power.

[Yak Fish]

I've been holding onto this video from the original posting of this thread, but I was too lazy to take the 20 seconds to figure out how to post it. It's not the greatest video because the camera is mounted to a head piece and I couldn't see what I was shooting. I get nostalgic when I see my old orange hobie...she was lost to the dreaded drive well crack

Video Link:
[ame="http://youtu.be/EF3ySQ92WVk"]http://youtu.be/EF3ySQ92WVk[/ame]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF3yS...ature=youtu.be

[Yak Fish]

Here's a try at copying some of MOC and Metro's nice trips.

These year I'm changing from the clips to snoods. I still don't have a fridge like these guys to keep my bait in, so I still have to bait on the water. I think I may be able to do it slightly more quickly with the snoods as well as add a little extra length to keep the baits on bottom. Thanks for the tips guys. Each year I learn more.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJc4gfMzVGU&feature=player_embedded"]Kayak Crabbing 09122011 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P9MCz_XJNo&feature=player_embedded"]KayakCrabbing - YouTube[/ame]

[MetroMan]

I don't have a big fridge for bait either. I bait the line the night before and just leave it inside the house. As long as it isn't outside in the heat, it's fine for a few hours. I de-bait it while on the water. Last trip took me about 20 minutes to de-bait & store the 600' line.

Good luck out there. After a few trips, you will quickly see what works best for you...it gets really simple once you get comfortable.

[Yak Fish]

I don't have a big fridge for bait either. I bait the line the night before and just leave it inside the house. As long as it isn't outside in the heat, it's fine for a few hours. I de-bait it while on the water. Last trip took me about 20 minutes to de-bait & store the 600' line.

Good luck out there. After a few trips, you will quickly see what works best for you...it gets really simple once you get comfortable.

If I bait when I'm on the water, by the time I'm done I can run the line because it took 20 mins I'm so afraid of the thing tangling in the bucket but you guys show that it comes out smoothly....maybe I'll give it a shot instead of the reel one time to see how it goes.

I wonder if the stealth approach gets us more crabs than the guys with gas motors. The crabs do spook but it seems a result of light rather than sound.

[Yak Fish]

There was some interest in crabbing so I'm bumping this thread since it is where were all started learning together about how to run trotlines. Just to add to this, I've switched to snood lines and add weights along the trotline to keep it down.

I watched the crabbing video that I posted 4 years ago, and man, the crabbing was WAY better back then! The last two years were not very good at all.

[jhoss]

So I haven't seen very many paddle yaks crabbing with a trotline. You might get a good laugh out of this if you see me on the water but it does work. Here's what I devised last summer. I used a PVC arm I made that pushed into a spare rocket launcher rod holder. This fits into my ocean kayak rod pod. I chose to put it up front so I could see the line coming toward me. See photo one. A laundry basket up front holds the crabs I dip up. I basically just paddle up the line and as I see a crab is on I quickly put my paddle on my lap (gotta have some momentum moving you still) I then push the net out to scoop him up. See on the photo the net it loosely bungeed alongside the boat for quick access. For the line itself I got an empty (big) fishing line spool from west marine (thanks Joe). I use a very lightweight line-braided masons twine ($7-home Depo) I made a crank handle and put all of this on a home Depo brush handle extender so it is pretty easy to reel back in when you're done. For snoods I use heavy wt. hair ties. Again, lightweight and cheap. I have had some tangles occasionally, but because of the cost I can easily cut them out and add more line. I run about 500 foot of line. In deep water I add some 5oz. Lead weights to help hold down the line. Buoys get clipped on along with weights. I use 2 paver bricks at each end.

Anyone getting any crabs yet this year?

[Yak Fish]

I love the creativity! Nice job. I have never ever seen a paddle kayaker, nor heard of one, running a trotline. Congrats on that effort. I usually start going around July. In the gunpowder the crabs seem really small up until then. We could hit it up sometime. Too bad crabbing's been so poor in recent years.

[jhoss]

Thanks Alan,

Yep, I'm down for hitting the gunpowder anytime. I haven't tried there yet, even tho it's so close. Had a couple of successful trips on the severn and some awesome days down near Cambridge MD. The crabs were thick and heavy when I was down there.

Hopefully this year ends up being a good one!