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Crabbing and Perch Trials 6/17/2012

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  • Crabbing and Perch Trials 6/17/2012

    On Friday 6/15/2012, I wanted to take my kayak crabbing gear out of mothballs and give it a shake down before Nay_Sayer's Frish Fry / Crab Feast Part II on the 23rd. Striper Mike met me at Jonas Green in the morning. It was nice meeting him and seeing him on his first sea trials of his recently purchased Revo. Well, I got to Jonas by 5:30am.... and oh my, the river was littered with crabbers, both commercial and recs. The Severn River only has so many places that you can go run a trot line and they all seemed taken. Well, I guess no crabs today, but I can at least test out my rig. I finally settled on a spot, but not ideal across from Jonas on the other side of the river. Striper Mike came with me. He was catching perch non-stop. Good for him on his first kayak fishing adventure on his Hobie. I ran down my line only twice in 17 to 3 feet of water....yeah not the depths I wanted, but that was the only area available. I did manage to catch and release a fat female crab, and kicked off a couple of small males off the line. The crabbing was really slow in that area, so I guess that is why it was availble. After my test runs, I realize that I should use ligter chains to hold my baited line down, since the Hobie does not have the power needed to pull the heavier gaged chains, that I use on my electric canoe, over the prop. Other than that, things went smoothly. I pulled up my lines and headed back to Jonas with Striper Mike. We met another kayaker who talked to us about his love for kayak fishing... I think his name was Bernie? I am bad with names, but I did tell him about Snaggedline.com.

    On Sunday 6/17/2012 SurDog wanted to fish and crab the Severn up near the mouth of the River. We got the Navy Base ramp by 5:20am. We proceeded to fish and crab in the cove of the three Radar towers. Once again, there were a few trotliners, but not as many as Friday. Still they took all the good spots, so I had to squeeze in once again, but at least I found part of my target depths that I was looking for which was 4 to 6 feet of water. John (SurfDog) attempted to crab wit handlines, but did not have any luck with that method, so he concentrated on the perch. By the 10am when we were packing up, John had a small bucket of tastey perch. I ended up with just over two dozen crabs, nine of which I gave to Surf to go with his perch, and yes I used my lighter chains which worked out great. My bigest crabs were caught early in the morning. During the day, I noticed allot of small to medium crabs...mostly males. I had much better luck when I can come close to my target depth.

    So in the end, crabs were caught and perch were caught, so far it is looking up for Nay_Sayers Fish Fry / Crabfeast. We just got to locate the good crabbing spots at Herring Bay.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by moc; 06-17-2012, 07:47 PM.

  • #2
    Cool man! 2 dozen crabs is great. Glad you guys caught dinner.
    Mike S.
    Hobie Outback
    Chesapeake Bay Kayak Anglers
    3D Printed Hobie Hatch Bucket

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    • #3
      Don't worry Moc- I found this years Herring Bay magic spots today. We'll have crabs and perch.

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      • #4
        I have a bunch of fish I can bring from my past 2 fishing trips. Alaskan Halibut, Black rockfish, and gulf of mexico Amber Jack and grouper.
        '12 Ocean Kayak Prowler trident 13 Orange
        '09 Wilderness Systems Ride 135 Red
        Kayak Fishing Mafia

        -Both fish and men are often caught with artificial's-

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        • #5
          How did u launch your hobie from naval ramp with cart under it? Were you able to walk it in the water off the ramp to remove the cart? Is there a significant drop at the ramp or is there space to board and get out of the yak?

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          • #6
            Originally posted by OBX_RAT View Post
            I have a bunch of fish I can bring from my past 2 fishing trips. Alaskan Halibut, Black rockfish, and gulf of mexico Amber Jack and grouper.
            Bring 'em Rick! Or I guess, bring what you want to share otherwise you'll have everyone drooling while you eat like a king.

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            • #7
              Nice going. The popularity of the severn for crabbing has been off the charts this year.
              <insert witty comment here>

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              • #8
                crabbing

                Nice job moc. Your set up looks like it works great. I'm interested. Teach me how.
                2015 Outback
                2016 Outback LE

                GO PATRIOTS !!!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by MetroMan View Post
                  Nice going. The popularity of the severn for crabbing has been off the charts this year.
                  You got that right. It was so busy on Friday and Sunday, and with the limited speed and range of a kayak to get to fertile crabbing grounds there, it makes me want to pass on the Severn (unless I am using traps) to run a trotline.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by moc View Post
                    You got that right. It was so busy on Friday and Sunday, and with the limited speed and range of a kayak to get to fertile crabbing grounds there, it makes me want to pass on the Severn (unless I am using traps) to run a trotline.
                    Yeah...I'm with you on that.
                    <insert witty comment here>

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                    • #11
                      Nice job with the crabs, moc! I guess I did end up making it back out on the water sooner than expected ... this is one addictive hobby I must say!
                      Hobie Revolution

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                      • #12
                        moc, what do you mean "Hobie does not have the power needed to pull the heavier gauged chains"? why does it pull the chain? arent you just bringing up the baited line with the chains staying on the sea floor?
                        sigpic

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by stupidjet View Post
                          moc, what do you mean "Hobie does not have the power needed to pull the heavier gauged chains"? why does it pull the chain? arent you just bringing up the baited line with the chains staying on the sea floor?
                          not at the end of the run ............. usually lifting the chain when you are close to your last baits ........ unless you are wasting the last few yards of the trotline ........ my last baits were usually within 6 ft of the chain

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                          • #14
                            LOL...you guys kill me....

                            What I mean is that I have found out over the years that a good set of heavier chains help keep the trotline on the seafloor and they do not move with the underwater currents. The crabs then locate and attack the line. I have tested with lighter chains and heavier ones and I was surpised that the trotline with the heavier chains "almost" always had more crabs hanging on to them. I was using my canoe at the time with a 55 pound thrust electric trolling motor. The chain goes up and over the PVC prop at a "constant speed" with no problem. When I use the same chain on the Revo with the Mirage Drive, then chain is so heavy that the chain "pauses" when it is moving towards and over the PVC pipe. When it pauses, it would drag the anchor thus causing a loose trotline which is impossible to crab with. The Revo would also torque and turn towards the line causing problems, I would have to peddle as fast as I can and sometimes use the paddle. I Switch to my lighter chains, solved all these issues. I may make the chains alittle longer to help keep the trotline completely on the bottom. That is what I was referring too. The bottom line is that you have to scale your gear for your boat.

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                            • #15
                              gotcha. i didnt know one was to have the weight pass over the hook. just thought the line was dropped when close to the buoy/weight
                              sigpic

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