Crab pots

[aman]

Hi All

Anyone tried setting crab pots from the shore (I don't have a boat)

I though I could wade out at low tide (springs) set the pot and retrieve on the next tide

Any thoughts

[Martin]

No reason why it shouldn't work. We've had quite a bit of success with baiting a round net on a long line, dropping it off the pier and watching the little buggers walk straight in. Just haul them up any you're in business.

I first saw this being done in Weymouth about 35 years ago and I never forgot it.

Martin

[aman]

Thanks Martin

Might ask on network cornwall tomorrow if anyone has any pots they want to get rid of

[feebullet]

what sort of trap are you thinking? considered making one? over here the options are limitless, ooh and I have a boat... crabs are good... you just need to have a crab dance and a pot and your in luck

[fish]

No reason why it shouldn't work. We've had quite a bit of success with baiting a round net on a long line, dropping it off the pier and watching the little buggers walk straight in. Just haul them up any you're in business.

I first saw this being done in Weymouth about 35 years ago and I never forgot it.

Martin

we still doit at weymouth,in the spider crab season i take a burner and a pot of water to cook them right there on the pier,french stick butter fresh crab and a bottle of ginger beer!

[Martin]

we still doit at weymouth,in the spider crab season i take a burner and a pot of water to cook them right there on the pier,french stick butter fresh crab and a bottle of ginger beer!

Excellent. I remember them being Brownies and had a picture of me and my brother holding two enormous ones by the claws. Happy memories. :)

Martin

[Roadkillphil]

For my coasteer guide training last year I had to swim out to crab pot buoys, towing two people and swim back. It was only 500m offshore round by the Gazzel by Towan headland. If you tied off the line from pot to buoy real short and attached to yourself After donning wetsuit and BA, swim out to wherever you want, undo knots and watch him sink, bobs yer beauty.
You could even tow a couple I reckon, I aint no superfit megahuman, but I regularly tow people, sometimes two at a time, so it aint impossible. Even easier with lightweight pots!
With a mask you could select a good site and pinpoint drop without too much swimming.
I'd be well game for trying this method of crabbing! :D

[aman]

I think the pots have to be weighted to stop then being swept away and becoming 'ghost pots'.

[Roadkillphil]

I think the pots have to be weighted to stop then being swept away and becoming 'ghost pots'.

Good point, but I reckon a big enough buoy could still float a pot and weights until you sink it. Now you've planted a seed in ma heed, aman, I'm gonna have to experiment.... :D

I have some buoys that've been washed up on various beaches, one of them is bigger than my 5 year old boy, just gotta source/make a pot and test it out.

I don't see why the wade out on a spring low technique wouldn't work either, its a more practical and energy saving method than going for a swim!

[Marvell]

Yes, I do this here on the coast. I use one of the those springy traps, a bucket full of stones as a weight and a half filled coke bottle as a float. I use cheap cat food or old smelly fish as bait and the both work really well.

Update: there is no need to do it at low springs, any old tide will do

[aman]

Is that the collapsible ones they sell on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Crayfish-Crab-Lobster-Fish-Trap-Net-Pot-/220300476995?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item334aee8243#ht_1280wt_906

[Marvell]

Those are the ones!

[Aaron Rushton]

i have one sturdy bello pot i think it is. in the summer whn we go camping up in pembrookshire we paddle out in the kayak, looking down with a clear bucket on my head to find a good sand patch amongs the kelp. makes you look quite silly but seems to catch mroe crabs. then come back the next day with the tide coming out so we can pick it up (not put it in the boat) drop it off in the surf so in about 20min we can pick it up. trying to go through the surf in a inflatable kyak with a heavy crab pot is extremely hard. we usually catch spiders, but have had congers, shore crabs, and even the odd lobster.

[Marvell]

What shape is it? Do you also use stinky fish as bait?

Prawns, for those who are interested, like crushed up crab for bait.

[Roadkillphil]

What shape is it? Do you also use stinky fish as bait?

Prawns, for those who are interested, like crushed up crab for bait.

Yep, I'm interested. :D
I made 3 small prawn traps in jan, I've only tried them once, baited with lug and sandeel left over from fishing... no catch tho. I've had a look online at larger prawn traps, kinda like the crayfish trap, but smaller entrance holes at each end. I have a lot of steel wire and some netting kicking around so I wanna make one of these larger traps for prawn.
Any tips welcome

Cheers
phil

[Aaron Rushton]

i usually use mackeral bits, but they'll eat anything smelly and oily. old meat, giblets will work too.

[superstealth]

For my coasteer guide training last year I had to swim out to crab pot buoys, towing two people and swim back. It was only 500m offshore round by the Gazzel by Towan headland. If you tied off the line from pot to buoy real short and attached to yourself After donning wetsuit and BA, swim out to wherever you want, undo knots and watch him sink, bobs yer beauty.
You could even tow a couple I reckon, I aint no superfit megahuman, but I regularly tow people, sometimes two at a time, so it aint impossible. Even easier with lightweight pots!
With a mask you could select a good site and pinpoint drop without too much swimming.
I'd be well game for trying this method of crabbing! :D

I've fished the gazzel for crab and lobster for 25 years from boats and from the shore (rocks). I've had some of the best lobster fishing by throwing in single pots from the rocks at low tide. I used to use a normal size pot with some old weeded up rope to camo it up a bit, then just tie it off on a rock, leave it over night hen reap the rewards.

Damn coasteering craze has put an end to that tho, the gazzel used to be a nice quiet place to hide in newquay. Now it is full of goon coasteerers recking the peace and poking there noses in all the old lobster haunts.

So I've now turned my hand to spear fishing for bass and the bonus coasteerer!!!

Sorry im not twitter and bisted!!

[superstealth]

Any one interested in buying crab pots here is my friend company, top quality pots http://www.cornwallcreels.co.uk

[Roadkillphil]

Damn coasteering craze has put an end to that tho, the gazzel used to be a nice quiet place to hide in newquay. Now it is full of goon coasteerers recking the peace and poking there noses in all the old lobster haunts.

So I've now turned my hand to spear fishing for bass and the bonus coasteerer!!!

Sorry im not twitter and bisted!!

I work for Vertical Descents, for the same reason you have stated, we rarely use the gazzel as a venue for customers. We use another nearby location that so far has been used almost exclusively by us and in a manner that does not hammer the local ecology.
I totally agree with you what is being done down the Gazzel, on a weekend in the summer there can be upto 250 people in the water, screaming and shouting , ripping off mussels and seaweed, being led by 5 different companies, some of which have no respect for the environment, a lack of care and safety for their customers and are just taking the money.
We have a strict policy the same as bushcraft with regards to our impact on the environment. We take smaller groups, educate them on the Coastal environment, use venues that are off the beaten track and without bragging we have excellent safety procedures too

I sympathise with your disdain at what we do and I pride myself on the manner with which Vertical Descents conducts itself on our precious coast.

To get back on topic, the undisclosed stretch of coast we mainly work is excellent for spider crabs, something I've never caught before.:D