Crabs

[Hijinx]

I spoke to my friend the Commercial crabber yesterday and asked him (jokingly) if he was catching a good amount of crabs and should I get my line in the water.

He said the best thing to do with the line was to sell it if I could find a buyer, the crabs are scarcer than hen's teeth.

I told him the guy up the street had his sign up Maryland crabs for sale and he told me that once the crabs crossed the Morgantown bridge they were all Maryland crabs.

All joking aside the normal signs of crabs being around just are not there this year. No sheds coming ashore, few peelers, no small crabs at all.

Plenty of catfish though. We never had so many catfish before.

 

[bilbur]

I spoke to my friend the Commercial crabber yesterday and asked him (jokingly) if he was catching a good amount of crabs and should I get my line in the water.

He said the best thing to do with the line was to sell it if I could find a buyer, the crabs are scarcer than hen's teeth.

I told him the guy up the street had his sign up Maryland crabs for sale and he told me that once the crabs crossed the Morgantown bridge they were all Maryland crabs.

All joking aside the normal signs of crabs being around just are not there this year. No sheds coming ashore, few peelers, no small crabs at all.

Plenty of catfish though. We never had so many catfish before.

Every year the DNR does a dredge study to estimate the crab population and the results were not good. My sister and brother in law went out expecting to get crabs last week and they were told it was $150 per dozen and they were poor quality. The over crabbing of this area has finally taken its toll. If they would just put a moratorium on catching female crabs for a couple years the population might recover but for some reason they would rather overfish the area until there is nothing left.

 

[Hank]

Every year the DNR does a dredge study to estimate the crab population and the results were not good. My sister and brother in law went out expecting to get crabs last week and they were told it was $150 per dozen and they were poor quality. The over crabbing of this area has finally taken its toll. If they would just put a moratorium on catching female crabs for a couple years the population might recover but for some reason they would rather overfish the area until there is nothing left.

$150 a dozen? Where?

 

[Gilligan]

The over crabbing of this area has finally taken its toll. If they would just put a moratorium on catching female crabs for a couple years the population might recover.

I've yet to see any solid evidence to back up that assertion. There are a lot of theories around as to why the crab population fluctuates like it does but little solid conclusion. Heck, it was only a few years back that the "dredge survey" results proclaimed it was going to be great yield that season, but it was instead..a bust.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

@ $150 a dozen.



Either way, this past winter, and the historically cold water temps killed off something like 28% of the crabs over the winter.

During the aforementioned dredging, DNR found that spawning age females were in decline (not by much, but still a 12 year low). That will be the main driver in any sort of crabbing regulations.

One tidbit of good news though, juvenile crab population is up 78% over last year (which was a record low).

 

[Vince]

Guess I won't be eating too many crabs this year. :shrug:

 

[vraiblonde]

Mmmm....catfish....

I don't know why people bother with crabs this early in the season anyway. Why not be patient and wait for them to get bigger? Get a few bridge jumpers and reckless boaters to feed them and mmm mmm! Now you got some eatin'.

 

[Hank]

I got some this past weekend but I paid $30 per dozen, not $150 (which I don't believe). I made this awesome avocado crab tower!

 

[onel0126]

Was down at Chapel Point Park in Charles County recently watching guys net catfish. I saw them bring in thousands (easily) of them. A DNR cop showed up and I asked is that legal? His response was "yep, there are no regs on catfish--they are invasive and are eating all of the baby crabs." True?

 

[Natron0915]

I spoke to my friend the Commercial crabber yesterday and asked him (jokingly) if he was catching a good amount of crabs and should I get my line in the water.

He said the best thing to do with the line was to sell it if I could find a buyer, the crabs are scarcer than hen's teeth.

I told him the guy up the street had his sign up Maryland crabs for sale and he told me that once the crabs crossed the Morgantown bridge they were all Maryland crabs.

All joking aside the normal signs of crabs being around just are not there this year. No sheds coming ashore, few peelers, no small crabs at all.

Plenty of catfish though. We never had so many catfish before.

Was out last Friday running a line...seven keepers in six hours...

We did net quite a few smalls, mostly males. Weather was a bit brutal with gusty winds and chop so I think that reduced the catch (damn drop-offs).

I'm of the opinion it's gonna be a decent year, especially compared to last.

 

[Gilligan]

I got some this past weekend but I paid $30 per dozen, not $150 (which I don't believe). I made this awesome avocado crab tower!

That is.....interesting. How do you go about consuming it? What is the "red stuff"?

 

[Gilligan]

Was down at Chapel Point Park in Charles County recently watching guys net catfish. I saw them bring in thousands (easily) of them. A DNR cop showed up and I asked is that legal? His response was "yep, there are no regs on catfish--they are invasive and are eating all of the baby crabs." True?

True. Quite a few predators are gobbling up juvenile crabs; I've found dozens of them in rockfish, for example.

 

[bilbur]

$150 a dozen? Where?

Oops, I meant $50 a dozen, just noticed a added a 1 in front of that. That is still a high price especially for poor quality crabs, I can remember about 10 years ago paying close to that for a bushel. As for not taking female crabs it certainly couldn't hurt the population so why won't they try it for a few years. Most commercial crabbers give the females to the packing places and they end up in cans of crab meat. Every time I go crabbing I put the females back even if I am getting low numbers.

 

[Hank]

That is.....interesting. How do you go about consuming it? What is the "red stuff"?

A fork and the red is Sriracha Hot Sauce.

 

[MADPEBS1]

smith island scrappers are filling up, only can put one scrapper out because it is getting so FULL... Been seeing sheds in water around Calvert Marina. Going to put pots in this weekend.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Was down at Chapel Point Park in Charles County recently watching guys net catfish. I saw them bring in thousands (easily) of them. A DNR cop showed up and I asked is that legal? His response was "yep, there are no regs on catfish--they are invasive and are eating all of the baby crabs." True?

Yes, there is no bag limit.

http://www.eregulations.com/marylan...-minimum-sizes-daily-creel-possession-limits/

Catfish will eat just about anything that will fit in their mouth.

 

[Baja28]

I caught 32 catfish with hook & line in about 2 hours Saturday afternoon.

 

[pebbles]

We got a bushel Monday for $100. I don't eat seafood so I don't know how great they were but they were pretty much gone & no one was complaining!

 

[NorthBeachPerso]

There's not one pot in the water off North Beach. By this time of May you can usually see several hundred floats bobbing along.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

There's not one pot in the water off North Beach. By this time of May you can usually see several hundred floats bobbing along.

There's plenty along Dares Beach and Port Republic areas.

Maybe they're movin' on up.