We finally found the crabs in good numbers yesterday after work. Together, my friend, Jeff, and I collected almost a full bushel of big jimmies while tossing back dozens of females and juveniles. We crabbbed with a mix of handlines and traps baited with both bunker and chicken ... neither bait worked better than the other as the crabs ate both readily. The handlines definitely out-produced the traps.
The crabs were a mix of mated pairs and singles with singles outnumbering pairs 2 to 1. Most of the crabs were rusty ones, although we did toss back at least another dozen tinbacks, so it was apparent plenty of them shedded with this last full moon. We also found most of our bigger crabs in much deeper than where we normally find them this time of the year. We were catching crabs in 5-10 feet of water; there were very few crabs hanging shallow on the dock and bridge pilings.
After collecting our bushel, we did some walking and scooping in the marshes which produced 6 really nice softshells that Jeff took home to make softy sandwiches.
What an awesome day; I was glad I was able to secure at least 1 full bushel of crabs for my seafood feast this weekend!
- Gr8ful
