Crab cage in canals (Port Charlotte, Christmas: transfer, live, food)

[paulrcaruso]

Can you get crabs in canals with cages?

[garyk9gs]

Originally Posted by paulrcaruso

Can you get crabs in canals with cages?

I have been told that they are plentiful. There are some you-tube videos showing people catching crabs in PG canals. I have also heard that blue crab is a favorite food of saltwater catfish. If this is at all true I have a lot of saltwater catfish off of my dock.

A crab trap is on my Christmas list..I'll let you know

-Gary

[paulrcaruso]

Thanks for the info Gary!

[MikMal]

I have caught blue crabs in the Ackerman Canal with a trap in the past. I was getting a few a day...was keeping them in the trap until I got about a dozen, at which time I was planning on steaming them up. Unfortunately, I never got to that number. I had somewhere around 10 in the trap and when I checked it the next morning I had zero.
My first thought was that someone had "fished" my trap but then one of my neighbors suggested that it was probably an otter that broke into the cage and ate them. Otter??!! Sure enough, I saw my first otter there a few days later. I haven't tried catching crabs since.
If you do try, good luck. Also, make sure you check out FL. Fish & Wildlife crab regulations. They have very specific regulations in regards to traps, such as identification plates, extruding devices, etc.

[PatSea]

I tried catching crabs off my dock in West Spring Lake Port Charlotte last February without much success. Used official traps. The commercial trappers were setting a lot of traps in the lake and I watched them pull traps with 4 to 5 crabs in each trap and they were just 100 feet off my dock. Very frustrating! I was using both chicken necks and catfish parts for bait. I don't know why I couldn't catch them.

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by PatSea

I tried catching crabs off my dock in West Spring Lake Port Charlotte last February without much success. Used official traps. The commercial trappers were setting a lot of traps in the lake and I watched them pull traps with 4 to 5 crabs in each trap and they were just 100 feet off my dock. Very frustrating! I was using both chicken necks and catfish parts for bait. I don't know why I couldn't catch them.

Do you know if there was any difference in depth from where you had your trap set and where the commercial guys were setting theirs? An old timer on the Chesapeake told me to set a first string of traps perpendicular to shore and take note of the depth where crabs are being caught. Once you've determined that depth, say between 8 & 12 feet, re-set the row of traps at that depth.
Of course, if you're trapping from a dock you're limited and that won't work. Could be that the water was cool and the crabs were in slightly deeper water where it was warmer or vice versa. Everything changes with the seasons. Plus, who knows what a crab is thinking?? If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Unless the otters eat them; then just give up.

[Harbor Hopper]

Just about all canals hold crabs various times of the year. I used to get plenty when we lived on West Spring Lake. Now we're on Lemon Bay and get lots of blues and an occasional stone crab

Here are the FWC rules for recreational harvest of blues Saltwater Fishing Regulations

[Pau Hana Daz]

I set a few (3-4) off my dock in South Gulf Cove and usually catch a keeper or two per pot per day (FL doesn't have size/sex limits except for egg bearers, but I only keep the larger males). Because crabs can find their way back out of a trap given enough time, I transfer those that I'm keeping to a holding pen (old modified trap with only a latching door) until I have a couple of dozen then it's crab cleaning/steaming/picking and eating day. Chicken backs and ladyfish seem to be the best baits for me.


Note that if you do keep live crabs you need to keep them fed or they'll turn on each other.

[daFrogMan]

From what I've found out is use the 2 tier crab traps. The singles they can get out. We had 2 off our dock about 7 weeks ago. Set on Sunday and had 17 on Friday. Yum! Best bait I've found is Bonito (shhh, don't want the 'secret' out) from Fishin Franks. Neighbor used to use chicken and I'd beat him every time. I'd get a single bonito and cut 'em in half. BTW, these are blue crabs we're talking about.


A couple years ago we had some 8 inchers in our pot. I've never seen crabs that large. Heard about it but not actually seeing. The other week they were about 5 to 6 1/2 at the largest. Still meaty, even the paper shells.

[PatSea]

MikMal, I know there was a depth difference between my dock and where the commercial guys were catching their crabs. The depth at my dock was 3 to 4 feet at high tide, maybe 2 feet at low tide. I think where they were setting their traps the depth was about 8 feet. So that may be the difference between catching and not catching , especially in February when the water is cold. But of course I was limited to placing the traps at the dovk.