Crabbing

You can catch Dungeness in up to 150-200 feet of water - or thereabouts - but I generally like the 20-50 ft depths - after correcting for tide (e.g. at LLW). As Rockfish mentioned - be careful with rope length - take into consideration tide and current needs. If you are in a high current area - debris can hit and wrap around your buoy - or even take it out if along with the trap if it is a rootwad or similar debris - or knock it off a shelf into the deeps. I like sand and mud bottoms - not rock - for Dungeness. Estuaries are often high producers for Dungeness.

The commercial guys in Vancouver are fishing off Point Grey in 300 feet plus on some of their traps. I always thought less than 100 feet but I guess not.
 
The commercial guys in Vancouver are fishing off Point Grey in 300 feet plus on some of their traps. I always thought less than 100 feet but I guess not.
Helps if you have hydraulics....
 
Crabs move around all the time and the result is certain areas will hold different sexes, in different quantities at different times of the year. You just gotta find a place the boys hang out in your area at the time of year you like fishing them. There is one place I put down traps in about 30-50 feet of water and for about 2 weeks in the early spring my traps will be crammed full of huge males. Any time before or after this you might get a couple legal males and usually handful of females in a set. Just gotta have your traps in the water at the right time. I used to have it dialed in. I do most of my crabbing within about a 3 mile radius and would fish different locations in different depths from 30-200 feet of water. I don't think I have commercial crabbing in my area, so that probably helps.

I use the prawn traps with 10 inch hole in the top and have even caught big male dungees feeding on my prawns in 320 feet of water.

It's a fun fishery to 'get good at' while also being able to do it on a whim. I also like that it's pretty much the only truly year round fishery in the straight of georgia.

Happy fishing everyone!
 
Crabs move around all the time and the result is certain areas will hold different sexes, in different quantities at different times of the year. You just gotta find a place the boys hang out in your area at the time of year you like fishing them. ..
I think they go deeper over the winter months...
 
In Ukee the crabs I figure must move around, I believe the big males must head out of the harbour into deeper water late June to September. Seems October to mid June is generally great same every year maybe it's the same for your area. Some folks will think and in some cases maybe true having more pressure but all year where I fish them they are commercial fished the pressure doesn't fluctuate that much there is always lots of traps. It's like a light switch boom they are there and your traps load. The other trigger in our area might be during the good months the streams are pouring into the inlet, as someone else mentioned they love brackish water. Another theory :) Just observations of crabbing thorough out each year and consistent results year to year.
 
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http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/tidal-maree/a-s28-eng.html#28-6-7-9-11-12

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/includes/Night_closure_area.jpeg

Thanks I found it. First I have heard of it. It is part of area 28. It says: “It is illegal to fish for crabs from one hour after sunset to one hour before Sunrise”. It does not define crab fishing. Is it considered the act of putting down traps and retrieving them and the crabs exclusively or does it also include simply leaving the traps down over night and pulling them in daylight?

I did not find an explanation as to why this was felt to be necessary.

The zone looks to include parts of Vancouver Harbour and off English Bay which is arguably the most crowded water on the coast so perhaps it is more about safety and navigation as opposed to fishing issues. I believe there is also a large ship anchoring zone in that area. They may not want a large ship taking out some guy pulling traps in the dark or ships getting tangled up in traps when they swing on the anchor and some guy trying to get his trap back getting his boat squashed like a bug. Perhaps the local SFAB guys could explain it. I am curious, is there any commercial crabbing going on in this no night crabbing zone ?

I got a chuckle out of the use of "illegal". It reminded me of something an instructor said in a law course years back along the lines that we should use the word "unlawful" and that illeagle is a sick bird.


out last week and saw commercial floats in overnight closed areas?????
 
We pulled our number one trap again yesterday, A total of 26 Dungie's in it and again, no females, no Red Rocks and 17 legal Keepers up to almost 8 inches. I know some guys in isolated spots out on the west coast can get 40 keepers in a trap but I think we are doing well for a large harbour close to a major city that gets a fair bit of pressure. This trap seems to be the better producer of our two traps although they are identical and placed within 100 yards of each other with little difference in depth. It would be nice to work out what the variable is between them that accounts for the difference. I doubt we have had more than three females total all summer so we are in a good long term male Dungie location. The shells seem to be getting harder on average as winter approaches. Will be pulling our traps out of the water soon until next summer.
 
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One of my best overnight hauls was 36 in the trap up in an area near Prince Rupert. 6 were female so it was a pretty nice set. All were over the regulation size.
Halibut carcass for bait.
 
Yes-- the best I ever had was a overnight drop off the wharf at Kemano. A commercial trap PLUGGED with 7-8 in dungies. Didnt count, but there were over 25.
 
Worst thing about Ukee harbor is traps tend to go missing over night, they get stolen, and in some cases maybe the big comy boats run them over who knows. Had a lot of traps go missing this year. If your luck is off and you set them during the day and they pull a big log boom through the harbor half are gone after that happens. Real pain, 2 - 3hr soaks are best in the harbor. We live on the harbor and it's not rare to hear a little skiff out there at mid night with no lights unfortunately. Thinking I may set a bait line and wait in the boat ready to hammer down the throttle and catch the dirty bastards. Problem is once you catch them the anger will be raging and vigilantism will be in full effect lol!
 
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Pretty bad when you can't look after your own property without fear of having your boat or house vandalized. Put a bunch of cinder blocks down with proper floats all around your traps. They might get tired of pulling "traps" and leave.
 
Pretty bad when you can't look after your own property without fear of having your boat or house vandalized. Put a bunch of cinder blocks down with proper floats all around your traps. They might get tired of pulling "traps" and leave.

I used to live on the beach near Campbell river. It was quite rocky, but someone always had traps set out in front. I rowed out and set my traps nearby and for weeks I never caught anything. I tried different baits and depths but still nothing. Why would someone set traps here if there was nothing around?!? One day I got frustrated and pulled a trap. It was a sandbag. Not sure what it was marking, it was not heavy enough to anchor a boat to it, just heavy enough to keep their scotsman from floating away.

I never did catch any crabs...
 
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