Hello all, I have a problem with someone stealing my crabs. I live on a local creek that I need high tide to get to the main creek. I have started crabbing maybe once a week with some traps that my wife got me for my birthday. I have the yellow floats with my name on it and a bunch of sinking line. I noticed a couple times I went out that I had a good amount of crabs and other times no crabs. So I started zip tying my traps shut. That solved the problem I always had crabs then! The past couple of times I have gone out to get my traps the zip ties are cut and the crabs are gone. I went out tonight and one trap had the zip ties cut and the other had the line cut with the trap gone but the float and line still there (I dragged a hook for about a half hour trying to see if it was still there, it wasn’t…) I’m sure there really isn’t anything I can do but it just seems like you just don’t mess with another guys crabs trap is just not cool… Any suggestions? Thoughts? Bummed crabber…
Take two sharp hooks, tie it on 20 lb braid and cut it off 1" after the knot, weave one into the rope just below the crab float hood pointed down and the other a few feet before the pot hook pointed up or down. If it’s a slick rope point it down. Rig them like you would a weedless worm with the hook barely sticking out.
Strange how two fishermen hooked your pot huh?
First, Most, Biggest
I want to catch them all
Same thing happens to me. I leave mine on the dock …crabs stolen. I move it out to deeper water not accessible to the dock… Crabs stolen. I’m trying to figure out a way to stick a sign in my trap with dried permanent marker saying something aong the lines of “you are being survelienced” followed by a threat. It would be interesting to see of this has any effect…I sure wouldn’t take the chance if I saw something like that. Probably won’t work, but it’s worth a shot haha. It really is unbelievable people steal from others traps…especially from those who make a living crabbing.
Connor Malark
Had crabs stolen out of my trap this season also. Today I saw the commercial crabber pulling his pots in the creek so I asked him, “How’s your season going?” “Worst ever” he says. Pretty sure my trap went toward his bottom line…
There’s no I in Barbeque Team.
Red, maybe try a longer rope and tie it further up the dock where nobody would expect a crab pot rope.
First, Most, Biggest
I want to catch them all
My wife says I should tie a live hand Grenade to a wire connected to the crab trap opening. I think this may be a bit overkill as I don’t know where I am going to find live hand Grenades…
I have suggestions for solutions to thievery, but none of them are legal… Except for maybe a game camera if it’s near your dock. Out of curiosity, which creek is this and is there only one entrance?
Know it doesn’t meet the laws of properly marking a trap, and I won’t suggest doing or not doing it. But we used to use seagull decoys for floats on pinfish traps in Florida. After we started that we much less frequently pulled up empty bait traps.
Man I HATE a thief!
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”.
Probably the first step would be to report it to DNR and see what they say. Sounds to me that it happens often enouch that you would be able to catch them.
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If your trap is close to a dock, affix a trail cam on the dock in view of your trap. Then place a note inside a tightly sealed mayonnaise jar with the note saying “Smile”.
For added fun, get one of those battery operated door alarms…the kind that screams loud as hell when the connections are broken. Glue it at the top of the jar lid so that when the lid is screwed off, the alarm goes off.
Now you gotta figure a thief is pretty sneaky and suspicious as hell, so line the inside of the jar with a note that says “$100 reward inside” (you’d have to paint the bottom of the jar so you could not look from the bottom)…what person wouldn’t be tempted to look inside to see if there was $100 inside. (Edit)Better yet, place a photocopy of a $100 bill inside.
Post the pictures on CF.com. Thread count would go through the roof.
Door alarm, about $9 at Lowes:
“I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the general public.”
~my dad
Equipment:
190cc Sea Pro w/130 Johnson
1- 20 year old (boy of leisure)
1 - 17 year old (fishing maniac)
1 - wife (The Warden)
ECFC
I was asking if it only had one entrance because it might be more likely to catch him red handed then if you report a robbery in progress and a Dnr boat is handy. Also if you want to avoid all this tomfoolery and revenge plotting, and you have your own floating dock, perhaps pry a board up and see if there is a way to attach a crab trap rope in an inaccessible/not visible area so as to not attract attention. Replace the board and have the line enter the water from under the floating dock. You could then retrieve the line/trap by reaching under the dock with a gaff or something and only you would know it’s there.
I live on a creek also. Funny how my crabs and crab pots go missing the first sign of commercial crabbers coming into the creek at the first of the season.
And, some fisherman know that if they rob a individual’s crab pot they probably won’t be as vindictive as a commercial crabber. I think there is a heck of a war that goes on between the commercial guys too.
I have one thing to say to the commercial guys. Keep you freaking traps out of navigable water ways!!!
My gosh, they’re right in the dam middle of the channel
What is life without adventure
Wish I could keep fire ants in my trap!
Multiple hooks in your crab pot line is the only way to go. Don’t feel sorry for him… He made that choice. I’m sure he’s hoping that you buy a new trap also so he can come back. Good luck
Put a ziploc bag in your trap with a note saying “If you are reading this I can see you in my rifle scope.”
quote:
Originally posted by oops_lostPut a ziploc bag in your trap with a note saying “If you are reading this I can see you in my rifle scope.”
Now that’s funny.
Could you fill a trap with some stinging jellyfish? Bet that would hurt.
There’s an idea. Stick a manowar in a mason jar with money at the bottom.
First, Most, Biggest
I want to catch them all
Got some old Sabiki rigs? Wrap them around the float line, the heck with one or two hooks!
Just read something kind of smart. Tie a cinder block to your float with enough line to reach bottom, tie your trap with another line maybe 5-6’ long from the block. They are thieves, and probably very lazy. When they pull the rope up and see a muddy cinder block, maybe they will give up and drop it. More work for you, but you should have crabs in the pot.