This is how American fishermen catch millions of crabs every day - how to trap crabs blue on the sea

Welcome to our YouTube channel. Today, we will explore a special and extremely interesting seafood, the stone crab. Stone crabs are not only famous for their delicious taste, but also for the challenging and fascinating process of catching them. In this video, we will introduce stone crabs in detail, from their habitat to their biological characteristics. And more specifically, we will guide you on how to catch stone crabs safely and effectively in Let's start our journey of discovery right now. You can also find stone crabs in the same shallow, rocky locations where you'd hunt bugs. They live in depths ranging from knee-deep seagrass meadows to reefs in 200 feet, but I've had the most luck finding them inshore of inlets around docks, rocks, bridges and sea walls. Stone crabs occur throughout Florida waters, but most of the harvest comes from southeast Florida, the Florida Keys and southwest Florida. When searching for where to catch stone crabs in Florida, you might find both lobsters and stone crabs in the same rocks and reefs. But when you're in stone crab mode, look for holes the rocks and reefs with broken shells in front of them and you'll probably find a stone crab burrow. You can tickle them out of the reef with a piece of coat hanger bent no more than 90 degrees. Stone crabs don't move very quickly, so you can usually grab them over the top of the claws by the body, keeping the claws pointed down or away. Claws must be a minimum of 2.75 inches and they tear off easily, so make sure you've got a legal one before grabbing the claws. You should only remove one claw so that the crab can continue to feed and defend itself. They will regenerate the claw within a year. If diving for stone crabs sounds dicey to you, you can also buy traps in most bait and tackle stores. You can deploy up to five traps and you're best setting them in sand near rocky structures and using fish heads for bait. If you'd rather let someone else catch your stone crabs, idle up to your favorite waterfront restaurant or check out the Paradise Coast Stone Crab Festival October 25 to 27 in Naples. The Key Largo Stone Crab and Seafood Festival is January 25-26 in Key Largo. Crabbing is both a commercial business as well as a family fun activity. Crabbing involves the catching and eating of these succulent crustaceans. The crab most commonly caught and eaten along the east coast is known as the blue claw crab. There is nothing better than coming home and having a delicious meal of blue claw crabs with the family. Crabs have claws and will pinch you. If this happens, do not panic. Pull the crab away from you with your other hand until the claw breaks off the crab. The proper way of holding a crab is shown in later steps. Crabs have size limits that change annually. Check online or at your local marina to avoid any legal issues that could arise. There are other crabs local to the coast such as green crabs and spider crabs. These crabs are not edible and if caught should be released. If the crab dies before it is cleaned do not eat it. Once dead, a poison is released throughout the crab's body that ruins the meat. Crabs are found in saltwater. This also includes brackish water also known as tidal water. These areas include saltwater marshes, bays, inlets and the ocean. Crabs also prefer to be near underwater structures such as pilings, usually from docks, bridges and sunken shipwrecks. Dead fish, any type of fish will do as long as it is a reasonable size, usually between six inches to one foot. A few types of fish commonly used are bunker, snapper blues and sea robins. The fish can be better utilized by cutting it into two by six pieces. Make sure that there are cuts on the fish so that the smell will easily travel through the water. Hot dogs. Hot dogs are not commonly used due to the fact that they are very soft and crabs can easily tear them apart and eat them. The advantage of hot dogs is that they are much cheaper than normal bait so if you are on a budget, hot dogs might be the way to go. Chicken. Chicken legs are preferred. Chicken is less expensive than fish and is a solid bait. This means that the crabs can't easily break it up and take it away. Meat. Any meat can be used. The three above are the most affordable meats to buy as well as the easiest to use. Weighted hand lines. Drop lines. This is a rope with a weighted hook on the end. The weight keeps the bait from floating up. Tie the end of the string that doesn't have the hook on it to something that is secure so that the crab can't pull the entire line into the water. The bait is securely put on the hook to prevent crabs from taking the bait. Once the bait is on the hook, it is thrown 8 to 12 feet out into the water, usually from a bank. It can also be dropped from the side of a boat in shallow water, as long as the meat reaches the bottom. Wait 5 to 10 minutes or if you see the line begin to move, then very slowly pull in the line. Once the meat comes into view look to see if there is a crab on the meat. If there isn't, pull that meat out of the water and throw it back out. If there is a crab, pull the line a little closer but make sure to leave the crab 1 to 2 feet under the water. Slowly take a net and lower it into the water behind the crab. Scoop the crab out of the water but be quick because crabs are fast and voila, you have caught a crab. Box crab traps. This trap is made out of a wire-like mesh. It has 4 open sides, a top, a bottom, and 4 flaps that open and seal off the sides. Strings are attached to flaps and all join at a ring that is located above the trap. A longer string is attached to the ring and when it is pulled it causes the flaps to seal off the sides of the trap. When crabbing, a piece of meat is placed inside the trap in the middle and tied down. When the crab goes to eat, the sides of the trap will be closed trapping the crab inside with no chance of escape. Pyramid crab traps. This trap is made out of a wire-like mesh. It is made from 4 triangles and a square. One triangle is attached to each side of the square. Strings are attached to the ends of the triangles. The strings join at a ring that is located above the trap. A longer string is attached to the ring and when it is pulled it causes the flaps to seal off the sides of the trap. When crabbing, a piece of meat is placed inside the trap in the middle and tied down. When the crab goes to eat, the sides of the trap will be closed trapping the crab inside with no chance of escape. Ring crab traps. This trap is either made from wire mesh or string. It has a circular shape. When lying on the ground it appears flat but when it is picked up, the bottom drops down trapping the crab inside. The bait is usually put in the center of the trap along with some type of weight. Commercial crab traps. In order to use these traps, you must have a license unless you are using them from on a privately owned dock. These traps are large, usually 2 to 3 feet wide. They are left in the water for many days and can hold large amounts of bait. They are capable of holding dozens of crabs. Crabbing is fun for the family. Just don't get pinched. I've watched the world's deadliest catch on the Discovery Channel, so I was ready for anything the 2 to 3 foot gulf chop could bring, as my nephew, Austin Cowan, steered his family's 23-foot center console out of Blinds Pass, St. Petersburg Beach. We were off to retrieve their five pink RTA Seastone crab traps. Tanner Cowan pulls in one of his family's five traps. In talking to these guys, I learned that Mike got started stone crabbing three years ago when his wife Sue came home from participating in a coastal cleanup project on neighboring Shell Island, where she found three stone crab traps that had washed up on the beach. We love it, he explained. It gets you out on the water, we normally take friends, it's a renewable resource and probably 70% of the time that we're out crabbing we're fishing too. I've caught triple tail and seen cobia caught right on the very trap lines we're about to pull. A seafood buffet. You have storms that move or take your traps, he noted. Boats run them over and then you have poachers out there looking for a free meal to contend with. We increased our traps from five to ten traps this year. Sue wanted her own five and already we're down to seven and we're Mike continued. When the wind's blowing hard offshore you get a little protection from land out to about two miles. When the wind blows from the northwest land doesn't help but at least you don't have that far to run. The first nice ledge just north of John's Pass in about 18 feet is where I've been putting my traps. I like to set the traps within a couple of feet of the ledge or rocky bottom. I lay them out about 75 feet apart in a zigzag line following the ledge. I think being on both sides of the ledge increases your odds of catching them when they move. Commercial crabber and Seminole resident Doug Johnston has been crabbing for 32 years in the St Pete beach to Clearwater area. He says the bulk of his 800 traps are just off the beach in 16 feet of water but he also has traps out to 30 feet as well as 100 or so in the bay. The nice thing about having the traps inshore is that I can always go out and get crabs where there isn't an issue, he said. The crabs are just as big but you get about half as many as you do offshore. The key to placing your traps inshore is to keep them in 8 to 10 feet of relatively clean water. You want to avoid stagnant bays. If the water is flushed well with the tides and if you have a shell or rocky bottom you'll get crabs. Doug says he's never seen so many crab traps in the water thinking the additional recreational input has something to do with it. He still averages a half pound to three pounds per trap. That really hasn't changed over the years, he said. When I asked Doug about bait he said he has a deal with a local fish house for grouper heads. If there's time I put the heads in a mesh sack but we'll just throw them in the trap as well. Once the cold fronts start coming we're working pretty fast. After a good cold front you can go from a 200 pound average to 450 pounds. The crabs move at night and the cold fronts stir the water up adding to the time that the crabs are moving about. The fronts are when you're catching the In St. Petersburg is the largest supplier of stone crab traps on the west coast, selling over 40,000 traps a year. You can buy a kit that includes everything you need to build five traps for $125. The only thing it doesn't include is the concrete for the floor, an estimated of crab trap kits. Their Full Monty kit has five traps and accessories for $105. Pig's feet are a popular stone crab bait for their staying power but when the water cools down fishermen will switch to cut bait consisting of oily fish like mullet or ladyfish and the The length of your crab trap line should be at least double the depth your traps are in, he said. You don't want too much scope because you'll lose your traps to boats but if you don't have enough you'll lose them to storms. When it comes time to work the traps Mike usually checks the traps at least once a week. When I go out to check on them I'm always prepared to re-bait them. I use trays in the trap which prevents the crabs from eating the bait as fast so when I check the traps I'll usually throw the old bait into the trap and replace fresh bait into the tray. The traps we purchased come equipped with these. The trap must also include a biodegradable panel or the door must be held shut with a single strand of untreated jute or sisal twine that will deteriorate and prevent the device from continuing to operate in the event it becomes lost or abandoned. Setting in the bay a good rule of thumb is that your traps should be set only where you will be able to retrieve them by boat on a normal low tide. Mud and sand bottoms devoid of grass and some amount of scattered shell are typically not very productive. The mouth of marsh drains can be especially productive. If you're a weighed fisherman you might already have some places in mind. Think of the places where the fishing is normally good and you will likely also find the crabs plentiful. Crabbing is open year round except during the annual 10-day closure in February legislated for the purpose of allowing volunteers and law enforcement personnel to remove derelict crabbing gear from coastal waters. There are no bag limits but stewardship of coastal resources should always direct our efforts. Catch enough for a meal or two and pull your traps. Crabs are always best when fresh anyway. Please never allow your traps to sit unattended for days and never abandon them. Set them out one day and check or retrieve them the next. A trap left unattended or abandoned will continue to attract marine life. Curiosity kills the cat, fish and crabs too. A fish or crab...