Diving for Crabs

[Aquamaniac]

I have done alot of crabbing on the west coast of Australia.

We use a very heavy leather welders glove, with long gauntlets on the right hand and a normal glove on the left.
Ya just grab em!!!!
Try to cover the eyes with the palm of your hand, they are calm when they cannot see, aggresive when they can.
Use a "Snap" bag made of Nylon, and if your under a size restriction, be sure to measure before they go in the bag, no point dragging them around if they are not keepers.
I carry a plastic gauge on my wrist. The end of the gauge is used to pry open the claws if need be.
Generally they (blues especially) swim sideways and away from you. So most times they swin right into the bag when released.

Happy Crabbing.

Dave

 

[Spectre]

MSilvia once bubbled...
You aren't going to look at me funny if I show up with a six pack and a rake tomorrow, are you?:tease:

Of course I will... as long as you have 6 and I have 0...

 

[MSilvia]

You're talking about crabs, not clams, right?

tchil01 once bubbled...
Down on the Chesapeake all we use to catch them is a long piece of string, a long handled net and a chicken neck for bait. Cold beer does help the process along too.

Ty

 

[GearHead]

MSilvia once bubbled...
Maybe it's different in your area, but my family's harvested our own clams for generations... from the beach... without going in the water. Do people really dive for them in the Pacific Northwest?

If you ask nicely, UP might tell you all about Shane's (his son-in-law and dive partner) experience in diving for the gigantic 2.5 lb "Geoduck" (pronounced Gooeyduck) clams up here in the PNW.

I think I did see some clam necks sticking up out of the eel-grass in the shallows yesterday, but I only took Oceanography 101 and don't know my Mollusks that well.
I'd like to learn how to harvest them on a dive myself, but not until I find a non-red-tide beach!

 

[tchil01]

MSilvia once bubbled...
You're talking about crabs, not clams, right?

Yeah, Maryland Blue point crabs. Tie the chicken neck to the string and throw it off the side of a dock or bulkhead. wait a little while, have a couple sips of your beer, and then pull the sting up slowly. you will have one or two crabs hanging onto the chicken neck. Just scoop them up with the net and drop them in a bucket.

On a good day you can pull out a dozen or so in a couple of hours... Of course that depends on how long the beer last.

Ty

Edit: Remember to save at least one beer to use to steam the crabs you catch.

 

[Uncle Pug]

GearHead once bubbled...
the gigantic 2.5 lb "Geoduck"

... Gearhead... that's not a big one... much less a gigantic one.

If you are real quiet you can sneak up them when they are sleeping... but you have to pounce fast or all you get is a mouth full of sand.

Course some folks object to taking their regulator out of their mouth to catch them this way.

btw: Geoduck comes from the Nisqually Indian "gwe-duk" meaning "dig-deep".

 

[wannabe]

I didn't think that you could go for geoduck on scuba in this state?

If you can I have another critter to the list that I need to be getting while diving.

How do you deal with the shellfish licence dangling around your neck?

 

[ladycute1]

Diving for Crabs??????

Wow!! They'll certify anyone these days!!!

Do they use DIR or Sport gear?

It must be really tough to keep from tangling all those legs up in the hoses.

 

[Divesherpa]

We went out every week in SE Alaska. There was a bay about 8 miles from home where we could limit out on a single 80. The trick is to find somewhere with a sandy bottom. Then you swim up to them from above and descend on top of them. hold them down with one hand and pry them out of the sand with a knife or a small bar. Once out, hold tightly and check sex. If you can find a good area without too many sea lions, crabbing is quite enjoyable. Some of the walls in SE Alaska have good Puget Sound crab. They are great to eat and are easier than picking apples.

 

[Uncle Pug]

So here is how Pug does it:

You look for their eyes.
You wave you hand in front of them.
As the sand swirls up from around them because of your hand waving... they will finally get up and try to make a run for it....

Then you pin them to the floor with your other hand.... grab them by the hind legs and turn them over... and check for maleness...

If it is a female... and the second one you scare up is a female too.... head somewhere else cause they segregate into boys and girls clubs.

If it is a male... score and more.