Someone is cheating....

[Reef]

Tara and I dove Spanish Rocks Saturday. By the look of things on the Rocks you would have bet crab season had started early.

Someone or some people are not playing by the rules...

The last few times we have been there the place has been loaded with crab.

Today it was loaded with pieces of crab. It didn't look like a nurse shark or something else living in the 02 was getting the bite, but this looked like the work of humans.

The bits, and pieces were careful broken apart.

Anyways I didn't want anyone to be surprised if this was one of the places you had planned on hitting.

 

[deepstops]

That's not cheating, it's poaching.

Perhaps alerting FWC would get a little monitoring at that site.

 

[Salmonboy97]

And people wonder why fishing catch/bag limits are so restrictive. It's because some dont give a damn and take all they want, when they want.
It is this small MINORITY screwing it up for the rest of us.

Thanks for the report Reef!

 

[Sh@rkW@tcher]

This is very disapointing to hear. I was planning on diving there opening day. It has been about two months since I've been there (the FUSE3 donut dive in August). I have a couple of secret ledges in Venice that I was saving for later in the season, I'll try instead (unless this is a misinformation ploy by MissD to discourage other crabbers). BTW, how was the viz?

 

[I Dive]

Jay, place a call into FWC and let them know what you found. You'd be surprised what they are able to do after-the-fact as far as an investigation to try and find the pricks. Or better yet, as Deepstops alluded to, catch them in the act while they are trying it again.

 

[CMOST]

We were there 2 weeks ago & it was loaded with crab just waiting for us. These S.O.B.'s need to be caught.

 

[N2H20]

Today it was loaded with pieces of crab. It didn't look like a nurse shark or something else living in the 02 was getting the bite, but this looked like the work of humans.

The bits, and pieces were careful broken apart.

Maybe you are looking for an eight - legged poacher. Most poachers would have just removed the claw and left a bunch of one-armed crabs (if the claw was removed properly).

Check out the holes for an octopus - they also find stone crabs quite tasty! Hope this is the case and not someone getting a jump on the season.

Teresa

 

[Chad Carney]

Tara and I dove Spanish Rocks Saturday. By the look of things on the Rocks you would have bet crab season had started early.

Someone or some people are not playing by the rules...

The last few times we have been there the place has been loaded with crab.

Today it was loaded with pieces of crab. It didn't look like a nurse shark or something else living in the 02 was getting the bite, but this looked like the work of humans.

The bits, and pieces were careful broken apart.

Anyways I didn't want anyone to be surprised if this was one of the places you had planned on hitting.

I bet Teresa's right. Octo's eat the body and leave pieces, including the claws. A good crab hunter rarely ever kills a crab, and even rookies don't kill all of them.

Did you see any one armed bandits? That's when you know you're not on a virgin spot.

Chad

 

[Bob]

I bet Teresa's right. Octo's eat the body and leave pieces, including the claws. A good crab hunter rarely ever kills a crab, and even rookies don't kill all of them.

Did you see any one armed bandits? That's when you know you're not on a virgin spot.

Chad

I agree with Teresa and Chad on this one, that's exactly what a Octopus leaves behind, bits and pieces. I think a pesky eight armed bandit is the poacher here. almtree: Bob

 

[I Dive]

I bet Teresa's right. Octo's eat the body and leave pieces, including the claws. A good crab hunter rarely ever kills a crab, and even rookies don't kill all of them.

Did you see any one armed bandits? That's when you know you're not on a virgin spot.

Chad

I agree with Teresa and Chad on this one, that's exactly what a Octopus leaves behind, bits and pieces. I think a pesky eight armed bandit is the poacher here. almtree: Bob

Hey, this is ScuabaBoard, we aren't supposed to agree on here or offer intelligent observations. This thread just doesn't seem right. Let me give this some typical ScubaBoard thrashing...

Where the heck did you two learn to dive? I bet your Instructors came out of an Instructor Puppy Mill and they probably both had less than 10,000 dives when they became Instructors. If either of you knew anything, you'd realize that Reef saw the aftermath of an organized Crab Poaching Ring, not an Octopus. Everyone with a brain knows Octopus only live in water deeper than 174,876 feet deep and Spanish Rocks is only 178 feet deep.

Sorry, I've been venturing into forums other than the GTBA lately and have grown accustomed to posts like that, not the intelligent, informative, friendly, and civil tone I usually see in the GTBA!