Article by Capt. Lance Smith
There are few things I enjoy more than catching a limit of decent sized flounder or boxing a load of yellowfin and mahi-mahi. But even the acrobatics of a jumping marlin or mako shark are hard to compare with a day spent scooping up Maryland’s most celebrated crustacean. I’m talking about the blue crab of course. Although freshly seared tuna and deep fried flounder make for great dinners, when it comes to bringing family and friends together, it’s hard to beat a pile of steamed crabs. I can’t imagine what on Earth motivated the first human being to attempt the ingestion of one of these hard-shelled scavengers, but I will bet that once they did, they probably still had a hard time convincing others to do so! I mean, think about it for a second. At some point in history someone said to themselves, “I am so hungry that I am going to crack open this disgusting looking, underwater, spider-looking thingy, and eat it.” I wonder though; do you think that first brave soul shared their new found food source with the rest of the folks, or kept them all to themselves and ate in secret. I know what I would have done!
Thankfully, as residents of the East Coast, and most notably Maryland, many of us have no problem sitting down and stuffing ourselves with as much crab meat and fresh corn as we can get our hands on. Even though we may live in the greatest crab producing state there is, for the majority of us, a bushel of small/medium crabs or a dozen “jumbos” is a rare treat. After all, if every one of us could afford to eat crabs every day there wouldn’t be any left! Yes, crabs can be expensive, especially when trying to feed a family as large as mine. I’m certainly not going to try to convince you in this week’s column that catching a bushel of 7-inch crabs in Ocean City is an easy or even a feasible task while on vacation. What I can tell you is that catching enough keeper sized crabs to feed your family is most certainly possible and is also a great way to spend the day on the water.
As with most saltwater endeavors to bring home a meal, having a boat is always a bonus. With a recreational crabbing license from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, you are allowed to set out up to thirty “crab traps.” Do not confuse crab traps with “crab pots!” Crab traps consist of the smaller wire cages that come in either a square, or less frequently, triangle shapes. When rigged correctly, these smaller traps have sides or “doors” that open when they are set flat on the bay’s bottom. When the bridled string that is attached to the doors is pulled from above, the trap closes and hopefully there is a crab or two inside upon retrieval. Unless you are a frequent beach visitor and have the space to store thirty of these traps, the time and money associated with rigging and using them can be a bit prohibitive. However, if you happen to have the time and resources to invest in 30 traps, I highly recommend it. If you have children, these traps will pay for themselves very quickly by giving the kids something to do when you grow tired of sitting on the beach.
If you don’t have the time or want to spend the money on wire traps, there certainly are alternatives. Wal-Mart and most tackle shops sell pre-rigged “ring traps.” These much cheaper alternatives (about $3.00 each) can catch you almost as many crabs as the wire traps. The only drawback is that they have no tops and crabs may climb out if you aren’t quick enough with your retrieval! Unlike wire traps which can be rinsed off and used for many years, ring traps are typically made of cloth and do not stand up very well to repeated use. Whether wire or cloth, both types of traps can be used either from a boat or from shore. If you happen to have a boat or decide to rent one while you are in town, the best locations to crab are in the upper part of the coastal bay. When driving over the Route 90 Bridge, you can often see lines of crab buoys bouncing in the chop. These are commercial pots, a much larger version of wire traps capable of catching over a dozen crabs at a time. Unless you have a commercial license you cannot set these pots out in the bay for recreational use. If you happen to own waterfront property, or are renting waterfront property and have the permission of the homeowner, you can set two of these pots off your pier or bulkhead.
Beside traps, the most personal and entertaining way of catching crabs is with a simple string and a net. Tackle shops in Ocean City, and even most convenience stores, sell pre-rigged “hand-lines” that consist of a length of small gauge rope and a sinker with a pin through it. All you need to do is pin your bait to the sinker and drop it into the water! These rigs are terrific if you are staying on one of the many bayside canals in town or if you are strapped for space and crabbing from a pier or bulkhead. In addition to the string and weights, hand-lining also requires the purchase of a net to dip the crabs with. The most typical and cheapest versions are made with wooden handles, a wire hoop and green netting. Don’t make the mistake of purchasing one of the white minnow nets with very small mesh. The resistance caused by the reduced meshed size will have crabs dropping off of your bait before you can scoop them up.
Oh yeah, bait! The most widely used bait for crabbing by recreational anglers is raw chicken. It doesn’t matter what part of the chicken. The cheapest pieces you can find will work. If using wire or cloth traps, secure the chicken part to the center of the trap with either a small piece of string or re-usable wire ties. When using hand lines, simply poke the pin through the chicken and close it, or tie a few overhand knots around the chicken and use a small bank sinker for weight.
If you happen to be staying on the beachfront for your vacation, or don’t have access to a boat or canal, there are plenty of places to crab from shore in Ocean City. The pier at Northside Park is a particularly good location to take kids and produces best on higher tides. In between the spans of the Route 90 Bridge there is a small park on the south side that can also produce some good crabbing. Typically, when crabbing from shore, the farther north you go the better off you will be. This is not to say that there aren’t any crabs downtown. The problem with crabbing off of places like the bulkhead from 2nd to 4th Street is that the tide is often running too hard to keep your traps/lines on the bottom. The Oceanic pier can be a productive crabbing location if you stick to the shallower water at the beginning of the pier and out of the current. There is also a public pier on the bayside of 9th Street that is out of the harder running current for the most part. Depending on where you are staying, simply check with your local tackle shop and they will be able to point you in the right direction for a place nearest your rental.
Many of the marinas in town rent small skiffs or pontoon boats that are perfect for crabbing with either traps or hand lines. If you are using traps, you will need to use an appropriate amount of line to reach bottom and some sort of float to attach the line to. Orange pool noodles cut into one-foot sections make perfect buoys for traps. Try to drop your traps in a straight line about 30 to 50-feet apart and pull them up while going into the wind/tide.
When crabbing from a pier or bulkhead and using hand lines, try to spread the lines out in ten-foot increments. Regardless of the water depth, you will want to leave a few feet of slack in your line once your bait hits bottom. In doing so, you will be alarmed to the presence of a crab on your bait when the string gets taught. Crabs will typically grab your bait and try to scurry off with it before another crab can get to it. When you notice that your line is taught, or it is moving off in some direction, the real challenge begins. A slow, smooth and steady retrieval of the line is necessary in order to keep the crab on the string. Any jerky motions and your dinner will simply let go and swim away. If you do manage to get a crab within site, you then have to net it. This can be the most frustrating part of crabbing! Sometimes an ultra-quick scoop is necessary and other times a stealthier and slower approach is required. In this case, practice definitely makes perfect.
If crabbing on your own, make sure that you check with the current regulations for size and bag limits as they are subject to change throughout the summer. Also keep in mind that if all of this seems to be a daunting task, there are plenty of boats available for charter here in the pages of the Coastal Fisherman that would love to take you and your family out for a day of crabbing. Some of the bay charter boats will actually take you to pull crab pots after you spend some time fishing. It’s a great way to end your trip and you get to bring some crabs home to eat.
Crabs are always delicious, but for some reason they just taste better when you catch them yourself!
Lance Smith is an outdoor writer and Captain of his family’s boat, ‘Longfin”.
