Good day to try out our new Crab traps in Charleston, pretty nice some thin clouds but fairly warm. Still jacket weather for this old coot It got down to 40s last night.
We took the short cut that Ed told us about, Shingle house road. It appears to save a of mileage and some time, only 8 miles to Charleston from Hwy 1. We arrived at the Marina a little latter then I wanted but this is just a test run anyway to see how our rigging works with our new traps.
We purchased some bait fish which was the carcasses of some type of Black cod. It was frozen and they cost 50 each. Generally I use to the chicken to help discourage the seals from trying to steal you bait bit I figure I would try the fish this time. Each fish I used was enough to fill the bait holder up in the traps so it worked out pretty good.
I was surprised to find out with the cart I have I could haul all of my traps, bait bucket, buoys, rope and of course a chair to sit on. Due to my COPD I have to take it slow but I can do it. Going down the dock ramp to the floating dock was the hardest. I need to get another cart with some bigger wheels which would make it easier.
SHOPPING CART I USE & THE UTILITY CART
I noticed a lot of people use the Utility cart which work pretty good but I think it would be a little cumbersome hauling all your gear outside they don’t really have a basket to carry your small stuff, and by using the Grocery carts you able to fold up the cart which makes it nice for hauling in your vehicle.
There was nobody else on the dock which should have told me there not getting many crabs at this time.
We did catch a few crabs but most of them were Rock crabs. The few Dungeness crabs we caught were either two small or they were females.
Now this is the time I thought too myself why didn't we go clamming? You know how that goes if you don’t do too good you wished that you should have done something else. Oh well there is more fishing days to come.
A couple of things we found out about the Danielson crab traps, there not the best to use on a dock, it works but a little harder to throw out and retrieve being square tap it seem to hank up on the dock when your pulling it out of the water. The other thing I found is the square traps has a four strand rope hook up which is a pain since it wants to drag the traps up in the square position. Not good for pier crabbing.
The other trap I hooked up with a two rope hookup. I got this off the Internet and I think it works better.
FOUR ROPE METHOD & TWO ROPE METHOD
So for fishing with square traps I mainly on the docks I would highly recommend using the two rope method. The other thing a person should remember is to make sure your pull rope has a big enough loop in it so you can add more line if need be. (This would generally apply if you out in the bay in deeper water) Here is a link to the site which has some real good information. The only thing about it he relates to fishing for crabs in 200 feet water or more but the general principal is the same for docks. Don’t use the weight suggestions for your traps again this is for deep water and strong tides
Check out this site for the information on crab traps.
http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/?q=node/48
I think a person should have a couple of the collapsible round crab traps with the Danielson just for fishing the docks and when you fish out of a boat it would help pass the time away while you waiting hopefully to fill your square traps that are enclosed . If you leave the collapsible Round traps in the water too long without checking them the crabs will eat all your bait and than leave the traps.
Talking to a local yesterday about fishing and he was telling me of a couple of good spots I should try for Ocean fish. They catch quit a few Ocean Perch if your in the right area. One other thing he told me is to fish for some Stripers off of Bastendorf Beach. They have caught quite a few of them when there running using sand shrimp.
BASTENDORF BEACH
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