crab traps do you avoid them ?

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

With a few exceptions for locally unique conditions, I don't see why you'd expect fishermen NOT to place their gear wherever their target species is.

It's inconvenient when a kayak (or sailboat!) is in my way in the channel. I would never suggest it should be illegal for them to be there. I keep a proper lookout, and treat them with the same respect I'd expect from them.

There are a few fishing practices which irritate me. The way toggles are misused in some areas is both rude and foolish. One local guy puts dozens of buoys in a narrow stretch of channel, where far fewer are needed. That's beyond rude. But it's not illegal; just really, really stupid.

In Florida it's illegal:

Traps are prohibited in all navigation channels of Inland Coastal Waterways or channels marked by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard or state, county or local governments.

Stone Crab

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by DotDun

In Florida it's illegal

Interesting. I'm not sure exactly how they define "inland." That sure isn't the case in coastal New England waters!

[Cadence]

Give the commercial fisherman a break. If you ever picked up a warp and pulled a trap you would realize they don't want to have a significate investment lost. It is not just chicken wire and a little rebar. Besides, a lost trap is a perpetual catcher of their catch that goes to waste.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

Luckily, the first time I spent significant time on the ICW, I went with a guy who had wrapped a crap pot line around his prop shaft once, so I was fully warned about crab pots. Do not run over them, and do not travel at night on the ICW, which I have done, and was lucky enough not to be punished for with a stopped prop. But I won't do it again.

[DougM]

Interesting topic. I live and sail on Cape Breton Island. We have crab and lobster fishing, lots of it. Lobster is an intense 2 month season, may 15 to july 15th where i live. Fisherman here use 1 line/bouy for each trap. There are loads of them inside my home harbour, but when you get outside they are a lot more dense than the video someone posted of Maine.

Despite the effort i put into avoiding them, I've snagged traps a number of times, usually between spade rudder and hull. I've also had several prop wraps. On my previous boat (hunter 33) i always managed to clear things without going into the water. Prop wraps were soft (saw the lines last minute, into neutral, so freewheeling when wrapped) so a little reverse once we had one end of line in hand freed it. To free it from rudder, used boathook to pull up trailing line (moving at a few knots towing trap). Cut line, hold both ends, use boathook to grab bouy, pull free, retie so fisherman can retrive trap should he find it at new location.

Note my courtesy to fisherman. But as I get older this wears thin. Here' s why: fisherman in our area use cheapo floating rope. They tend to fish deeper early in season and progressively move inshore. Most (the vast majority) are too lazy and incosiderate to shank their lines. Thus sometimes you see 50 to 100 feet of line floating across the surface, creating a nearly impenetrable maze just waiting to snag any unsuspecting boater who crosses them. (one exception, in one small harbour the fisherman all agreed to use sinker line which poses very little hazard. very considerate and probably a good economic decision for them)

So i respect the comments from those who respect fisherman's need to make a living. But fishermen really should respect each other, pleasure craft, whales etc by using sinker line. An appropriate place for regulation (??? can't believe i'd suggest such a thing )

Defenses:

- I never tried a line cutter. Wouldn't be opposed but not relevant on my present boat.

- on my present boat (Gemini 105mc) I machined two aluminum wedges and epoxied them to the hull just ahead of rudder. So if i cross a floating line, the line is deflected downward onto the leading edge of the rudder, so it doesn't foul in the slot. The float eventually catches and the pressure makes the rudder pop up as designed. This has worked like a charm and not i don't worry about sailing over lines. This also sort of protects the prop as the gemini driveleg is behind the rudders, but obviously this is not complete protection. So I'm still extremely wary when motoring.


Last story - i snagged a driftnet line 5nm off the south coast of nova scotia when a first bought my Gemini and before my rudder wedges were installed. 4 am, 20 knots of wind, 4-5 ft seas. Sailing at the time. Basically an immovable object, stopped me dead. Dropped sails and ended up stern to waves. Had a miserable time freeing port rudder, on a tether, stepping down the stern steps between waves that were cresting up the deck. Got out of it successfully, but it was not fun to say the least.

[BillsWife1]

Here's a little gift from the ICW. This little gem got picked up in the channel. No marker or float, just an errant crab pot. Luckily it did not damage anything other than our nerves. It did have a pretty nice size stone crab though.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by BillsWife1

Here's a little gift from the ICW. This little gem got picked up in the channel. No marker or float, just an errant crab pot. Luckily it did not damage anything other than our nerves. It did have a pretty nice size stone crab though.

I've known quite a few people who have picked up old wire traps in theit props. The scariest thing about only having a foot or two of water under the props in any place is worrying about these old traps everywhere.

[DotDun]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

Interesting. I'm not sure exactly how they define "inland." That sure isn't the case in coastal New England waters!

Inland Waterways:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland..._United_States

You also noticed it says "or" any channel marked by any/all other gov't agencies.

[Moody46CC]

I sail in the Chesapeake Bay. Invented crabs here.

For the most part, the watermen do place the pots outside the channels, and they thin out when the depth goes beyond 25 feet. The watermen usually place them in strings of 10-20 running a straight line with the floats about 50 yards apart (enough distance to allow the waterman, with boat running at idle speed, to winch up the pot, empty it, re-bait it and set it before coming up to the next one). The strings are about 50 yards apart. Once a boat operator sees the strings, it is easy to run parallel to one and thus between two rows or to cut perpendicular across a string, thus easily avoiding them. OF course, this means you are at the helm and being observant. The dark painted buoys are hard to spot.

Don't sail often at night but when I do, I try to stay in the channel or way offshore. It is beneficial to all parties to avoid going over them.