Topic: Netarts Crabbing (Read 1284 times)

November 11, 2024, 07:42:45 AM

Trip Report...
Last Saturday I headed out to Netarts Bay for some crabbing. Planning on hitting the mid-day low tide. Was on the water about two hours before the low tide and tossed out two crab pots above the marina along the road, and just out of range of the folks fishing for crab from the shore. While the pots soaked I went up the bay to see if I could find some cockels (no luck). Went back and checked the pots after a good soak and didnt have any in one trap and just a couple females in another. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the day. Talking with folks on the water and at the ramp it was a slow day. Lots of smaller males and big females above the marina. I had picked the day because of the mellow tides. Most of the folks that did get crab were between the marina and the ocean (closer to the salt). Just a start to the winter crabbing season. The one keeper that I did manage to catch was a good appetizer when I got home!! I will be making a few more trips over this winter in hopes of having crab for the holidays!!

November 15, 2024, 02:07:06 PM #1

Thanks for the report.

My wife and I had 19 keepers a few weeks ago in a relatively short time and most likely would have limited out if we had stayed a bit longer. Sounds like we dropped our pots in the same area as you did. We crabbed around high tide, not sure if that makes a difference. In general people were doing well that morning.

November 18, 2024, 03:51:55 PM #2

I was there about 3 weeks ago and we did extremely well also going from slack into high tide. Fished both near the rock wall/road and also some pots out a bit closer to the mouth, there's definitely shelves you have to find to find the crab when you're not fishing the flat area near the road. With both sets we did well and the fishing was the best early and tapered off as the tides came in fully. We had two boats (men's crabbing weekend) and we pulled 70 keepers for 7 Men. Ultimately WAY more crab than we wanted to clean and cook but we've got it down pretty well over the years.

November 19, 2024, 04:30:48 PM #3

What kind of pots are you using? I've seen some collapsible and some net options but I am curious what kind you use?

November 20, 2024, 09:43:13 AM #4

Not sure what Bugboy uses but I have had good luck with both the folding SMI crab pots, and I also have a Mckay "Kayak" Crabbing pot. The SMI pots are nice because they have a top door to get to the crab, whereas the common danielson folding traps you have to pull them out of one side of the pot which I didn't like as much, but some people prefer because they can dump out all the crab at once, I prefer to not have a mess of crab near my crotch on the kayak. The Mckay pot is nice because it's compact, It has always done just as well as any of the other pots for us.

https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-gear-supplies/crabbing-clamming-gear/crab-traps-pots/smi-4-door-collapsible-crab-trap-24in-x-21in-x-12in/p/1353712?channel=shopping&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArva5BhBiEiwA-oTnXT9uaybXj96c7GGMUe4TdBPwM9wrs9CcMnaVT5c3st2uipo4dAm23xoC_tEQAvD_BwE

https://www.mckayshrimpandcrabgear.com/crab-pots/

November 20, 2024, 03:03:08 PM #5

Quote from: Matt M on November 20, 2024, 09:43:13 AM

Not sure what Bugboy uses but I have had good luck with both the folding SMI crab pots, and I also have a Mckay "Kayak" Crabbing pot. The SMI pots are nice because they have a top door to get to the crab, whereas the common danielson folding traps you have to pull them out of one side of the pot which I didn't like as much, but some people prefer because they can dump out all the crab at once, I prefer to not have a mess of crab near my crotch on the kayak. The Mckay pot is nice because it's compact, It has always done just as well as any of the other pots for us.

https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-gear-supplies/crabbing-clamming-gear/crab-traps-pots/smi-4-door-collapsible-crab-trap-24in-x-21in-x-12in/p/1353712?channel=shopping&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArva5BhBiEiwA-oTnXT9uaybXj96c7GGMUe4TdBPwM9wrs9CcMnaVT5c3st2uipo4dAm23xoC_tEQAvD_BwE

https://www.mckayshrimpandcrabgear.com/crab-pots/

Very interesting......I started crabbing quite a couple of years ago with cheap Danielson pots.....always did well but ran into trouble a few times when crabbing in the ocean hauling 20+ crabs of 2 lbs each....Very difficult to pull up from 50 FoW and virtually impossible to lift into your kayak without flipping.

So when there was the "group-buy" of McKay pots through this site a few years ago I jumped on it and bought a few. Half the size of a Danielson, but more than three times the price. This all would have been no issue, and i really wanted to love the McKay traps, but they have performed horribly for me....

Some numbers for trips in 2022 where i used both sort of traps:
Trip 1 (Netarts B): 2 McKay traps, 1 Danielson trap. 9 keepers, only 2 from the McKay trap, 7 from the one Danielson trap
Trip 2 (Netarts B): 1 McKay trap, 2 Danielson traps. 6 keepers, all from the Danielson traps (and not only no keepers in the McKay....the trap usually often did not yield any undersized crab either)
Trip 3 (Tillamook B): 1 McKay trap, 2 Danielson traps. 19 keepers, ALL FROM THE DANIELSON TRAPS. Again nothing in the McKay trap. (PS: this was with my wife..so limit would have been 24)

I did play around with the McKay traps and added some weights to the doors, to the trap itself etc. Nothing seemed to help and after trip 3 i was done with the McKay's and only used Danielson pots moving forward.
On a next trap i will give the McKays one more chance...

November 21, 2024, 06:38:13 AM #6

That McKay "Kayak crabber" looks pretty solid. Smaller pots usually have a shorter space between the door and bait which can cause the door to stay open if multiple crabs are inside. Like a doorman holding it open so his buddies can eat and split. Fine for smaller bay crabs but not with the bigger ocean crabs. There are some gopro videos that show this.

The most success I've had is with Danielsons with a top door. I’ve also learned to zip tie the doors so I can tell if someone poached it.

November 21, 2024, 08:20:26 AM #7

Quote from: Stinger Hook on November 20, 2024, 03:03:08 PM

Quote from: Matt M on November 20, 2024, 09:43:13 AM
Not sure what Bugboy uses but I have had good luck with both the folding SMI crab pots, and I also have a Mckay "Kayak" Crabbing pot. The SMI pots are nice because they have a top door to get to the crab, whereas the common danielson folding traps you have to pull them out of one side of the pot which I didn't like as much, but some people prefer because they can dump out all the crab at once, I prefer to not have a mess of crab near my crotch on the kayak. The Mckay pot is nice because it's compact, It has always done just as well as any of the other pots for us.

https://www.sportsmans.com/fishing-gear-supplies/crabbing-clamming-gear/crab-traps-pots/smi-4-door-collapsible-crab-trap-24in-x-21in-x-12in/p/1353712?channel=shopping&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiArva5BhBiEiwA-oTnXT9uaybXj96c7GGMUe4TdBPwM9wrs9CcMnaVT5c3st2uipo4dAm23xoC_tEQAvD_BwE

https://www.mckayshrimpandcrabgear.com/crab-pots/

Very interesting......I started crabbing quite a couple of years ago with cheap Danielson pots.....always did well but ran into trouble a few times when crabbing in the ocean hauling 20+ crabs of 2 lbs each....Very difficult to pull up from 50 FoW and virtually impossible to lift into your kayak without flipping.

So when there was the "group-buy" of McKay pots through this site a few years ago I jumped on it and bought a few. Half the size of a Danielson, but more than three times the price. This all would have been no issue, and i really wanted to love the McKay traps, but they have performed horribly for me....

Some numbers for trips in 2022 where i used both sort of traps:
Trip 1 (Netarts B): 2 McKay traps, 1 Danielson trap. 9 keepers, only 2 from the McKay trap, 7 from the one Danielson trap
Trip 2 (Netarts B): 1 McKay trap, 2 Danielson traps. 6 keepers, all from the Danielson traps (and not only no keepers in the McKay....the trap usually often did not yield any undersized crab either)
Trip 3 (Tillamook B): 1 McKay trap, 2 Danielson traps. 19 keepers, ALL FROM THE DANIELSON TRAPS. Again nothing in the McKay trap. (PS: this was with my wife..so limit would have been 24)

I did play around with the McKay traps and added some weights to the doors, to the trap itself etc. Nothing seemed to help and after trip 3 i was done with the McKay's and only used Danielson pots moving forward.
On a next trap i will give the McKays one more chance...

To be fair most of the time I am crabbing it is in the bays and I am almost exclusively just crabbing and not fishing as well, I would think that if you're dropping pots and leaving them for hours or even overnight I could see how you wouldn't get as many crab because there's simply not the space for them to fit in there. In the few instances I've dropped pots and fished from the kayak I only bring two pots and drop them in different areas. It would be hard to compare how well each are fishing when in different areas but I've never noted an extreme difference in either instance.

November 21, 2024, 10:06:07 AM #8

Glad to read the discussions here!!
I usually use 2 Danilesons traps with weighted doors and rebar on the bottom to hold them in place. Traps are baited with chicken and slathered in scent. Sometimes the bait is soaked in the scent for hours or days before hand, hoping that it will soak in and last a bit longer. While the traps are soaking (usually about an hour or so) I use a folding trap on a fishing pole. This keeps me busy so I am not pulling the Danilesons traps too often. Using an anchor helps keep me in place while using the folding trap.
On future trips to Netarts I am hoping to find some cockles or other clams to enhance the harvest.

November 21, 2024, 01:22:24 PM #9

Not a “kayak” report but I was casting the foldable traps off a different beach last week. Ended up with 9 hard shells after a few hours. I think the “king tides” affected the crabbing. Most those crab will hunker down in the sand when that water is really moving and won’t be cruising around to find food.

Did the same thing back in mid-October on a smaller tide and got 13 (2-people) in about 90 minutes.

I always try to crab during the incoming tide to after high-slack. I think the incoming pushes the crab into the bays.

December 02, 2024, 03:52:33 PM #10

Gave it another try on the free fishing Saturday. And I wasn't the only one to take advantage of the mid-day high tide. Unfortunately the crabs won again!! Very slow in the area along the hwy just south of the boat ramp. No keepers for me and my friend. Talked with the sheriffs patrol and they said that the commercial crabbers were in there earlier in the week. I still haven't gone to the north of the boat ramp (where most of the PB crowd went), but may just try it when I can time the tides and pull the traps during the slack tide.
After the slack tide EVERYONE headed back to the boat ramp. It was quite a scene as all of the boats waited their turn for their trailer to show up. My friend and I were able to skip the boat ramp and pull our kayaks up the riprap and to the parking lot. It would be mice if there was a developed ramp for kayaks. There is an unofficial one that is being created from use. Anyone know who to talk to about ramp improvements?

December 03, 2024, 07:14:34 AM #11

I’ve had success north of the ramp and in front of Happy Camp, but the current gets ripping through there. I mean ripping. If it's not slack tide or a small exchange you gotta gtfo.

With the kayak, I prefer Tillamook Bay – put in at Garibaldi and paddle over to crab harbor.

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