Cherrystone Campground

[sika]

We're going there for the week next week and I'm wondering about the crabbing. I was planning to take my rig down there.

[JT]

:clapping2:crabs are plentiful but a little smaller than upper bay. lots of clams and a lot of water to fish in even if you have a small rig. you can even take a small boat down to the state park and launch at kiptopeake ramp and hide behind the concrete ships and fish in any weather. ship to the north is usually more productive and sea trout and croaker will be between ships and a little north of northern ship. flounder within y reach in same area. y can cross the street at red light and put in the back bay and hide from weather and crab or fish. crabs are in the back bay early in april when we are flounder fishing. the shellfish are plentiful. y can find the big ones with y feet and the smaller ones y can find haging in the air sometimes when the tide drops on the corners of the marsh. have fun. if y dont bring boat y can get on headboat at the bait store in campground and he will take y out to bridge for approx 25 bucks . THIS AIN'T YOUR NORMAL HEADBOAT FISHING !

[mlavallee]

Great campground. Great fishing but I found too much seaweed or grass for crabbing but that was a couple years ago. Enjoy your week.

[rgminer]

My family and I have been enjoying Cherrystone every summer since 1973. If you want to crab I can recommend 2 places. Depending on the size of your boat you should have no problem in either.

1) Kings creek. it's the creek that is to your left as you enter the park. The clam farm is right at it's mouth. There is a boat ramp right there if your boat is small. Go into the creek (obey the channel markers carefully) while the tide is moving. Go in past the new marina and go up past the first left turn in the creek. You will have a fairly long stretch of creek right there. Run a trap line up that stretch of creek.

2) Cherrystone Inlet. It's the body of water you are looking at standing on the boat rental pier where the bait house is in the park. the water can get very shallow so proceed with caution. If you look across the water and to your right you will see a very large house on the opposite shore. Anywhere in the inlet is good crabbing. Let the weather and tide dictate where you crab. If the wind isn't bad, you can go directly out in front of the pier, if it's breezy go up into the inlet and let the wind break the wind for you.


Other things I would recommend...

Take your own chicken necks. Bait is expensive down there

watch the water depth and tide. The water in front of the park gets skinny at low tide, it drops as much as 4 feet and you may find yourself stuck if you aren't careful

Crabbing down there is best with a moving tide. Be prepared to catch a good number of sponge crabs this time of year.

There is no size limit on mature females and unlike Maryland, you can keep them if you wish to, although you can usually catch enough males for a meal.

don't expect to catch the huge crabs you catch in the upper bay. most of what you wil be able to keep will be minimum legal size, but they should be nice and full

lower bay crabs are saltier than upper bay crabs so when you steam, go easy on the added salt if you use any..

good luck!

[sika]

Wonderful information, thanks to you all !!!!!!!!!!!

[jimkfish]

Another crabbing option and very fun for the kids. At low tide, walk out from the campground with a net and floating basket. Look for crabs among the underwater grasses and dip them right up. You may not get that many keepers, but its a fun activity for the kids. Make sure you wear some old tennis shoes.

At high tide, just use some traps from the Cherrystone piers. You will catch a lot a small crabs and will be a lot of fun for the kids.