Avoiding the ladies?

[Morsax]

Finally managed to get out crabbing Sunday morning. Found a lot of crabs (everything was deeper 9-13') BUT they were almost all females--we guessed about a 5:1 ratio of girls to boys. We ended up with about 5 doz. keepers--but we sorted a lot of crabs to do it (not that I am complaining-they were darn tasty!)

Here is my question: When you get on an area that seems to be dominated by females (crabs that is--I don't mean the mall), do you change strategies? Do crabs group together by sex? Should we have moved to try to find an area that had a different ratio or is it best to stay on crab and pick through?

I am wondering if this area has just had so many males removed (without female removal) that the sex ratio is messed up--

Thanks
Hans

[crabby and son]

Hans, I quit crabbing in late July due to an over abundance of females. I don't have an answer to your question though. It's good for the future but not today. Everybody wants to go to heaven .............but no one wants to go tomorrow:D............Gary

[redbeard]

more females may be due to female harvest restiction in place last season and this season as well, i find it to be pretty normal for the patapsco to have alot of sooks this time of year. in shallower water you may find more males -but less crabs overall.

[MarkTakacs]

Southern waters typically have more females than nothern tribs. On one such northern trib last week we got maybe 2-4 sooks while just a few tribs to the south the recs were bailing then by the bushels. Fortunately, very few comms are targeting these females.....ya right! Others say you can crab the extreme headwaters of a trib to get away from the girls.....but most of my tribs are not that big.

Sure, it sucks to throw back a crab you cant keep......but it makes good practice for my kids!

Mark

[SkateCatcher]

Crabbed the Magothy on Saturday for about 3.5 hours with 15 topless. Ended with 18 nice males, but had a ratio of about 8:1 Females. Some of them were HUGE with big rusty bottoms.

[Glub]

Excellent question. I went on Saturday afternoon and wasted about three hours catching and releasing about 2 bushels worth of females just outside of Thompson Creek in Eastern Bay. Very frustrating. Had 600 ft of line and 30 traps in 7-14' Was about the throw the 3 males back and call it a day, but instead put a few traps just around the point moving inside the creek (arguably still open water) in 8-12'. And wouldn't you know it, almost all Jimmy's. So I picked up the snoodline (which was completely cleaned by the hungry girls) and moved all the traps, I managed to pick up 2 dozen males in an hour before dark. Almost a bust, but enough to be worth bringing home for wife and me anyway, and they were full. BTW, the females I tossed back were pretty big.

The way my luck goes with that, it will all be the opposite next time I go out.

[Morsax]

Thanks guys!
I knew you would have some thoughts on this. We kept moving deeper and getting more girls since our shallow gear was getting nothing. We were getting sooks 3 at time in the traps. Kind of made me want she-crab soup....
Next time I will try moving around a bit more. Maybe this is a good sign--lots of mommys--hope for some favorable weather and VA keeping dredging in check.

Hans

[JALOPY]

I have found that I catch more females on the outgoing tide and more males on the incoming tide.
Don't know why, just an observation.

[Big Liar]

You were most likely on a sandy or hard bottom. Look for a soft muddy bottom to avoid sooks. Crabs do tend to travel in groups. If you find a ton of sooks or even a ton of small crabs, it's a good sign that you will not find a lot of big jimmy's.

[BigWillJ]

Just this added info for your log, nothing scientific because I don't keep track of things like that. Crabbed the Wye R early Sunday morning. All small (legal) to medium males, and not one female.

[mazz222]

Sometimes if your female to male ratio is out of whack. 5 to 1 or 8 to 1 females vs males etc, it might help to keep your females in a bucket or basket at the end of say 2 runs on the line or several runs on the traps and release them a little ways from your area to avoid catching the same females time and time again. It might help but with current regs at this time of year who knows. Good Luck Guys... Mark

[POLECAT]

And all this time I've been dumpin' them along the other guys line?????:D

[westie]

We were on the Severn Sunday. Running 1200 ft trotline w/necks. 1st run we had almost 2 bushels. I think 8 male keepers. We would cull the females away from the line. Eventually we had less females, but less males too. The females were fat and rusty and the males were light. I guess we had about 4 dozen males. Never seen anything like it. I was dipping 3 at a time on 1 chicken neck a lot of times. I hope this bodes well for the future.

[BowMovements]

Sometimes if your female to male ratio is out of whack. 5 to 1 or 8 to 1 females vs males etc, it might help to keep your females in a bucket or basket at the end of say 2 runs on the line or several runs on the traps and release them a little ways from your area to avoid catching the same females time and time again. It might help but with current regs at this time of year who knows. Good Luck Guys... Mark

For a rec this might sound like a good idea but be carefull doing it. When the crabs are separated they are considered culled and therfore are considered your catch. Also there has been controversy among DNR about culling crabs every run. They are enforcing it even though it is not written in COMAR clearly. Just trying to help prevent some fines that is all. :thumbup:

[MarkTakacs]

Bow,

That is always been a question of mine.......when are crabs considered culled.
I think the NRP should ask that (or they do) question when they come alond side you to inspect........that way they rule out asumption but of course they also give the violator an out.

Mark

[rgminer]

We caught a bushel of nice males Saturday morning in about 2.5 hours off rocky point. If we had been allowed to keep sooks we would have been finished in 1 hour. We were catching them 2 and 3 to a trap

[rgminer]

For a rec this might sound like a good idea but be carefull doing it. When the crabs are separated they are considered culled and therfore are considered your catch. Also there has been controversy among DNR about culling crabs every run. They are enforcing it even though it is not written in COMAR clearly. Just trying to help prevent some fines that is all. :thumbup:

I got a warning 2 weeks ago for not having my floats clearly marked (damn sharpie had worn off) and was told by the NRP that if there is a female crab aboard a rec boat it is considered kept by him and he WILL write a ticket. We had just dumped 3 not 30 seconds before he came alongside.

By the way, it's a $95 fine for not having your trap floats marked. The only thing that saved me is that some of mine could still be read. i have been planning to burn my name in with a soldering iron but haven't gotten around to it. I now have a wide sharpie on the boat until I can get them burned after the season.

[rgminer]

We were on the Severn Sunday. Running 1200 ft trotline w/necks. 1st run we had almost 2 bushels. I think 8 male keepers. We would cull the females away from the line. Eventually we had less females, but less males too. The females were fat and rusty and the males were light. I guess we had about 4 dozen males. Never seen anything like it. I was dipping 3 at a time on 1 chicken neck a lot of times. I hope this bodes well for the future.

It will only mean a good crab population if there are males left to mate with them....

[MarkTakacs]

rgminer,

You left out the second part............................

And then if they can survive the comm gauntlet while heading south to the salty water.


EDIT: Also, if my blue crab life cycle is correct (which I was told recently...I new nothing about....huh) ......these are jumbo mature females that will have already been mated with?)

So migration to egg laying waters is what they need to acheive!


Mark

[done workin]

Typically prefer the saltier waters and males prefer the fresher waters.

The guys crabbing up around the Gunpowder and Bush are barely seeing a female, I caught about 3-4 :1 female to male in the Patapsco Friday but the guys in the South are catching a ton.

Either head further up the river to the freshwater source or move further up the bay towards the Susky.

Chris

[Morsax]

Wow--thanks for all the advice!
Now I can't wait to get out there again and try out these ideas!!

Hans

[normmag]

Don't know where you got the info that these areas don't have females but there is about a 5 to 1 ratio of female in these rivers this time of year. Happens every year about this time .

[port fisher]

Crabbed the top of the bay........Just outside the Susky last weekend and ratio was about 8:1 females. Can't find any fresher water than what is blowing down the Susky so I am not sure the statement is all together true that males prefer fresh water and females prefer salty water. I would tend to agree that muddy bottoms produce more males than hard sandy bottoms.

[crabby and son]

Female crabs prefer salty water to lay their eggs but that's during the fall migration..........Gary

[Nummer1]

you'll will see more big, long pointed sooks in the fresher water esp this time of year. Seems to be more of them this year. I am sure recs took their share in the past. i did 2-3bu /yr when you could catch em all season. Maybe 10% of my catch. Females are easy to catch and what most catch if just randomly dropping in the water with just about anything. I caught one on a piece of yellow poly rope i was using as a marker -no bait.

[islandgoose]

Goes to show you that its not pollution that is reducing the female population. It is the harvesting of less females that you are catching more and more big females!!! Funny how everyone targets the males all season and now there are way fewer males caught this time of year than big females.Pollution is not the main culprit.Remember this next spring.

[redbeard]

pollution is the main cause of the crab decline -overall,male and female. the # 2 reason for the decline of the males is rec crabbers, their #'s have increased 10 fold in as many years and they are the one who primarily target the male ,even when it was legal for them to keep sooks. sooner or later the dnr will figure this out .