Can I crab on Wednesday or not?

[umd74]

I just got my crabbing license at the DNR in Annapolis along with a copy of the 2012 Maryland Fishing Guide. My question regards the Crabbing section of the guide. It states the following:

Rivers, Creeks and Tributaries
* April and October through December 15
- One half hour after sunrise to sunset
* May through September
- One half hour before sunrise to sunset

Chesapeake Bay
* April and October through December 15
-One half hour after sunrise to 5:00 p.m.
* May through September
-One half hour before sunrise to 5:00p.m.
* No crabbing on Wednesdays except:
1. when using crab pots from private piers.

And the list goes on.

According to the guide I can crab on the South River everyday of the week. However if I crab in the Chesapeake Bay I can't crab on Wednesdays.

Now I know the law is you cannot crab on Wednesdays. Maybe this is a way for the DNR to make more money because DNR Police will issue a ticket /fine and an unsupecting crabber will pay the fine.

The increased fees the state of Maryland plans on charging for boat registrations could be used to hire someone competent to write the rules throughout this fishing guide that are not confusing or misleading. But go figure this is Government at work !!

[crabby and son]

There is NO crabbing for recreational crabbers on Wednesdays except for hand lining. All of the DNR regs are confusing..............Gary

[Crabbermanjl]

•Recreational crabbers may not set recreational crabbing gear or crab from boats on Wednesdays
except pots from private piers, dipnets or handlines.

[Cabyn Fever]

I had seen the same thing last week and was excited thinking things had changed. I checked COMAR and found that it had not. I understand that the "guide" can not include everything but, if a government agency publishes something, it should be accurate!

Chuck

[crab_clam]

Maybe the asterik is being used to notate all four of the asteriks above it......confusing at best.

I just got my crabbing license at the DNR in Annapolis along with a copy of the 2012 Maryland Fishing Guide. My question regards the Crabbing section of the guide. It states the following:

Rivers, Creeks and Tributaries
* April and October through December 15
- One half hour after sunrise to sunset
* May through September
- One half hour before sunrise to sunset

Chesapeake Bay
* April and October through December 15
-One half hour after sunrise to 5:00 p.m.
* May through September
-One half hour before sunrise to 5:00p.m.
* No crabbing on Wednesdays except:
1. when using crab pots from private piers.

And the list goes on.

According to the guide I can crab on the South River everyday of the week. However if I crab in the Chesapeake Bay I can't crab on Wednesdays.

Now I know the law is you cannot crab on Wednesdays. Maybe this is a way for the DNR to make more money because DNR Police will issue a ticket /fine and an unsupecting crabber will pay the fine.

The increased fees the state of Maryland plans on charging for boat registrations could be used to hire someone competent to write the rules throughout this fishing guide that are not confusing or misleading. But go figure this is Government at work !!

[slashmaster]

Well said Crabbermanjl

[Himself]

Maryland DNR deserves some kind of Citizen Bullying Award for enforcing this insanely draconian provision of the COMAR.

One Exception: "When a State or federal holiday falls on a Wednesday or Thursday, recreational crabbing is permitted on the Wednesday of that week."

[Capt.Nick]

The law was implemented to reduce crabbing 1 day for recs & 1 day for coms. All recs are on wednesday.Coms are either sun or mon.The day off is displayed on the comm boat crabbing.You could complain and have it changed to another day.

[BigWillJ]

Said differently, if you want to crab in your South River, on Wednesday, from a boat, using handlines, you can do so.