You looking to build a slough box or for hard crabs?

 

A couple years ago there was an in depth discussion on this exact topic. Unfortunately it is now not available. I guess it is archived somewhere in the bowels of TF hopefully for resurectiion later when this system gets sped up. I think a lot of posts were removed in order to enhance speed. I know I have searched for threads on several topics that are no longer available. [sad] It is very disheartening when such valuable info gets canned.

 

it seems to me just this wk while in eastern marine in newark DE next to crab traps & pots were crab holding pens,i think? give em a call. if they got em you could always scope out dimn.or buy them. only holden pen i know for sure of, fits inside my steamer[grin] hope this helps .

 

it seems to me just this wk while in eastern marine in newark DE next to crab traps & pots were crab holding pens,i think? give em a call. if they got em you could always scope out dimn.or buy them. only holden pen i know for sure of, fits inside my steamer[grin] hope this helps .

 

I have several, this one I welding from some Galvanized stock. It will hold approximately 4 bushel........but it is heavy and I have a Davit to lift it. I'll try to get some better pics of it in the morning, if your interested. It is 6' L x 5' W x 4'D.

 

I having been crabbing for over 60 years, mostly recreationally, and keeping crabs in a holding pen is not the way to keep crabs. The crabs will get hungry in two to three days and will eat each other, one at a time. Your will never see many eaten crabs in the pen due to the fact that they will deour one completly before going to another. Most people think that someone is stealing their crabs but it is due to the nature of the crab. A much better way is to put your crabs in an old refrigator. Cut the thermostat back to 1 or barely on. The ideal temperature is 47 degrees for keeping crabs. This is the way the dealers do it. I have done this for years and also keep my bait in the freezer. In very hot weather crabs will not live as long as in cooler weather. The fatter the crabs the better they live. Most crabs will live at least four days and some a full week. Hope this helps, and it is a much simpler way. Save your money and time on the holding pen. Its a losing proposition.

 

.....at any given time, I have up to 10 bushel of crabs in the pens. If I have to sit on em, I feed them, but if they eat each other, oh well. Usually the ones that die or get eaten are weaken or light and would have died in the freezer. After a day, only the strong survive and those are the ones I get the best money from. Each day, I pull what I have in the pens from the day before and deliver them and refill the pens with what I caught that day, so I'm always delivering a fresh, lively product. Throw em some perch, or Seaduck breasts....they'll be fine. Perch makes em nice and sweet!!! [smile]

 

I grew up across the street from the bay and had friends fathers that crabed and they would build the pens with wood .. all wood.. The bottoms were made from 1/4 slats. The pens were very heavy.

My friend needed one for his beach house in Oc . He lives on the bay side and wanted to catch some crabs and be able to hold them in the pen and dip them out when needed.
As far as the crabs being eaten .. This is true, we use to feed them with perch also if they were in there more then a day or two. I didnt know that a crab could stay alive in a refrigerator more then a day. Thanks for that tip.

Would be nice to have some plans that were made from PVC so lifting the thing wouldnt be that hard. Wouldnt have to be big.. A buschel at tops I would think for holding reasons and a removeable top for birds and the possible neighbor wanting his catch for free .
[tongue][tongue][tongue]

 

Durado, is there a little bit of water in the bottom of the pen of should there be? How long will they keep in your design?

 

I use to keep the floating PVC pens at my boat slip I could keep a bushel in each one.
Spring and fall they were fine in them but in the summer there was not enough oxygen
In the water at the slip and many would die. Theft was the biggest problem.
Capt Dale

 

Capt.Dale,
That can be a problem, which is why I made mine out of steel, so I can sink it to a deeper cooler depth, with hopefully a little more oxygen than the surface. Seemed to work out o.k., but I never really had any low O2 problems in the water here.

 

[Q]w. dale craig originally wrote:
I having been crabbing for over 60 years, mostly recreationally, and keeping crabs in a holding pen is not the way to keep crabs. The crabs will get hungry in two to three days and will eat each other, one at a time. Your will never see many eaten crabs in the pen due to the fact that they will deour one completly before going to another. Most people think that someone is stealing their crabs but it is due to the nature of the crab. A much better way is to put your crabs in an old refrigator. Cut the thermostat back to 1 or barely on. The ideal temperature is 47 degrees for keeping crabs. This is the way the dealers do it. I have done this for years and also keep my bait in the freezer. In very hot weather crabs will not live as long as in cooler weather. The fatter the crabs the better they live. Most crabs will live at least four days and some a full week. Hope this helps, and it is a much simpler way. Save your money and time on the holding pen. Its a losing proposition.
[/Q] Good idea. I'm gonna try it. Last year I lost a lot of crabs in my keeper pot. I think the hot water temp killed them and the others ate them. It also seemed like the bigger crabs died quicker then the smaller ones. Probally because the bigger crabs use more oxegen. And there's less oxegen in hot water?

 

During the dog days of summer try keeping your live box in the shade and in as much flowing water (tide) as possible.

I keep mine in the shade, under the dock...this may help with the tempting neighbor as well! [grin]

Cedar works good for live and peelers boxes...lighter when wet.

You will get dead crabs over time but most importantly throw the dead ones out as often as you can and dispose of them in a far away area. Any trap or pot with a dead crab will stop catching.

Pat

 

at 5.90 a board foot who is going to build the box with cedar. Use scrap wood and chicken wire/pot wire. Spend 10.00 on it for the wire and build a new one next year. It will probably last a few years anyway.

 

Geck,
I gotta get with you to help me build some floating wooden boxes. Any luck on that eel car?

 

Totally honest I have it in my head but just cant seem to get it to my hands. I have been so friggin lazy this week. I will have it for you by this weekend. But I still havent found small enough stainless wire.

 

I'm gonna mess around with some gal. mesh I have here. Let me see what I can do with it and I'll let you know. Hold off for now. I just need to pick up some more Hog rings.

 

I have more than enough hog rings for ya I will give you a call tomm if I am done with work early.

 

....you talking about these hog rings???

.......cause I'm talking about the other ones!!![grin]

 

No they would cave my place in I think I meant this one. Might not be a hog ring but it is a ring.

 

[Q]w. dale craig originally wrote:
. A much better way is to put your crabs in an old refrigator. Cut the thermostat back to 1 or barely on. The ideal temperature is 47 degrees for keeping crabs. This is the way the dealers do it. I have done this for years and also keep my bait in the freezer. In very hot weather crabs will not live as long as in cooler weather. The fatter the crabs the better they live. Most crabs will live at least four days and some a full week. Hope this helps, and it is a much simpler way. Save your money and time on the holding pen. Its a losing proposition.
[/Q]

If your refridgerator does not have a fresh air supply, crabs will not live in it very long. However, it is true that properly refridgerated crabs will keep for several days.

 

Geckert Wrote:

<at 5.90 a board foot who is going to build the box with cedar. <Use scrap wood and chicken wire/pot wire. Spend 10.00 on it <for the wire and build a new one next year. It will probably last <a few years anyway.

My peeler box (3 doz.) and live box (2 bask.) are small. My peeler box is over twenty years old and they stay in the water pretty much 24/7 from April to November. Cedar is light when wet and I simply pick em up with #9 crab pot rope. I use what works for a long time.

Pat

 

I went and bought a holding pen at Oysters in OC.. This cost me $40 bucks. Easy design .

 

Fellow Crabbers,
I had been using a holding pen that I purchased from Boater's World for the past 4 seasons. Only problem is, you really can't put more than 3 dozen in it before they all start killing each other.
Unfortunately, I no longer have a pier to keep the pen on this season, so I'm going to have to catch and steam same day.

Here's my question: Say I catch a bushel early one morning and want to wait to steam them later on that evening, WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO KEEP THEM ALIVE FOR ABOUT 10 HOURS OUT OF THE WATER?

I've seen my friend put them in a cooler and fill it with ice. the crabs were still alive but where in a coma-state from being so cold. I don't think he'd had them on ice for 10 hours though. Would it matter if the crabs were dead when you steamed them since they had been Iced down?

Any feedback is much appreciated. Good luck!

-B

 

This past weekend I had the same problem and could not steam right away so i used Ice in a cooler. Yes they died bc of lack of o2, osmotic difference, and cold but they were still very tasty no problems with spoilage becasue the bacteria that breaks doen the meat did not have a chance to grow due to the cold. The cooler will also keep them hot. Sometimes I will steam up to 6 hour ahead of time (slightly undercook) put them in the cooler and they will still be hot/ very warm.