First crabs of the season 6-17-11

[MisterX]

Finally made my first crab trip of the year yesterday. First time in alot of years. Used to go crabbing in the Lavalette area in NJ. Missed doing that so I bought a couple of traps and went fishing!

Threw the condo in around 9am. Fished 2 hand traps while the condo soaked.

Results: Condo soaked for 5 hours. Caught 5 keepers (all over 5") and about a dozen shorts/females.

Pulled the hand traps ever 30min or so. Caught another 4 keepers in the hand traps. Alot of smalls.

Tide was outgoing/low. Might try the incoming with the hand traps next time and let the condo soak overnight.

Fished the Seaford area. Some guys I spoke with complained about the amount of small crabs this year.

[rrspike]

Planning on hitting the Navasink this sunday, need to satisfy the craving . I hear its been going pretty well in the whole area red bank to the oceanic bridge. Will use handlines and traps . Plan on making the trek west and hitting red bank for a while then heading back to the oceanic area to finish up the day. Then heading home to a nice Bbq / crab feast with some company . Will post up once back .

[Jfish]

Stay closer to the Oceanic Bridge crabs are running bigger there . Serge, This is , hands down, the best year i have ever seen for the Captree area, in both size and numbers. Guess every local is different. N.J. is having a great year as well.

[MisterX]

Guess Im in the wrong spot! Spoke to a couple of local Commercial guys. They said the big ones are few and far between this year. Most are just keepers. A quick trip to woodcleft the other day confirms this as almost all of the crabs are just keepers.

Like I said, I gotta find a new spot!

[nickh]

Have been having steady crabbing since my last report with some changes along the way. About a month ago I started getting plagued by females and not many big males. Was catching enough to go home with though. Blackfish have invaded me too. The storm didn't bother anything and catching remained consistant, but still nothing giant. Over the past week the crabs have been as full as they can get and "dirty" looking. A sighn of a "packed" crab. Got a couple close to 7" yeasterday along with some more for the pot(pics). Rebaited and set the pots and am anticipating a strong finish. Another great season for sure.

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[nickh]

Went back this evening with my son. Not the size I was looking for, but we culled through enough to get dinner. A few more pics.

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[Jfish]

Many places have been reporting slow Crabbing since the storms tore thru. Hudson is still running high and red. Last weeks N.J. reports were nothing to get excited about either. Hopefully it's picking up again. Like to get in a few more good shots before it's over.

[R SONS]

was out in gerritsen last night. hour and a half with my son and elias. caught all we needed.. quite a few jumbos in the mix of jimmies .

[nickh]

Slowed considerably. All resident crabs. No new ones coming in. Might be over