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Crabbing off of any structure can be quite a bit of fun. The most common place to go crabbing if you are not in a boat is from a local pier down by the beach. Most coastal towns or even harbors or marinas have a section of some pier that is available for local fisherman to fish or even to catch crab.
Here is some of the information you should try to find out before you start crabbing off a pier:
- How deep is the water below the pier
- When is the high tide going to be
- What are the current fishing regulations for catching crab, and are there any rules as to what type of traps you can and cannot use
- Make sure to have enough rope to pull up your crab trap
- Have some secure place where you can tie up your crab trap on top of the pier, hopefully close to where you will be sitting
- Make sure to bring an extra large amount of bait (fresh bones from the butcher, squid, chicken parts, etc… any meat)
So, if you are using a hoop trap, you should simply secure some of the bait with string or a bait box to the top side of the hoop net, and then send it over the side. You should notice a change in the pressure on your crab line when it hits the bottom. Then, secure the remaining line to some stationary part of the pier. Then the waiting game begins. I like to check my crab traps every 45 minutes to see if there are any crabs inside. Some people that I go crabbing with insist on only checking the crab trap after every hour to hour and a half, but I don’t think that is necessary, and I like checking them often as it is much more fun.
Catching crab from a pier again can be great fun, you don’t need to worry about getting sea sick, and usually there are some other people around to keep you company.