robdperry

Read your article about your crabbing exploits. Sounds like great fun. I am attaching a couple of pics of my kayak crabbing approach. I have rigged my kayak for aggressive crab hunting. In the pics you will see a load of crabs in my lap. These have been dumped out of my trap into my Crab Apron and I'm paddling away from my trap to sort for keepers. The Crab Apron, I had made at a local sail shop to fit the specs of my kayak. It gives me a deep well between my legs to hold the crabs for sorting. I put the keepers behind me in the rear compartment. Another pic shows the type of traps I use. They are like the commercial traps except I had them made smaller, 24". The trap you had in your article has the misfortune of feeding more seals than crabs. The photo of my kayak with outriggers I built, help me support the weight of the trap and crabs when I pull up the trap. I have had as many as 23 crabs in one pot. I've worked it out where I only use one outrigger on the right side, which is the side I pull up the traps. The outriggers swings up and out of the way when I want to move faster. I also use a 12v depth finder to locate the deep channels where the main crab traffic travels and feeds. It also tells me if I have enough line on my trap to drop at that location. In Oregon we have a daily limit of 12 male keepers per day. In my crab diary to date I show a total catch of 387 keepers in the past three years. I reside in and crab out of Portland Oregon, soon to retire to Mexico and spend my days kayaking on the Sea of Cortez. We are shopping for a couple of Delta 15.5 Expedition kayaks which will allow us to do some multiple overnight trips. I'm not sure if the attachments made it. Ciao, Rob Perry Viva La Vida