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crcattypc
Senior MemberFLAPosts: 632 Officer
1st anual Stone Crab Affair
crcattypc
Senior MemberFLAPosts: 632 Officer
So a few buddies have decided to put together a friendly stoney tournament for opening day which is 10-15. This will be a very low key friendly event but we hope to maybe be bigger in the future. Heres the deal. The entry fee will be $10 per person. You must, be on the list on 10-14 to try to weigh a claw on 10-15. Everyone who enters will weigh their biggest claw (this will be a blind weigh, so no one knows what is in and holds back the ir big claw) Everyone must also donate a consolation claw. 1st place will get their choice of the $ (however many enter is the $) or they can take the big claw entries. Second place will get what 1st does not take (either $ or claws). 3rd place gets the consolation claws. Like I said, this is a friendly tournament but I wanted to see if anyone here is interested and likes to collect stone crab. As said above, you must be on the list the by the evening of 10-14 (we will have a "captains meeting" at the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club that Sunday at around 4-5) The weigh in will be at 5 pm On 10-15 at the Yacht Club. PM me if you are interested or respond to this thread if you have questions.
***Disclaimer***** we are not responsible if you loose a finger in this tournament!!!!!
Hope all have fun!
***Disclaimer***** we are not responsible if you loose a finger in this tournament!!!!!
Hope all have fun!
:fishing:grin
Replies
I work on Mondays! :-(
The post title does have Affair and Crabs in it. Often times the two do go hand in hand.
There is always fun to be had... Its what you make it! But seriously, not really. Probably just hanging out and having a few:Glass
So what time is cocktail hr?
If it was around 10:30 or so, then yeah... I think he was.
oh....it was 1:45. guess not.
You got a mouse in your pocket... most people will not stick their hand in a hole to get them knowing the power those claws have...
Split, I was down there washing off at about 5 ish with a few others...
My bad
I also have noticed in the past couple of years people find it easier to get crabs from my pots instead of sticking their hand in a hole.
Don't get caught doing it, I'm serious.
Will do!
mustang190 don't you believe in sharing the wealth? :grin
What kind of traps do you use? Do you use a commerical "stone crab trap? or something else?
I have caught plenty of stone crabs in plain ol' crab traps. Especially empty traps. Seems to me that they go in there for cover, not necessarily food. I've been trying to figure out why it is that a "stone crab trap" does so much better and the only thing I can come up with is that because the funnel is up top, blue crabs and fish don't get to the bait... which simply means that the bait in a stone crab trap has a greater opportunity (as in length of time) to attract a stone crab since it's not being gobbled up instantly. Also, the fact that the funnels goes straight down, not parallel to the ground... we all know that a stone crab likes dropping straight down into a hole.
Anyway, I"ve been thinking about picking up some traps and was just curious what you use and how well they work.
Apparently like 47% of them.
Feds gave up MS(Maguson/Steveson) control of the stone crab fishery last year.
I did not know that... was that also the case for blue crab and lobster traps?
I use regular commercial stone crab traps.
If you catch a stone in a regular blue crab or fish trap it is by accident.
All stone crab pots must be marked with the owners name and either a phone # or address and the buoy must also be marked with a large R for recreational or a number for commercial. I also seal the doors of my pots. Last season I had every pot robbed, mostly along Tyndall and Shell island spots.
And no matter the reg. I only take one claw. Not both if legal size. That rule was changed several years ago because of the demand. But try living with both your hands cut off.
1 out of appx 3.3 crabs die from single claw amputation.
1 out of appx 2 crabs die from double claw amputation.
If you need 100 claws to fill your limit ( not an accurate representation, but to easily illustrate the point, let's pretend...) then you'll kill 50 crabs by double amputation and 60 crabs if you only take 1 claw. This is going by the numbers, which over the long run, will always prevail.
Studies also show that crabs with no claws, as opposed to one, will be less likely to try and fight and concentrate more on Seagrass as a diet (which promotes better molting.). Also, crabs can regenerate 95 percent of their claw size in just 3 molts...or 3 years.
Just sayin
Your info counter acts it's self. You start off saying 50% will die from double amputation. Then it says that if you take one claw you will kill 60%???????
I stand by the fact that a crab will fare better with one claw rather than none.
If you apply Kayak's ratio to volume (or quantitiy) of claws, I think you'll see that he has a point. Taking 2 claws results in higher mortality, but FEWER crabs killer per take home of claw meat.
No contradiction there, I can assure you. I don't have anything against the way you crab, either. To each there own. When I started crabbing, I gave it a lot of thought and did my homework. If the data changes, or if I start to notice a decline in my areas, I'll re consider my approach.
Now after reading Kayak's posts, what is the reason for not going ahead and taking the whole crab if the mortality rate is that high. I am assuming the fishery (police) commission have this data and it seems senseless to throw a crab back if it has that high of a potential to die. It does not add up but nothing they do makes sense most of the time anyway. Just trying to figure it out.