How to Use a Crab Trap
Blue crabs have been consumed for centuries, and Native Americans were some of the first to harvest these animals as a food source. Many people enjoy eating crabs, and some enjoy harvesting them as well, as it can be a fun recreational hobby. To catch your own crabs, though, you need to know how to use a crab trap.
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Instructions
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1
Open the door to the crab trap and put the weights in the bottom of the trap. This will prevent the trap from moving too much.
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2
Tie the float to the rope, and then the rope to the crab trap.
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3
Find a suitable spot to place your trap, such as a bay or bayou, and place bait into the trap. Open the bait door on top of the trap, insert the bait and then close the bait door securely. If it is not closed securely, the crabs can get the bait out of the top of the trap.
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4
Set the trap at a depth of 10 to 15 feet. You can accomplish this by measuring your rope to the set length ahead of time and using it to judge the depth.
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5
Leave the trap for at least 12 hours or up to 48 hours.
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6
Return to the trap and pull it up. Open the release door--which is the one you put the weights in--and dump the crabs into a bucket.
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7
Refill the trap with bait and reset it as you did in Step 4.
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Tips & Warnings
Fish carcasses are the best bait, but chicken works too. If you do not get any crabs at 10 to 15 feet, place the trap in shallower water.
Crabs pinch, so be careful when harvesting them from the trap. Do not harvest crabs with red tipped claws. These are females and harvesting them depletes the future population.
