Most commercial crab fishermen run their traps every day. A 24 hour soak is plenty if the crabs are running.

If you bait them on Sunday and run them on Saturday you will catch crabs but will most likely loose some of them to cannibalism.

Good luck

 

Wow only 24 hours that is great news. Found a spot that I would like to try so thanks for the food news. I would hate to leave them in there too long.

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I don't let them soak any more than 3 days. I try to run them everyday but sometimes things come up. Usually on that third day you'll start seeing crab hulls and no crabs. 24 hrs is plenty.

 

yes 24hrs plenty.and in shallow 95 plus degree water will kill them also when they cant get to cool off

 

cut up hard heads best crab bait there is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I just cut a big ladyfish in half two hours ago, and stuffed it in a crab trap. Shouldn't take long. Last weekend at POC I left the trap out for one hour, and had seven crabs. We boiled up quite a few. Got a few stone crab claws, too.

 

The traps I've left out for longer than a day seem to always be empty, not sure if somebody else is pulling them out or if they just eat all the bait and find their way out the doors eventually. The best luck we've had is checking them twice a day, once in the morning after overnight soak and once in the evening.

 

This is what we used to do to, fresh bait is always best.

 

One day is plenty, three is max for me, after three days they start to lose meat to atrophy. Im running mine every other day right now because there is just too many this year and I have all I need for bait, all we can eat and cant give them away fast enough.

A little crabber trick if you must leave them out for a week, put a mixture of fresh and dried bait in the trap (like a big dried out mullet). The fresh bait will attract them and the dried bait will last much longer to keep them around after the fresh is gone.

 

thats about it as they will eat each other

 

Crabs get out just like they get in. Let it soak 3 or 4 days and it is empty because the bait ran out and they left. Or they eat one another.

I use to run a crab line for a crabber during the summers when I was a kid. Very often I'd run my traps early in the morning and then as soon as I finished I'd run them again and with just a 3 or 4 hour soak I'd catch dang near as many as I caught over the prior 20 hour soak.

 

^^^ this guy knows what he's talking about. My friend did the same thing too. He never left his traps more than 4 hours. He said after 4hrs, the number of crabs in there starts going down if you do not pull it out. Lol

 

Thanks everyone. Learn something new everyday!

 

Aggiechick - The info supplied in this thread is all very helpful and should help you get going toward an ice chest full of crabs. I especially agree with the suggestions for hardheads and ladyfish as bait (FYI using filleted remnants of species designated as game fish, even though usually readily at hand, is a no-no).

I also agree whole-heartedly with the posters saying the crabs will get into the trap sooner than you would think - especially if you have found a crab-rich place to set them.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/...hing/shellfish-regulations/crab-and-ghost-shrimp-legal-devices-and-restrictions

This link will take you to TPW's recreational crabbing regs. This information is also published in the TPWD Outdoor Annual you receive with your fishing and hunting license. A few of the biggest things to know are the bio-degradable panels, gear tags with dates, and hours you can legally run your traps.

One final tip -- if you intermingle yours with a line of commercial traps or set nearby I'm pretty sure the crabber will help himself.

Crabbing is great fun, especially with kiddos, and the cooking/dining possibilities are nearly endless. Good Luck!

EJ