Maiden Voyage

After a six month wait, crab season opened today!!!

All photos taken by: Seamus Talinao

With full of enthusiasm and optimism, I packed up all the gear, loaded the kayak on the Jetta, and headed down the local marina to launch the Tarpon on her maiden voyage. I wanted to test out the gear and figure out what worked and what could be left at the garage. Maybe with a little luck I would catch a couple of keepers.

The gear list:

(2) Capt Bruce crab traps
(5) Capt Moose crab traps
(1) 15' snooded hand line
(1) milk crate with bungee net
(1) commercial culling gloves
(1) SS dip net
(1) SS commercial grade tongs
(1) 5"1/4 crab measurer
(1 lb.) chicken wings for bait

I baited the traps with chicken wings only because the local bait and tackle shop was closed for the weekend. Typically, chicken necks are the preferred bait.



The traps and milk crate fit perfectly at the kayak's tank well. Everything else was loaded in the various nooks in the cockpit.

Loading everything up and strapping them down

Installing my YakAttack VISICarbon Pro

Off to the honey hole

After getting the kayak on the water, I headed down Fishing Creek in Chesapeake Beach. The water was shallow about 4-6 feet deep and felt about 50-60 degrees F. I dropped my first trap as soon as I got passed the docks. Then dropped the rest of them about 100' apart along the creek. It took me about 15 minutes to drop all of my traps, then turned the kayak around and headed back to the first one.

It took some careful maneuvering to get the kayak as close as I can to the float. I reached out and grabbed the float off the water and started pulling. Lo and behold, I got myself a crab in the trap. Woohoo!!! Too bad that it is too small and not a keeper. So, I threw it back in the water and hoped to get bigger ones on my other traps.

I paddled to my second trap, pulled, and it was empty. I pulled the third one and there were two crabs in it. No keepers, but I am glad to see that the traps were working like a charm. The fourth and fifth were empty. But the sixth one had three crabs in it. Again, no keepers.

I went up and down the creek about four times and kept catching three inch crabs. I probably caught a total of dozen or so of baby crabs. With the wind picking up, I gave up and realized that it may be too early and cold for keepers. I picked up my gear and headed to the docks.

All in all, even though I did not caught any crab that I could take home for the steamer, I would consider this trip to be a success. I got to test out my gear, which worked beautifully, and got some experience under my belt.

Next time, I think I am going to leave my dip net and culling gloves at home. I did not use them at all and the net just got in the way. I may get a hook to make it easier to grab the floats off the water. I also need to figure out a better way to strap down the gear on the way back. I could not really reach the bungees on the tank well from the cockpit.