CRABS FOR THE CRABBER

Would you like to learn how to make around two hundred dollars a day for

going out in the boat and crabbing for a few hours?  Once you gain the experience

of a commercial crabber, you can earn as much as you want.  All it takes is a little

time and effort to learn the basic steps, and, of course, the love of the water.  For the

last two years, I have kept the books for my boyfriend's crabbing business.  I helped

him from the beginning when we purchased the traps to today, when he is now

running 150 traps.

On the boat, you should always have as many life jackets as people.  Flares

and a marine radio should also be on the boat in case of an emergency.  For

instance, if you are five miles out over the ocean and the boat runs out of gas, you

could light a flare and reach some help on the marine radio.  You should also keep

an oar on the boat at all times.  This would come in handy if your boat is stuck in

mud, or if the boat breaks down in the small creeks near your dock.  I also

recommend that you have crabbing gloves and rubber overalls from Boater's World.

The gloves have special rubber tips that help reduce the pain if a crab pinches you.

The overalls will protect your clothes from getting drenched and muddy.  The last

thing that you should never leave the dock without is plenty of liquids to drink.  I

recommend Gatorade or water, but no soft drinks.  It is very hot on the boat and

fluids are a necessity so that you do no dehydrate.

Before you can start crabbing, you need certain materials.  The most

important is a commercial license to sell crabs.  A license can be purchased from the

Game Warden in Richmond Hill.  You must go early in the year because they only

sell a limited number.  Once you have a license and your personal number for your

traps, you need a large flat bottom boat with a powerful motor.  I recommend a

Yamaha Salt Water Series.  This motor is very reliable and can handle the long

hours put on it.  You should also buy a wench and have it bolted to the side of the

boat.  The wench is not necessary, but is will save a lot of time and effort to pull up

all of the traps.  A dolly should be kept on the dock to take the boxes of crabs to the

truck.   You will also need at least fifty crab traps to get started.  These can be

purchased at any boating store for around twenty dollars apiece.  When you have all

of your traps, you will need around 2500 feet of rope and fifty floats.  After you

have all of these materials, you will need bait fish and premium gasoline on a daily

basis.  The bait fish can be purchased anywhere that sells market seafood.

The traps will have to be rigged up before they can be dropped.  You should

tie about fifty feet of rope on each trap.  The floats will need your crabbing number

engraved with a sauter iron so that no one will mistake them as their traps.  The

floats need to be tied on the end of the rope that is not tied to the trap.  This will

allow the float to stay on top of the water when the trap is on the bottom of the

creek.  Each trap needs to be baited with at least four small fish.  When you have all

of your traps ready, it is time to find places to put them.

Small creeks contain  the most crabs in the months of April through

November.  You must make sure that there are no other traps in the creeks that you

select.  Spread the traps out about seventy-five yards apart.  Find creeks that are not

used often, so that the public will not rob a few of  your traps for their dinner.  After

you feel that all of your traps are in good places you can retire for the day.

The next day, you should get an early start.  Make sure that you have plenty

of gasoline, boxes to put the crabs in, your overalls, and gloves.  I would also

recommend that you bring bait to put in the traps while you have them out of the

water.  When you get to your first trap, put it on the wench and let it pull it up.

Don't get discouraged if there are not a lot of crabs.  Dump the crabs in a box, put

fresh bait in the trap, and throw the trap back out.  Go through the crabs in the box

and throw back any that are smaller than five inches.  It is illegal to sell any that are

this small.  You should also take out any female crabs.  If they are not pregant,

which are commonly known as virgin crabs, throw them back because they are

illegal to keep.  If some of the females are pregnant, you should put them in a

separate box because they are considered "trash crabs" because they weigh more

because than the males.  In other words, the female crabs are not worth as much as

the males. 

You should check the rest of your traps just as the first one.  When you finish,

go back to the dock and prepare to unload.  You will most likely need help because

each if each box is full, it will weigh anywhere from eighty to one hundred pounds.

Load them up on the dolly and roll them to your truck.  Unload the boxes and make

sure that they cannot dump over; you don't want crabs running all over the back of

your truck.

Now, you have a limited amount of time to find a place to sell your crabs.

Smaller seafood markets downtown pay more than others.  One, for instance, is

Watson's seafood.  They pay eighty cents a pound for large male crabs.  A large

seafood market is Wilmington Island Seafood. They only pay sixty five cents a

pound for the large males.  You should find a market that you feel comfortable

doing business with and that is very reliable.  Talk to the owner to find out what

they are willing to pay and how many they will need on a daily basis.  Sell your

crabs and buy bait for the next day.

Crabbing will pick up in the months of July and August.  These are the best

times because male crabs are in the creeks hiding from the females that are ready to

find a mate.  When it starts getting colder, you should move your traps from the

creeks to rivers that flow directly from the ocean.  This is because the crabs move to

deeper areas where it is warmer.

You should have a very productive season if you follow all of these

guidelines.  The amount of crabs will fluctuate from day to day, but you should be

making an average of about $150 a day.  If you have a bad week, don't worry about

it.  Chances are you will make twice the money the next week.  Be careful and good

luck!