Love the videos please keep them coming. I have been crabbing on and off for years and a lot of the tips you give are very helpful. Your illustration did not show the anchor float. Is there a way to show how this is incorporated into the set up? Also it looks as though you set it out at the end of your lay. I think the anchor float would be very helpful to me.
Watched the vids. Decided to build one. Easy enough. Worked well. Two problems. 1. Use line that doesn’t float! Fixed that. 2. Alligators. Yeah, we got plenty. They love chicken. It was fun. Grandkids are gonna love this. Thanks for posting!
Great info! Thanks for sharing. We live on the bay but never really understood “exactly “ how a trot line worked. Hopefully this video will help others too!🙂
Your making great stuff buddy. Keep it up it seems like anyone who make a crabbing channel only does it for so long then gives up because it take a long time to build up a channel about a specialized fishery but you started out true. Good camera and good editing👍🏻
Nice to see a decent video on this. You are pretty knowlegeable about it. The single most important thing you stress in this vid , is that if something goes wrong , don't panic. That's how bad situations become worse.. I been doing this 30 years (since I was 13).I love seeing people's approach to trot lining. Everyone is a little different. You just gotta figure out what works best for you.
Thank you for the video. This past weekend was my first trip trotline crabbing from my kayak. LOTS OF STUFF WENT WRONG. But, seeing your video gave me explanation as to what was going on. Well, back to the drawing board. Immo keep at it til I get it. Hell spent way too much money on it to quit anyway. 👍
This channel is a good find. I’ve been trot lining since I was a kid and now I’m sharing the thrill of the catch with my kids. One problem that plagues me is finding hard bottom and not that nasty grey/black mud. I do have a lowrance HDS GPS/ fish finder but I can’t find any info on how to tell what the sonar is reading. How do you find good bottom and what depths do you usually run in? I have recently started trying places in the middle and northern areas on the west side of the bay and finding good productive ground hasn’t been the easiest so any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
So should your line be laying on the bottom of the water or does it kinda hang above the bottom? When I ran my line I noticed the chicken neck was covered with seaweed
Great info. I just registered my kayak and put a trolling motor on it. Been tossing collapsible traps but thinking about running lines. I have never done it before so any info is useful
Room is key! I'm not running kayak but inflatables with troller, 55 lbs goplus on amazon dir 3 years. I have only 17 traps with buoys always attached and caught 12 keepers today but they can take twice the space of trotline. I'm in it for fun for my son but future trotline will p rty oh be the next step
The 1 advantage I found using traps is you dont need a straight line. Travel down a good crab route and it's all taken. I crab on a point, cant be picky on a 6 mile range so closest spot that is sure to have no trotline is my spot lol. Sure enough after dnr checked me a yacht owner tells me in illegal. Dnr was still in 50 ft of me soo. Watch out for the dicks
Lordofwar Cordov yeah I only have 6 and that combined with my fishing gear and stuff keeps my maxed out on space. I just have to look into how to make lines. It looks pretty simple based on videos I have watched so maybe over the winter I’ll try to set one up and try it next year
any idea why when I start running my line, it starts ok then starts coming up from behind the boat as if I'm over driving it or the line doubled over itself while on the bottom? I was barley moving when this happened.
Your weights aren't holding the bottom and your dragging them. Even if it's only a few feet at the start it puts slack in the main line causing it to fall behind the prop stick/roller. Easy fix is to use heavier weights that hold the bottom. This is one of the biggest issues that I see newbies struggle with. That and attempting to run the line too fast.
Everything I've watched suggest about 10 ft. You want to crab while tides are changing so make sure to check the chart daily to know the times. He has a vid on planning the trips which is a must see. The depth you lay in would change if tide is going in or out and the river
3 to 4? I havent seen any trot lines near that depth. I crab in 5 to 10 cause my temporary spot is a high traffic area but the ones I'm catching is def at 7 ft and the bigger further out but few in between.
There is no best depth. Crabs are constantly moving based on forage, tides, flow, salinity, and dozens of other factors. I hear people all the time claim that crabs weren't biting then all of a sudden turned on. Most likely they weren't in that spot initially and then moved into that area for the above reasons. There are many different techniques we utilize to increase our odds of finding the "sweet spots" and maximizing our catch. The more often u crab the same river the easier it is to find these spots. In my opinion depth is the least important factor in running a trotline successfully. A lot of crabbers get caught up in that thinking and ignore the important factors.
Love the videos please keep them coming. I have been crabbing on and off for years and a lot of the tips you give are very helpful. Your illustration did not show the anchor float. Is there a way to show how this is incorporated into the set up? Also it looks as though you set it out at the end of your lay. I think the anchor float would be very helpful to me.
Crabbers always look so happy!!!!!
Like your tips and tricks !!!!!
Thanks a bunch gonna apply some of them tomorrow on the Bish River Md
Watched the vids. Decided to build one. Easy enough. Worked well. Two problems. 1. Use line that doesn’t float! Fixed that. 2. Alligators. Yeah, we got plenty. They love chicken. It was fun. Grandkids are gonna love this. Thanks for posting!
Did this last night in a kayak. To say it was challenging is an understatement
Great info! Thanks for sharing. We live on the bay but never really understood “exactly “ how a trot line worked. Hopefully this video will help others too!🙂
Your making great stuff buddy. Keep it up it seems like anyone who make a crabbing channel only does it for so long then gives up because it take a long time to build up a channel about a specialized fishery but you started out true. Good camera and good editing👍🏻
Nice to see a decent video on this. You are pretty knowlegeable about it. The single most important thing you stress in this vid , is that if something goes wrong , don't panic. That's how bad situations become worse.. I been doing this 30 years (since I was 13).I love seeing people's approach to trot lining. Everyone is a little different. You just gotta figure out what works best for you.
This was a very helpful video
Thank you for the video. This past weekend was my first trip trotline crabbing from my kayak. LOTS OF STUFF WENT WRONG. But, seeing your video gave me explanation as to what was going on. Well, back to the drawing board. Immo keep at it til I get it. Hell spent way too much money on it to quit anyway. 👍
Thanks very much for all the info very well explained.
Thank you...this video is going to help me alot!
Great video Matt!
Can you come to Chincoteague this weekend and teach me. It will be my first time trying.
Where this guy go ? Love the videos. He still alive ?
Great videos! Who is the song from in the beginning of the video?
do a video on winders!
Cool video. Thanks
Super helpful! Thank you!!
This channel is a good find. I’ve been trot lining since I was a kid and now I’m sharing the thrill of the catch with my kids. One problem that plagues me is finding hard bottom and not that nasty grey/black mud. I do have a lowrance HDS GPS/ fish finder but I can’t find any info on how to tell what the sonar is reading. How do you find good bottom and what depths do you usually run in? I have recently started trying places in the middle and northern areas on the west side of the bay and finding good productive ground hasn’t been the easiest so any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
So should your line be laying on the bottom of the water or does it kinda hang above the bottom? When I ran my line I noticed the chicken neck was covered with seaweed
Is that depth finder still available? I'm currently measuring anchor rope to find depth 🤑
I have a 14 foot johnboat which are use the Trout line I would be new at or pull up traps
A lot of good advice... do you use lead line like you use for crab pots?
How heavy is your anchor?
how long are your lead lines?
Great info. I just registered my kayak and put a trolling motor on it. Been tossing collapsible traps but thinking about running lines. I have never done it before so any info is useful
Room is key! I'm not running kayak but inflatables with troller, 55 lbs goplus on amazon dir 3 years. I have only 17 traps with buoys always attached and caught 12 keepers today but they can take twice the space of trotline. I'm in it for fun for my son but future trotline will p rty oh be the next step
The 1 advantage I found using traps is you dont need a straight line. Travel down a good crab route and it's all taken. I crab on a point, cant be picky on a 6 mile range so closest spot that is sure to have no trotline is my spot lol. Sure enough after dnr checked me a yacht owner tells me in illegal. Dnr was still in 50 ft of me soo. Watch out for the dicks
Lordofwar Cordov yeah I only have 6 and that combined with my fishing gear and stuff keeps my maxed out on space. I just have to look into how to make lines. It looks pretty simple based on videos I have watched so maybe over the winter I’ll try to set one up and try it next year
Love your channel. I'm brand new at this. How many times would you repeat the run?
You keep repeating the run until you caught enough crabs or you caught your daily limit (normally that would be a bushel of crabs).
any idea why when I start running my line, it starts ok then starts coming up from behind the boat as if I'm over driving it or the line doubled over itself while on the bottom? I was barley moving when this happened.
Your weights aren't holding the bottom and your dragging them. Even if it's only a few feet at the start it puts slack in the main line causing it to fall behind the prop stick/roller. Easy fix is to use heavier weights that hold the bottom. This is one of the biggest issues that I see newbies struggle with. That and attempting to run the line too fast.
I have a question as im a beginner what's the best deep for trout lining? thx in advance
Everything I've watched suggest about 10 ft. You want to crab while tides are changing so make sure to check the chart daily to know the times. He has a vid on planning the trips which is a must see. The depth you lay in would change if tide is going in or out and the river
3 to 4? I havent seen any trot lines near that depth. I crab in 5 to 10 cause my temporary spot is a high traffic area but the ones I'm catching is def at 7 ft and the bigger further out but few in between.
There is no best depth. Crabs are constantly moving based on forage, tides, flow, salinity, and dozens of other factors. I hear people all the time claim that crabs weren't biting then all of a sudden turned on. Most likely they weren't in that spot initially and then moved into that area for the above reasons. There are many different techniques we utilize to increase our odds of finding the "sweet spots" and maximizing our catch. The more often u crab the same river the easier it is to find these spots. In my opinion depth is the least important factor in running a trotline successfully. A lot of crabbers get caught up in that thinking and ignore the important factors.