Subject: Crab pot weights
Today I was informed my crab pot and gear including its 100' line and buoys had been retrieved by a friendly boater some 1 mile north from where I had dropped it yesterday and lurking some 500 feet off shore line and a danger for boat navigation. I was astonished and the man retrieving my crabbing gear told me I was smart to have marked the large yellow buoy to include my phone number. My luck was that this man kept his boat in same marina as me and in the adjacent dock to mine. We met up and had a good chat and I learned a few things...
1) Not enough weight in the crab pot.
2) Even with a 100 foot line and dropping pot in around 50 to 60 feet of water when tide out poses a problem as my large visible yellow buoy can keep afloat and can be subject to strong wind and waves pulling the angled 100 foot line and the crab pot off the sea bed and moved along; in this case some 1 mile. 😱
3) For extra weight I went to my marina's boat yard to see what zincs had been discarded (they are place into large 55 gallon drums). I found 4 large plate zincs that were about 1/2 gone and will use them to add extra weight for the crab pot.
4) Note to myself: Check tide and with the very buoyant yellow buoy drop pot in 30 to 40 feet of water from now on.
5) It's nice to have friendly boaters who go out of their way to help others such as in my case here. I owe the man who retrieved my crabbing gear as I've heard stories of crabbing gear being stolen etc. :shock: :x
Personally, even though the large yellow buoy probably can keep afloat with the pot off the sea bed I'm apt to keep it as it really does distinguish itself from all the other crab pot buoys. The extra weight added to the pot should work well for me, hopefully.
Today I was informed my crab pot and gear including its 100' line and buoys had been retrieved by a friendly boater some 1 mile north from where I had dropped it yesterday and lurking some 500 feet off shore line and a danger for boat navigation. I was astonished and the man retrieving my crabbing gear told me I was smart to have marked the large yellow buoy to include my phone number. My luck was that this man kept his boat in same marina as me and in the adjacent dock to mine. We met up and had a good chat and I learned a few things...
1) Not enough weight in the crab pot.
2) Even with a 100 foot line and dropping pot in around 50 to 60 feet of water when tide out poses a problem as my large visible yellow buoy can keep afloat and can be subject to strong wind and waves pulling the angled 100 foot line and the crab pot off the sea bed and moved along; in this case some 1 mile. 😱
3) For extra weight I went to my marina's boat yard to see what zincs had been discarded (they are place into large 55 gallon drums). I found 4 large plate zincs that were about 1/2 gone and will use them to add extra weight for the crab pot.
4) Note to myself: Check tide and with the very buoyant yellow buoy drop pot in 30 to 40 feet of water from now on.
5) It's nice to have friendly boaters who go out of their way to help others such as in my case here. I owe the man who retrieved my crabbing gear as I've heard stories of crabbing gear being stolen etc. :shock: :x
Personally, even though the large yellow buoy probably can keep afloat with the pot off the sea bed I'm apt to keep it as it really does distinguish itself from all the other crab pot buoys. The extra weight added to the pot should work well for me, hopefully.
