New to Crab fishing

[3gedmonton]

Hi guys

I just joined the forum and wanted a bit of advice. A few friends and I are going to BC (vancouver and surrounding area) come end of june. We're looking to do some crab fishing and wanted to know good places and things we need. Honestly I've been to BC a few times and we did the tours it was great but we want to catch our own or know how to do it ourselves by renting a boat. Any tips and info would be greatly appreciated. Just looking for a starting point ofcourse we are aware we need a licence and such. Looking for best location how long does it take where we can watch our traps while renting a cabin or places to rent boats.

Also good places to buy traps and what bait to use would help too.

 

[Last Chance]

Pretty much any dock or warf that you have permission to crab from over a sandy/muddy bottom will work. Get a couple of those square crab traps from Island Outfitters, the rope, and a couple of old bleach bottles to put your name on. Get a couple of bait cups, stuff some chicken in them ( I use thighs, but crabs are not picky), toss 'em in, and give it a couple hours. Come back, if you have crabs, measure them and enjoy. The big warf in Sidney is a safe bet if you can still crab there. If you don't get anything in a couple hours, move on. Sooke Harbour marina used to have dynamite crabbing, you can't go there anymore, but the Sooke Govt warf is a good bet if they let you. Or if you show up at night, and don't make a mess, there is probably no one to shoo you away anyway. Give it an hour or two, and park up the hill out of the way of everyone.

You can rent a boat at Pedder Bay and crab in the bay itself, but if you just wanna see some crabs, traps off a dock work.

For a real riot, you could go wading in the eel grass on a low tide in the river of the Esquimalt Lagoon, and on the flats in front of it in June... Probably need to have lots of cold ones on hand for that one.

 

[3gedmonton]

Thanks alot man.. any other places you can think of? I'm going to be in squamish as well but main focus is to check out best places to fish for crabs. I thought its best to go pretty far in deep waters to fish fro crabs am i wrong?

 

[Pablo2079]

You really don't have to go that deep... I usually just crab in 30 feet of water along the Sunshine Coast. I know a lot of people go to 80 feet or so, but I've never found that to be necessary.

 

[Pippen]

If you are going to be directly in the Vancouver area and rent a boat either in Horseshoe Bay or right from Granville Island in the heart of Vancouver you can be crabbing out in the middle of English Bay or along Jericho beach. It generally is not quite as good as the winter (less floats/traps out)but you can likely get some good feeds and you don't really have to run much more than about 10 minutes from the boat rental dock.

Unfortunately I don't know much about up towards Squamish. A lot of Howe Sound (Squamish is at the top of the sound)is pretty rocky and we do well for prawns but I have not heard much about crabbing right up towards Squamish. It can be pretty windy up there (big windsurfing area)and unless you found a wharf to fish off I don't know of any boat rental companies up there.

As far as bait and depths....in English Bay we go anywhere from 30-70 feet in depth. We just use bait bags loaded up with chicken backs AND you will hear arguements either way about the traps; me, I prefer round traps but some do think that square is the way to go.

 

[Pippen]

So 3g.....here is a list for you of what you will need.

-LICENSE
-Traps (round or square and you can buy them here at either Army Navy or one of the marine stores in town. Army Navy I find is the cheapest)
-Bait bags or cup
-Chicken (don't waste your time with the pellet baits and "backs" are cheap at the store)
-100' of sinking line per trap or buy a weight to clip on your line. (I would put a weight on regardless about 15' below your float. This is so that with the tide changes you don't have line floating across the surface which can easily get caught in the prop of a passing boat)
-Float with your name and phone number on it.
-a few beers to sip while you wait for your meal.

Out in English Bay if you DO rent a boat, I would not leave your traps too long or too far out of sight as the trap poaching/stealing has gotten worse in the last couple of years.

 

[gimp]

Deepth depends on area. Average depth for dungeness, tanner and boxcrab in shawl bay is 280 to 300 feet. The same depth as shrimp or prawns. I have never crabbed so deep in my entire life. After two crab traps and prawn traps your arms and legs and back are burnin lemme tell ya.

 

[Loose Cannon]

I have only lived in Squamish for a few months, so I am by no means an expert, but I have been out crabbing a few times. I don't think there is any place in town to rent boats that I am aware of. I have had the best luck right in front of the chief. There are 2 or three big steel bouys to your left as you are coming out of the channel from the boat launch, There are usually a few bouys around there from other traps. It is in 120-130 ft of water. I usually get lots of crab here but not too many keepers. Hope that helps.

 

[Bod]

Check the regs and watch where you fish. No crabbing is alowed in Burrard inlet, Port Moody Arm or Indian Arm after dark. Daylight hours are ok.
Bod

 

[3gedmonton]

Thanks guys you have all been an awsome help. Its our first time crab fishing so we might take an expert when we come into town. Not sure but either way this has helped me out alot! I'll be in squamish for a bit so if anyone of you guys want to contact me or get together during the months with a couple of my buddies let me know. Again you guys rock!

 

[Pippen]

3g...

Drop me a line closer to when you are coming and I would be happy to give you a few local spots to try in the Vancouver harbour. (English Bay)

Scott

 

[HALILLAMA]

Try the search in upper rh corner. There is a pile of reading there. If you are coming to the Island I can help with where /when. Can even help with gear

 

[3gedmonton]

Thanks Pippen and HALILLAMA I'll for sure drop you guys a line when its closer. I think i treid the search on the forum before posting there was another thread but it didn't discuss the specifics unless my search string wasn't strong enough.