Storing live crabs

[Mike1266]

Just wondering if anyone has any tricks to store the live dungeness crabs when you catch them, I found throwing them in a bucket makes them fight each other and they die really quick once they get pinched in some spots, or lose their legs. Is it viable to cut one side of their pinchers off or will that also make them die faster?

 

[RiverBoy]

they need oxygen if your throwing them in a bucket or a hold. we’ve kept them alive for days by circulating the salt water in an onboard holding tank.

 

[Flashman]

I've kept them alive for days in the front anchor locker of an 18 whaler with the drain plug removed. That floods the locker about half way. I found it was important to run the boat every day though. They didn't do well when the boat is at anchor more than overnight. Pretty sure the issue was a lack oxygen in the water from being stagnant.

Alternately, a trap with the doors tied closed and hung over the side/off the dock works great. Prawn traps are convenient as you don't need to tie the doors.

 

[Mike1266]

I guess I need to clarify my question a bit. I don’t plan to keep the crabs for long, just until the end of day when I’m heading back home. My main question would be how to stop them from pinching each other.

 

[Srthomas75]

I guess I need to clarify my question a bit. I don’t plan to keep the crabs for long, just until the end of day when I’m heading back home. My main question would be how to stop them from pinching each other.

Do you mean while still on your boat? As you continue to fish or cruise around.

 

[PilotAndy]

I have never thought or done it , but rather than breaking off their claws , put a piece of elastic over the claws to keep them closed.

 

[Loghauler]

Zip ties ?

 

[Deepaaaar]

I find that if I put them in a dark place with a little separation (i.e. closed cooler), they don't fight much.

 

[Gong Show]

Bit of ice chills the fight out off them.

 

[ziggy]

On lobster they use elastic bands.

 

[ClintR]

I find that if I put them in a dark place with a little separation (i.e. closed cooler), they don't fight much.

Had a two person limit in a cooler one time and when we got home and opened it up all the crabs were lined up in two rows like little soldiers. Was pretty weird.

 

[Hot-Streak]

I put crabs in my fish locker so they aren't piled on top of each other. As others have said ice helps to mellow them out. Could also put a damp cloth over them to keep them in the dark = less fighting/active and also keeps them moist and alive.

In hotter weather a cooler with ice is good.

 

[Deepaaaar]

Had a two person limit in a cooler one time and when we got home and opened it up all the crabs were lined up in two rows like little soldiers. Was pretty weird.

Did you hear a few murmurs of "I am Spartacus!!" when you popped the lid?

 

[wildmanyeah]

Can use a small cooler, with a bubbler and wire a plug to it that plugs into your down rigger plug,

Never had any die but loosing a leg or claw from another crab is common.

 

[Hot-Streak]

you can get a usb powered bubbler too. I used it to transport crab from a boat, car, and then using a battery pack to keep them going. BUT the crabs mostly need to be kept cool and moist. bit of ice and wet newspaper on top OR a towel can make them last a long time.

 

[RageWelding]

Put them in a burlap sack soaked in saltwater then into a cooler. Give them a dunk daily. This works very well for me.

 

[NikNak]

I bought crabs in Tofino years ago from a crab fisherman that sold them out of fish tanks in his house. You picked the crabs you wanted from the glass tanks on the counter, and they put them in a brown paper bag put inside of a recycled plastic shopping bag we all used to know and use. The paper bag was to create darkness and to calm them. It worked perfectly. I just kept them for four or five hours until I cooked them.

 

[Cookie's Cutter]

This summer we checked the traps one morning before heading out fishing for the day. We actually got 9 keepers which was our best haul ever! we thought about zip tieing the doors closed on one of the traps and sending all the crabs back down to the bottom to keep them fresh while we we fishing. While we were discussing our options, I look over and see perhaps the biggest Sea Otter in the world floating right beside the boat. Needles to say the crabs stayed in the cooler on ice all day long and they were fine.

 

[Pickled Herring]

Me and my buddy use the lobster banders. Works great but it is a two man operation. Think he got from Amazon. The tool and big bag of elastic bands. You put the bands around the crabs elbows. No more fighting. Zip ties around the elbows also work in a pinch.