STOLEN CRAB!!

[gfakkema]

I have left my pots out overnight in the browns point/dash point area a few times now, and everytime my pots have been picked. I'm not sure if someone is sitting out there and waiting for me to leave and coming in behind me or not, but it is definitely getting frustrating. I know for a fact that someone is poaching my pots because I have come back with bait box cleaned out (using drumsticks, so no way that it is just being eaten because there are no bones left) and the door is wide open. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have someone pick my pot than steal the entire thing, but this is just frustrating. I usually try to avoid areas where there are other pots, but it seems like every time I come back, someone has dropped their pots right in the middle of my cluster. Maybe they are checking my pots while there? I don't know. I know that you have to have a biodegradable tie on the door, but I am really tempted to pad-lock the crap out of my pots to prevent this from happening again. I guess for now I am just going to have to sit and pot watch until I can figure something out. Anybody else have this happen to them? If so, what did/would you do?

[rcthepirate]

watch from a distance with binoculars. have your flare gun ready and when you see someone pulling your pots charge at em and open fire.

[Ezlivn89]

some little buggers in a dingy were checking ours at redondo, as soon as we would leave a good ways they would come check them, we watched them, two asian guys, didnt speak english and only brought one pot and checked multiple pots, keep an eye out

[G-Man]

One shouldn't need to leave pots soaking overnight. If there are crab in the area, your pots will fill up quickly. I leave mine in for no longer than 2 hours, if the results are weak, they get moved.

[obryan214]

i'm aware of a worthless degenerate filth addict who steals and sells crabs in that area. just got busted with a 35lb wild king and always in trouble. he was in the news tribune a couple weeks ago for an altercation at the point. saw him today on his bicycle and should have ran him over.

up by port gamble some tribal members will take pots as soon as you drop them by the reservation too.

[drysuperfly52]

i know out in front of camano island the tribal members will check pots along the entire shoreline... nothing better then being a kid on shore yelling at them and watching them steal your crab (this was 8 years ago, but i am sure things havent changed)

[goodtimesfishing]

by tulalip if i put pots in and wait 1 hour there are always lots of crab....if i soak overnight they are always empty. during the middle of the night indians always empty them. Seen it MANY times...that is if you are luck and your pot is not stolen.

[Bodofish]

Sad to say but it's a pretty common occurace these days. You're lucky they didn't keep your pots too. Don't leave your pots unattended. The best time to catch is at the tide change, hour before and hour after and your pots will have all they're going to catch.

Don't feel bad they even hit mine right out in front of our place on Camano. WDFW finally started to check people after complaining for years..........

[gfakkema]

I normally would sit and watch, but lately I just haven't had the time to sit there for hours on end. I recently have only had time to go out after work, drop pots before it got dark, then check them first thing in the morning. I know that I am lucky to have gotten the pots back at least. I like the flare gun idea, haha. I almost wanted to get a game camera and mount in on shore just to catch the bastards, but I feel like there is just too much traffic in the area and I would then have to sift through a million pics of random passers by. Like I said though, every time this has happened, there are one or two pots right in the middle of my cluster when there were none before. Really makes me wonder if people come by, check my pots, see crab and think, "this seems like a good spot".

[Bryne Chum]

I wouldnt mess with the flare gun. You never know they might have a firearm, and might not be afraid to use it, and shooting a flare at them might give them more of a reason to shoot at you. The game camera is the better option, and let fish and game,police or sheriff make contact. You could try using two pots conected with 3-4 feet of floating rope tied inbetween the two. Submerege all the gear and use a grapple hook to hook the rope inbetween the traps and drag'em in. I'm sure these guys are just looking for bouy's and bank lines.

[gfakkema]

FYI, I was joking about the flare gun, as I'm sure the original poster was too.

[racfish]

Stolen crabs and stolen pots is not a new thing. Its been going on for a long time. While crabbing Camano we had the Island county police boat warn us of this. I dont leave pots in overnight. Thats not a good idea in general. In fact I keep my pots in eye shot the whole time. Like Gman said. I rarely leave mine in for an hour. If there are crabs in the area they will be in your pots within 1/2 hour usually. I brought up pots in front of Faye Bainbridge state park with no crabs and totally eaten bait.

[triehl27]

I "HEARD" of this solution.

Off of Langley pots were being picked, and a gentleman stayed out,watching off the point. When the thieves came he rushed in with a 22 loaded with construction blanks, firing away. Last issue they had the rest of the season as the thieves went rushing back to the reservation.

Pot thefts and Crab Thefts actually made the paper a couple years back, local was stealing new pots, took some 50 over the 4th of July, in the middle of the night. If you had old pots you lost your crab, if they were new or nice pots you lost them along with the crab.

I put florescent zip ties on ever bar on the top of mine, along with Florescent duct tape around a few bars. To much of a pain in the *** to clip and clear. Haven't had any of those stolen.

Caught a couple of teens off of a boat in the marina stealing a couple of our Stainless Pots last year. When I confronted them, they cut the lines and dumped um into the harbor. To bad 6 hours later at low tide I just walked out and got um. Parents weren't real pleased to have L.E. showing up to their boat about $400 in stolen pots. We explained we had watched um pick um, load um come back to the harbor. We confronted the teens and they dumped um, and that we were now waiting on the local PD. The parents loaded up the skiff on the back and left with the teens in their yacht immediately before PD got there. We retied the pots and went back to crabbing. We also contacted their yacht club in the south sound, and informed them of their members behavior, theft, and leaving instead of talking with the local PD.

[fear_no_fish]

Ive watched scubba divers swim out from shore straight to our pots, (you can watch their bubbles) and he started checking the pots. We watch him circle one of our pots so we pulled it and wouldnt you know the door was wide open. All we could do was watch the bubbles go pot to pot. Should have snagged him up off the bottom.
But you do have to watch for high tides or strong currents taking your pots. We have picked up a few different pots floating in a few hundred feet of water.

[Amx]

Drop a stick of dinomite on them, that'll give them a ringing headach.