Crab Rings for Kayaks: The good and the bad!

With all the recent chat about you guys meeting up soon for crabbing I just wanted to pass along my 2 cents on the two different crab ring models if you were to purchase at Fishermans Marine. The cheap black crab rings with yellow rope are just that, "cheap" and wont last more then a year or two. I made the mistake of loading up on 6 a couple years back on now have 2 left that are still usable. I know each ring comes with 50' of rope and all, but even the rope sucks. If you're thinking about purchasing crab rings, I would highly recommend the green netted crab rings in the bottom picture. Besides lasting a lot longer the green nets are awesome because you can literally dump your catch  straight into your yak without them getting all hung up in the crappy netting of the black ones. I've wasted a lot of  time floating around between rings just trying to unhook them from the black rings. They'll get really snagged in it.. With your slack tide only lasting so long, its nice to not waste extra time and get 'em back down. With the tighter poly netting on these greens you can pull up, dump and re-drop in less then a minute. I've wasted upwards of 10 minutes trying to carefully unsnag a single undersized female without tearing her apart..
Hit me back if you have any questions.. Have fun out there guys!
Cheers

thanks for the post Jammer.I have used a ring that looks just like the top picture. It does work but as you say, the crabs stick like glue to the netting. The bad trap made by Willapa Marine IIRC. Who makes the good one, Danielson?

If you think a female dungee is a hassle, try getting a mess of large angry red rock crabs off the mesh  . Pincers flying everywhere, legs curled around the mesh...A good way to get your finger pinched, crushed or worse.

Heavy duty gloves help?

Thanks for the tips. Any good online resources for dungie hunting?

Why only crab around slack tide?

Thanks for the tips. Any good online resources for dungie hunting?

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php/page,36/print.html

Heavy duty gloves help?

a little, can prevent some laceration, but still hurts like hell. sorta like banging yer finger w/ a hammer. i'd guess a big red rock could break a pinky if grabbed in the right spot. saw a guy once get his belt flab grabbed by an angry dungie & do a little crab pinch jig/chant. hard to keep from laughing.

Thanks for the tips. Any good online resources for dungie hunting?

In the past thirty days of my personal crabbing interest, here's a couple links I've found and also a book I would suggest as its really informative....Dave

http://coastsidefishingclub.com/grey-beard-articles/crabbing-guide/
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/
http://www.amazon.com/Recreational-Dungeness-Crabbing-Scott-Haugen/dp/157188288X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320644019&sr=1-1

My experience with crabbing tells me that the busy clicking of crab claws attract more crab to the fiest.  If you are only fighting a few that don't dump out per ring, just send them back down with the ring as a "Seed" to call in the troops.

As for crabbing the "Slack" tide, it depends on the current flow of either the incoming of outgoing water.  If it is only a few feet of difference between high to low, or low to high, you can be successful crabbing right through a "Swing" tide.  However, if there is a big swing of 5+ feet between H/L tides you will get more salad in your net than crab.  Dungies tend to burrow down in the sand during big swings and not out foraging like they do in a slack.  The other item of concern during a big swing on a kayak is the dangers of the current itself.  On a big swing day, you WILL cover alot of water (aka drift) while retrieving traps, clearing the salad, and sending back down, all for nothing.  Also, when you are pulling up the ring style traps during a heavy swing tide, and notice that your line is really on an angle, any crab in the trap can just crawl out the bottom edge and escape. 

So, in a nutshell I avoid crabbing during huge swings days unless I have more than one day in the area to hit the "Slack" hour.  You can crab either slack, but depending on where you are crabbing, (say a bay) you can do better on the "high" slack tide as the crab will move in with the tide and saltier water.

PM me if you want to know a really fun way to crab that doesn't even require traps. 

As for crabbing the "Slack" tide, it depends on the current flow of either the incoming of outgoing water.  If it is only a few feet of difference between high to low, or low to high, you can be successful crabbing right through a "Swing" tide.  However, if there is a big swing of 5+ feet between H/L tides you will get more salad in your net than crab.  Dungies tend to burrow down in the sand during big swings and not out foraging like they do in a slack.  The other item of concern during a big swing on a kayak is the dangers of the current itself.  On a big swing day, you WILL cover alot of water (aka drift) while retrieving traps, clearing the salad, and sending back down, all for nothing.  Also, when you are pulling up the ring style traps during a heavy swing tide, and notice that your line is really on an angle, any crab in the trap can just crawl out the bottom edge and escape. 

So, in a nutshell I avoid crabbing during huge swings days unless I have more than one day in the area to hit the "Slack" hour.  You can crab either slack, but depending on where you are crabbing, (say a bay) you can do better on the "high" slack tide as the crab will move in with the tide and saltier water.

Insayn is SPOT ON... I tend to pick the locations(bays) that are close to state parks and what not because I usually have my kids and want to make it a family event. Crabbing near Nehalem and Siletz are my two favorites spots, however when the tides get rippin in and out they can literally pull down my bouy below the surface where they cant be reached until the tides slow again. I've found this to really screw up my plans. Besides, its no fun crabbing in that kind of current in a kayak.. There's too much going on, especially heading into an outgoing tide.. Also, when using rings from a yak only use the amount of rope that you really need. Try and make sure that you're straight above your rings before you pull the trigger and quickly haul it up. If your using to much line and not directly above your ring, you'll end up just dragging your ring across bottom when you pull which gives the crabs time to jump off.

Good looking out Jammer. I was at Fisherman's Marine the next day after Famous Dave's. I looked at the "bad" ones ($29.99) and almost bought four. I ended up passing because I felt they were too heavy. I own four Danielson crab pots and one of their rings, but was wanting to get a couple more rings. I was also thinking for this coming trip, I'd rather use rings that are lighter, less awkward and not have to soak pots for hours on end since it'll be my first time from the kayak. Plus, I still haven't fabricated my PVC rack for the pots or rings. Anyhow, long story short, I finally found some inexpensive rings in Longview and grabbed a couple more. None of mine have the man hole looking base like your second picture, but I think they'll do okay....Dave

A friend of mine swears by these pots.  They are awesome but really spendy.

http://www.stow-b-low.net/

Steve

Wow, three of these are about the price of a Mirage Drive!

I've never used these, but I posted an inquiry here a while back.  Looks like the perfect ring for the yak, but it also looks like they have disappeared along with the store that had them for $25 bucks 



skip ahead to 1:44 to see the trap itself and how to fold it. I remember seeing it in Pacific City Sporting Goods and thinking it was slicker than snot. It folds down to fit in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket.

Hmmmm; a bit of net, some heavy vinyl coated cable, some rope.......

Perhaps something Insayn could fab?

Those rings look like a great idea.  A little material scavenging and those could easily be made at home!  I spent $50 (I think) on one of these http://www.jollygoodtrap.com/index.htm at CT.  Probably could have saved the money and bought materials to make 5 or 10 rings.