crabbing

[Juh 101]

hey gys just wandering where would be te best place round hee to go crabbing?
i have tried a little bit of the north coast eg ortrush portstewart cashendoll but no joy.
how do you know if you are in a good location ect?
btw its just off the rocks not a boat.
thank you.

[Scribble]

Hi I take it your after the nice big edible crabs , I find the best Places are the harbours especially if you get the trawlers in and they dump their waste over the side ,this means they have a nice regular feeding time and if you get a nice solid piece of fish like the head and throw it in they won't let go , the earliest I have ever went crabbing is Easter so I'm not to sure about the winter months .
I have 2 reclaimed lobster pots we found washed up and fixed in Donegal we just throw out from rocks with water only being about 12 feet deep we regulary catch one or two in a week .

Andy

[Juh 101]

yea deff the edible ones.
nohing beats fresh crab.
thank you very much.i wont be near the water till after march anyway.
but this year i want to take the outdoors and everything like that very serious and learn how to read the sea ect.
if that makes sence.

[Scribble]

Does indeed make sense  I'm still learning from it , my task this year is to eat more seaweed and use it as a flavouring etc in cooking , the bushcraft guys on here are a far better bunch to explain things than my rambling talk , don't forget your fresh musscels and winkles and of course the fresh mackies you can get with just a hook and tinfoil then cook on a wee fire uth added taste of smoke then washed down with a cold cider . Heaven 

[Juh 101]

how do ya catch musscels and winkles?
yea man heaven indeed like your style
bushcraft seem super interesting also.
the courses are for me at the moment expensive.as i dont have a job.which is bad.
me and a couple of guys want to try doing a 1 week thing in summer.like living off the land ect.and knowing how to catch things like that would be perfect for some meals.

[RedLeader]

How long do you leave the pot down for?

Hi I take it your after the nice big edible crabs , I find the best Places are the harbours especially if you get the trawlers in and they dump their waste over the side ,this means they have a nice regular feeding time and if you get a nice solid piece of fish like the head and throw it in they won't let go , the earliest I have ever went crabbing is Easter so I'm not to sure about the winter months .
I have 2 reclaimed lobster pots we found washed up and fixed in Donegal we just throw out from rocks with water only being about 12 feet deep we regulary catch one or two in a week .

Andy

[suspectmonkey]

I remember when I was a kid my gran used to take me crabbing in Ballywalter harbour.  Used to be a good spot for it, although I've no idea what it's like now and frankly I've no idea if the crabs we caught were even edible.

More recently I saw some fellas crabbing from the harbour at Strangford and there appeared to be no shortage.  Come to think of it, I should probably give up fishing this year and try crabbing

[Scribble]

How long do you leave the pot

Usually just leave them overnight and check in morning as it's only a 5min walk from my caravan so it's nice and handy 

When we leave pots out further with the boat we usually let it soak for a few days and if we are lucky we might get a lobster .

[Dowser]

Great topic and very appropriate for me at the minute.

At the weekend I was in Tesco and they were selling off 3 kippers for 99p and although I wouldn't eat kippers I thought they would be good bait for a lobster pot, so I bought some.

I have a Lobster Pot that I got a while back but never actually got round to putting it out.  So this weekend I gave it a go.

This is what I was after:



And this it the equipment I used:

A 33p Smoked Herring


My Lobster Pot with Bouy Attached for locating the pot when the tide has gone out


The Pot in positioned at Low Tide.


I put Rocks in and on top of the Pot because on the previous evenings attempt the pot had rolled onto it's side


The bouy barely visible at high tide - Honestly it is out there if you look carefully


My Dissapointing Catch - two small shore crabs, one with only one nipper. Although totally edible they are too small for the effort required






Conclusion: I'm going to have to do a bit more research to find out what went wrong.  There are so many factors to consider i.e. Positioning of the Pot, Bait, Season (Time of Year) or maybe just bad luck.  I will do a bit more Googling before attempting it again.

As for your original question Juh101, one place I do know where you can catch the real mccoy is the Reef off Ballywalter but it can be a dangerous past time.  The reef can be got to by foot at low tide but the tide comes in very quick and you could end up getting cut off from the shore.  A life jacket and mobile phone in a waterproof case would be highly recommended.

Unfortunately, Google Earth doesn't show the area clearly but here is the reef maked on a Google Map with a red line:



People crabbing here use a Crab Hook, shown below, to pull the crabs out of deep crevasses and from under rocks.

[LennyJ1]

Great write up and photos as always andy. Good luck next time.

I live to far away from the sea to make this worth my while buy maybe this summer I might give fishing another try.

[Scribble]

Dowser..
My uncle use to put a pot out from a fishing point about 10min walk from pickie park in Bangor . He did use one of the old rowing boats you use to be able to hire to get to mark but I'm sure you could lug it round yourself . I have not been round that way in years so I would not know what it's like now . Good luck on your next try . Your bait was it still there or did all the shore crabs make fast work of it , I always try to use a big pollack head as it seems to last longer

As Lenny says nice write up and pics 

[Dowser]

Dowser..
My uncle use to put a pot out from a fishing point about 10min walk from pickie park in Bangor . He did use one of the old rowing boats you use to be able to hire to get to mark but I'm sure you could lug it round yourself . I have not been round that way in years so I would not know what it's like now . Good luck on your next try . Your bait was it still there or did all the shore crabs make fast work of it , I always try to use a big pollack head as it seems to last longer

As Lenny says nice write up and pics  

I'm doing this off a wee village on the Ards pennisula called Ballyhalbert, two minutes down the road from Ballywalter.  Half of the bait was picked clean to the bone by something, but there was defo plenty remaining.

I should have said above, Juh101 if you are keen to try the reef in Ballywalter and want a bit of company send me a PM and we could get something organised.  I'd love to give it a go again myself

[RedLeader]

I've got the knife and fork packed for when I get the signal that there's a big juicy fresh lobster heading for your stove 

Dowser..
My uncle use to put a pot out from a fishing point about 10min walk from pickie park in Bangor . He did use one of the old rowing boats you use to be able to hire to get to mark but I'm sure you could lug it round yourself . I have not been round that way in years so I would not know what it's like now . Good luck on your next try . Your bait was it still there or did all the shore crabs make fast work of it , I always try to use a big pollack head as it seems to last longer

As Lenny says nice write up and pics  

I'm doing this off a wee village on the Ards pennisula called Ballyhalbert, two minutes down the road from Ballywalter.  Half of the bait was picked clean to the bone by something, but there was defo plenty remaining.

I should have said above, Juh101 if you are keen to try the reef in Ballywalter and want a bit of company send me a PM and we could get something organised.  I'd love to give it a go again myself

[Scribble]

I've got the knife and fork packed for when I get the signal that there's a big juicy fresh lobster heading for your stove 

no probs and we can get a bivvi in a cave to if you fancy it 

http://www.andymcinroy.com/ir452.htm

[Juh 101]

exalent write up man.
yea deffo would love to give it a shot some time man im in.
workin on gettin my car back on road atm though.
thats why it wont be able to for a while yet.
im from ballymena so its quite far away from anywhere coastal.
so yea dowser deffo in a while.
and the bivvi idea  do a lil fishin incase the crabbin fails lol.
some nice open fire cooked fish.now that wuld b nice.
how do ya catch mussels and winkles?