I need some help. My wife is demanding that we take the 7 year old and catch crabs on our mini-vaca after FTA in Virginia.
I’m from Indiana, and we don’t have crabs around here. I need some serious basic help.
Does anyone have advice, or maybe a book or reference I can buy?
Trap types, bait, location location location tips? Laws? Are there blue crabs (she likes that kind apparently) around there? Are they in season, are there seasons? I am clueless and starting at the beginning. Can I buy live ones and put them my trap and tell her I caught them to save face, and possibly my marriage? She wont settle for a nice plate full at a restaurant, she says we have to catch them and have an adventure.

Shes being very demanding and threatening real consequences if I don’t put some crabs in the pot for my family while we are down there. Will anyone take pity on me and tell me how to do this?

I’m too far from any salt water to help a brother out. Sounds like you have bigger issues than crabs

Hopefully someone closer to the tidal water can give you some insight. To my knowledge, there are strict size restrictions and licensing, but I don’t want to send you down the wrong path. Do a Google search on harvesting VA blue crabs, limits, etc. If I can find anything relevant, I’ll shoot you a PM tomorrow.

https://www.mrc.virginia.gov/regulations/VA-recreational-crabbing-rules.shtm

Just from a quick search… Hopefully someone can help you out with the where and what. You certainly can buy live crabs in the right areas if it comes down to that. Best of luck.

Thanks I will review those regulations.
Hoping for some local help to up my chances.
Sort of “what seems to work best or consistently” type advice

At the FTA, you will be closer to MD coastal waters than VA coastal water so you might want to check the MD regs also.

That in Harrisonburg? I’ve been looking and I don’t see a lot of water to crab in around there. Trout fishing looks great but crabbing not so much.

If you find some brackish water you might find them. The easiest is a collapsible trap with a chicken neck wired to it.

As mentioned check the regs. In the state your going.The. Basic fun way is get some cotton line a pack of chicken necks and a landing net .Tie the chicken neck on the end of the line 6 to 8 ft long. And toss it out into the water where the crab resides and let it sit .Keep an eye on the Line when it starts moving slowly pull it in placing your landing net flat on the bottom dragging the crab over it then lift the net up.

Best thing are them cheap round string traps, tie a piece of chicken in, with a half a brick for weight to keep it on bottom, and drop it off a pier or dock and tie it off, I catch several at st Simon’s island pier this way.

You say you have a kid?

Chicken neck and a string is how us kids did it. Just work the dock pilings and other structure.

Yep a kid, 7 year old. And a wife.

I like this string method with chicken neck. Low overhead, high mobility, and family fun.

We will be around Jamestown and Williamsburg, Chickahominy area. She made sure it was close enough to the coast for crabbing, then told me to figure out how to catch them.

Check regs but if allowed a flat hoe run up and down a piling scrapes barnacles for a chum slick. Also good for fishing with hook and line for stuff like sheepshead. Just bait with a bit of shrimp or clam and drift it into the slick. But be ready to get them away from the piling quick as barnacles slice and dice fishing lines.

I Googled ‘where can I go crabbing in XYZ Virginia’ and found lots of stuff for marinas and public places. This should get you started with a good gameplan. Just x3 regs.

Lots to see in Jamestown and Williamsburg (especially the Historic District).

Wish I could offer more help. Hope you enjoy the state.

Send me a PM. I’ll have crab pots over and can show you and your family a fun day on the water. You’d have to make the trip my home on the lower eastern shore but we could crab, clam, fish etc.

If the wife is just wanting the kid to experience crabbing, do like others have said and tie a chicken neck, drumstick to a string and throw in the salt marsh. There will be places where you may find tons of the little mud crabs. Stop at a tourist trap and buy one of the long handle nets to catch mud crabs or walk the beach with a light after dark chasing the fast fiddler crabs.

He ain’t looking for no fiddler crabs, he’s looking for deeze!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/_uK8qFGMS3A?si=UBoFBDzgsCEqq4sX

Can you still use fiddlers as bait? That was another kid thing catching bait. Heck, folks would buy them.

[quote=HobbieTrapper]He ain’t looking for no fiddler crabs, he’s looking for deeze!!

Dooze look like fiddler crabs to me. This is a crab. I made fox sets with more crab then is in that soup pot.

This works better if you have a long dip net to slip under the crab before you pull it out of the water. You can crayfish this way too. We used fish as bait instead of chicken.

Keith

They must taste better on the boat, by the time they get to us they have been cooked and frozen for a bit.

It happens to ours too. Night and day between a crab cake made with fresh crab meat and frozen crab meat.

James City Co. has several parks and access locations. I recommend Chickahominy Riverfront Park. Easy access and has a decent pier. You will want a long net to dip the crabs off the hand lines. Check the regs for size restrictions at that time. I don’t think a license is needed for hand lines however you should confirm.