[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by kcinnick

Get two poles. Sticks, bamboo, whatever. Someone turned me on to angled aluminum a couple of years ago.

Get 100 feet of braided nylon, I like a 3/8's sized line.

Get a roll of catfish line or any string really.

I tie weights on the line, 1/2 oz every 15 feet or so, and a chicken neck directly to the line every 5 feet or so. Tie your main line to the two poles and stick them in the water about waist deep.

Walk the line holding a dip net in hand, pick it up by one pole and walk along gently bringing the line to the surface. When you see a crab or 3, bring the dip net up under the crab and they will release as you break the surface of the water with the chicken neck.

Don't worry about drop lines or special bait hooks, they just get in the way. You want to make sure you line is on the bottom but not too loose. When they are running, you won't be able to keep up.

Do this....

Originally Posted by kcinnick

You can skip the drop lines and tie the necks directly to the main line.

Get chicken necks, if you can't find any (hi neighbor, winn dixie usually have them) the grocery store on the island has them for $.89 a pound. I always buy before going, sometimes they don't have any. We went last week. Friday nothing, Saturday 2 dozen or so, Sunday filled two ice chests in less than an hour and call it quits. We could have caught more, but as I get older (damn I feel old and I am 32) and I am the one doing the boiling enough to eat for the day is good for me. Usually I count, but since we caught so many, so fast I was getting a dozen crabs or more a run. My guess after cooking them was about 10 dozen that hour. We thought it was 5-6 dozen, but we had 7 dozen crabs left over after people left our house!

When leg quarters go on sale for 39 cents a pound i load up....... I think if I was a crab I would rather eat a piece of meat than chew on a nexk bone and leg quarters are cheaper. I seperate the thigh and leg so i have 2 pieces.