How Do Crab Pots Work? A Detailed Guide for Beginner Crabbers

Crab pots, also known as crab traps, are a popular method for catching crabs recreationally. But how exactly do these contraptions work to trap crabs? As a beginner crabber, understanding the mechanics behind crab pots is key to using them effectively and having a successful crabbing trip.

In this detailed guide, I’ll walk through everything you need to know about how crab pots function and their different components. Whether you’re headed out to catch Dungeness, blue crabs, or any other type of crab you’ll learn some useful tips and tricks by the end of this article!

An Overview of Crab Pot Design

At first glance, a crab pot may look like a big, confusing mess of wire and ropes. But there’s actually some ingenious engineering behind these traps that makes them so effective for catching crabs

The basic components of a crab pot are:

• A wire mesh cage, usually cube or rectangular shaped
• An entrance at the top called the “lead”
• A bait box in the middle
• An escape hatch or “cull ring”
• Rope attached at the top to a buoy/float on the surface

The lead and bait work together to lure crabs into the trap. Once inside, the crab pot’s design makes it difficult for crabs to escape back out the entrance. The result? You end up with a cage full of trapped crabs waiting for you when you go to check your pots!

Now let’s look at each component in more detail…

The Wire Mesh Cage

Crab pots are constructed from a wire mesh that allows water to flow through easily while also being sturdy enough to contain feisty crabs. The size of the mesh openings is important.

• For blue crabs, a 1 inch mesh size is typical. This prevents smaller juvenile crabs from entering and getting trapped.

• For Dungeness crabs, a larger 2 inch opening allows the bigger crabs to fit while keeping out other creatures.

The wire itself needs to be durable as well. Traps for powerful Dungeness crabs will have a thicker 8 gauge wire compared to the 16 gauge used for blue crab pots.

You can easily bend and shape the wire mesh to create the cube or rectangular cage shape. The flexibility also allows crab pots to take a beating against rocks or other debris underwater without getting totally crushed.

The All-Important Bait Box

The bait box is the key to luring crabs into your trap. This is a separate container built into or attached inside the crab pot to hold smelly, raw bait. Crabs use their keen sense of smell to find food sources, so the stinkier the better!

Good bait options include:

• Raw chicken, beef, turkey or fish
• Squid, clams or mussels
• Oily fish like menhaden or mullet

The bait box has tiny openings to allow the scent to escape into the water. But the openings are small enough to keep crabs from reaching in and eating all the bait right away.

You want the bait to last for multiple tides, so the trap continues catching new crabs as they enter the pot. Checking crab pots every 12-24 hours is ideal to rebait before it’s all gone.

The Crab Pot Lead – Letting Crabs “Walk the Plank”

The lead is the entranceway into the crab trap, designed as a one-way passage. It slopes upward into the pot’s inner chamber. Crabs easily climb up the ramp to reach the tasty bait.

But once inside, the vertical drop along the lead prevents crabs from exiting the same way. It’s like a plank they can walk up but not down!

Funnel or circular shapes help guide crabs towards the opening. The lead is positioned off the seafloor so crabs have to make an effort to enter from below. This way other bottom dwellers don’t accidentally swim inside.

Escape Hatches – Letting Little Ones Get Away

Another important element is the escape hatch or “cull ring” on crab pots. These are plastic rings usually 2-3 inches wide placed on the side of the trap.

The purpose is to allow smaller juvenile crabs and females to exit the pot while retaining keepers. Undersized and female crabs can pass through the ring to freedom.

Cull rings prevent waste and overharvesting, ensuring healthy populations for future seasons. They are mandatory on commercial and recreational crab pots in most states.

Rope, Buoys and Anchors

Rope attached to the top of the crab pot connects to a floating buoy on the surface. The buoy allows you to find and retrieve your traps, even in deep murky water. They are marked with numbers, colors or flags for identification.

The rope length depends on the water depth where you’re crabbing. Use 15-25 feet more rope than the depth to account for tides. Add even more in strong currents or wave action.

Many crab pots have a second rope attached to an anchor or weight. This prevents the trap from drifting too far or getting pulled up in stormy weather. But make sure the anchor rope is longer than the main line to allow the trap to rise and fall with the tides.

Putting it All Together – How Pots Catch Crabs

Now that you’re familiar with the parts of a crab pot, let’s walk through the step-by-step process of how they work to trap crabs:

1. You bait up the pot onshore with something smelling delicious to crabs.

2. Carry or boat the baited pot to your chosen crabbing spot and toss it into the water.

3. The anchored trap sits on the seafloor with the buoy marker floating above it.

4. The bait scent flows out through the mesh and attracts crabs in the area.

5. Crabs follow the smell and find the lower entrance lead to climb up into the pot.

6. Drawn by the bait box, the crabs crawl around inside trying to get the food.

7. Once they realize they’re stuck, the crabs try climbing back out the lead. But the downward slope causes them to tumble back into the pot!

8. Trapped crabs continue searching for an exit, but the only way out is too small for legal keepers.

9. When you return to pull in the trap, there’s a catch of keepers waiting inside! Rebait and repeat.

And that’s essentially how crab pots use clever design to take advantage of crab behavior and trap them inside. With the right bait and placement, you can accumulate quite a haul.

Tips for Getting the Most from Your Crab Pots

Now that you know how crab pots function, here are some useful tips to maximize your catches:

• Use fresh bait – Old, rotten bait actually repels crabs. Refrigerate bait to keep longer.

• Check often – Pull pots every 12-36 hours before bait runs out. Crabs will escape or eat each other if left too long.

• Set traps at dawn or dusk – Crabs forage more actively at night. Let pots soak through one full tide cycle.

• Weight traps in current – Add anchors or weights to prevent washing away in tidal flow or wave surge.

• Leave soaking lines slack – Keep slack in the lines to allow the trap to move up and down with the tides.

• Place traps in crabby spots – Target areas with grassy bottom or structure that crabs like to inhabit and forage.

• Use multiple traps – The more pots you can set out, the more crabs you can catch!

That covers everything you need to know about how crab pots basically work using clever design that takes advantage of crab behavior. While it may look confusing at first, each component has an important function.

Knowing how crab traps operate can help you use them more effectively and choose the right gear. Just remember to check regulations for size requirements, escape rings, and other rules in your local area.