Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

[bowman316]

when do the crabs show up in the bays near OC, MD? I will be going down in late june, and was wondering if there would be any crabs there by then?
I know they will be in the wye river by then, but i have never crabbed in the costal bays.

 

[Edko]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

They should be there by then. I thought you were going down Memorial day?

 

[bowman316]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

yea, changed it to june 19, i actually had it booked for the weekend after memorial day, I thought the 30th was the start of memorial day, the 23rd just seems too early for memorial day.

The water even may be swimable by june, in the bay at least.


I barley got a spot on the 19th, all later weekends were gone already.
That place is a mad house in the summer, even memorial day has been gone for months.

Now i am thinking about not fishing at all, and just crabbing, Could leave with 4 bushels in 2 days if i get lucky

 

[Edko]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

Gotcha.

Forgot to mention, get a tide chart. Crabbing in those bays is alot more dependent on tides than in the Chesapeake. Incoming/high tides yield much better results regardless of which bay you try. General rule of thumb is Ocean tide +1 hour for inlet up, +2 around 65th st up, +4 or 5 (I forget) in North OC. You can catch em right off any of the public docks/bulkheads, or if yer taking boat, traps or hand lines do the trick. Chicken necks are abundant at any of the grocery stores, even the convenience stores.

If you strike out, you can always hit up Watermans crab house in west OC, Prices are reasonable and its all you can eat (Last year was Crabs, Shrimp, corn, and chicken...we stuffed our face for a fairly cheap price).

 

[Edko]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

Oh, and...

http://ocsdata.ncd.noaa.gov/BookletChart/12211_BookletChart_HomeEd.pdf

Charts for those bays in case you didn't have them.

 

[bowman316]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

Never would have thought too much about the tides, I know day break is always the bast crabbing time in the chesapeake.

I have a chart on the bay, but it is from a book from the early 90's. But i don't think those charts change much.

You can dock your boat at a lot of crab houses, I think there is one in west OC you can tie up to, hoopers i think.

 

[David Greer]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

The charts don't change but the bottom does! On the seaside, since 1990, I've seen one inlet open and close 3 times and another twice.

On the sea side, everything is done by the tides first, then the wind, then the daylight, adjusted by the moonlight. This includes duck hunting.

In addition to an anchor, you have to have a shove pole if you are boatnig on the seaside.

 

[bowman316]

Re: Crabbing near Ocean City, MD

by sea side do you mean bay side?
what do you mean by shove pole?
just a oar or something to push the boat in shallow water?
those bays can get really shallow, most are not over 5 ft anywhere at low tide.