Marking Crab Pots

[nordicbird]

What's the normal way for people to mark their crab/lobster pots in the US?

Over here it is ludicrous

There are far too many amateur, or selfish pros ,over here, that couldn't be bothered to use decent marker buoys.

I was returning to base today in Force 4-5 wind with associated choppy sea.

At the last minute, and too late, I saw a grey 10 litre oil can in front of me and took unsuccessful avoiding action. Result was we just snagged the 1" line and "marker" around our outdrive. Luckily it wasn't wrapped around the duo-prop.

I ended up crouching on a bouncing bathing platform with a knife - getting soaked (water is b cold over here!!) - whilst my mate reached down with a boat-hook and just managed to pull the line up high enough for me to cut it.

It could have been a lot more serious for us , mechanically , but I hated the thought of whatever may have been in the pot starving to death. The pot owner wouldn't be too pleased either but if he'd used proper markers the situation wouldn't have arisen.

Edited August 5, 2010 by nordicbird

[midway]

Where I live they mark them with round white floats that turn dark fairly quickly and blend in with the brown water I boat in, some have started using bright orange floats which are much easier to see but they are few and far between, mostly the ones you can not see are what is out there. I have to watch the water all the time so I do not run over them. Most of the time I run the same waters and know the general area where they are, sometimes I have to run right where they are and that gets interesting at times. I think there are laws that say they have to be better marked but only applies to new traps, I don't think they have to change the old ones.

[Boz]

Over here it is ludicrous

Curious - where's "over here" ?

Up in my old stomping grounds on the Chesapeake Bay, they were most often marked with relatively-small floats, some round, some cylindrical, some "bullet" shaped. The commercial crabbers most often painted theirs in a color(s) and pattern unique to them, and they normally had their license number on them. Up there, the crab pots are not very large, and are tethered to the float by smaller diameter rope - 1/4" to 3/8".

My worst experience with them was the day I was trading in my first boat. Enroute to the dealership, I caught a poorly-marked crab pot (extremely dirty float) around the prop. Having taken nearly everything off the old boat and not having a bathing suit aboard, I ended up having to go in the river in my skivvies and cut the line off with a very dull pocketknife. I completed the transfer to the new boat "commando style".

[Mal de Mer]

Over here it is ludicrous

Curious - where's "over here" ?

Up in my old stomping grounds on the Chesapeake Bay, they were most often marked with relatively-small floats, some round, some cylindrical, some "bullet" shaped. The commercial crabbers most often painted theirs in a color(s) and pattern unique to them, and they normally had their license number on them. Up there, the crab pots are not very large, and are tethered to the float by smaller diameter rope - 1/4" to 3/8".

My worst experience with them was the day I was trading in my first boat. Enroute to the dealership, I caught a poorly-marked crab pot (extremely dirty float) around the prop. Having taken nearly everything off the old boat and not having a bathing suit aboard, I ended up having to go in the river in my skivvies and cut the line off with a very dull pocketknife. I completed the transfer to the new boat "commando style".

Most fisherman use colored marker bouys using colored ring or dot pattern combinations...but after a while, they all start looking the same.....what's wrong with just putting your name on it?

[Ludicrous]

What's the normal way for people to mark their crab/lobster pots in the US?

Over here it is ludicrous

I just put a wine bottle cork on my crab pot lines.

Edited August 7, 2010 by Ludicrous

[Boz]

Most fisherman use colored marker bouys using colored ring or dot pattern combinations...but after a while, they all start looking the same.....what's wrong with just putting your name on it?

I couldn't tell you what the regulations are elsewhere, but in Maryland the State Department of Natural Resources requires the license number, printed in letters at least 2" high.

[Sandy]

I can't imagine someone using 1" warp on their crab pot line . Are you sure that wasn't an emergency marker over a stuck anchor someone had planned to return to retrieve?

[Mal de Mer]

I couldn't tell you what the regulations are elsewhere, but in Maryland the State Department of Natural Resources requires the license number, printed in letters at least 2" high.

now that makes total sense.....most I see up in new england are color markers ....very little in terms of numerical code or names

[captbud4222]

From the looks of his screen name I'd guess he's in some other Nordic country. The water is probably much deeper and the current stronger than here, plus who knows what kind of a pot it is, can you sat Dungeoness crab pot a la Deadliest Catch!