Come enjoy a morning with us catching Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs!

 

We will leave around 6:00 am and travel a few miles from the marina to area that has been productive for us.  We will crab anywhere  from 5' to 25' deep with an average depth of about 12'.  We will lay 1 to 2 1200' trotlines out depending on how well the crabs are running.

 

This is an illustration of what a trotline looks like once set in the water.

 

 

Each end of the line start out with heavy anchors or weights to hold the line in place,   The anchors are attached to a float on top of the water which are attached to a heavy piece of chain that pulls the line back down to the bottom.  We have baits about every 3' along the 1200' line.

 

Once the line is set we go to one end of it and start running it.  We put the line on a roller which is attached to the side of the boat and run slowly down the line.  You and your party get to take turns standing up and dipping the crabs as they come up the line.  The crabs hold onto the baits while they come up from the bottom. 

 

This type of crabbing can be done by all ages young or old which make this a great family, friend or coworker experience.

We see that trotlining for crabs is a very personal experience for people who have never done this before and we see a competitive side of people also.  With fishing everyone counts how many they caught and how big they are, with crabbing everyone gets to see the crabs you are dipping (OR MISSING).  You will be amazed how well someone's memory is of how many crabs their brother or sister or best buddy missed.  Yes, missing is a part of this which is probably what makes this such a personal experience.

 

Once we are done catching the crabs we give you your choice of us steaming them right on the boat and eating them out on the water or steaming them back in the marina and eating them on picnic tables behind the boat on the beach.

If you would rather take them home and steam them up with you own recipe that is fine too.

We also offer a fun day of catching crabs for 1/2 the trip and fishing for the other half.  Visit the Charters Page for details.

 

Come down and give us a chance to show you how much fun you can have crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay with NATURAL LIGHT CHARTERS. 

For information on Rates, go to our Charters Page.