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LBI Crabbing & Fishing??

9supratt4

9supratt4

Hey all....

I'm headed to LBI for a few days next weekend. I was thinking about renting a boat to do some crabbing and fishing in the bay. Anyone have any recommendations on locations in the bay for the best crabbing and fishing?

I'd also be interested in hearing about spots that I don't need a boat for. :)

Thanks!
 
MatteZ

MatteZ

9supratt4 said:
Hey all....

I'm headed to LBI for a few days next weekend. I was thinking about renting a boat to do some crabbing and fishing in the bay. Anyone have any recommendations on locations in the bay for the best crabbing and fishing?

I'd also be interested in hearing about spots that I don't need a boat for. :)


behind Fantasy Island we were catching tons of Fluke the other day. I'll be down there the 15th-22nd
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9supratt4

9supratt4

Nice! I'll be down the 14-16. I assume you mean in the bay behind fantasy island by boat?
 
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Hawkeye

Hawkeye

crabbing - your plans are to try by land? i've never seen anyone do well via land unless its a "spot" that no one knows about lol. Your best bet would be to rent a boat, use traps baited with chicken and bunker and hit them as high tide is coming in around 5 to 8 feet of water.

You'll have to test it out as I really haven't heard a lot on LBI.


btw - if you're just going for the fun of it - then handling with a dipnet is a lot of fun. If you're seeking a bushel, you'll need traps and some luck.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

Hawkeye said:
crabbing - your plans are to try by land? i've never seen anyone do well via land unless its a "spot" that no one knows about lol. Your best bet would be to rent a boat, use traps baited with chicken and bunker and hit them as high tide is coming in around 5 to 8 feet of water.

You'll have to test it out as I really haven't heard a lot on LBI.


btw - if you're just going for the fun of it - then handling with a dipnet is a lot of fun. If you're seeking a bushel, you'll need traps and some luck.
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As a kid....my father used to take me to a fishing pier in lavalette and we used to fill a bushel from the pier.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

MatteZ said:
Yup in the bay. If you want we can meet up. Maybe test the salinity of the ocean
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Absolutely! If low we can call IO to add some salt. I was looking at a few of the places there that rent boats. Was looking at Causeway boat rentals....know anything about them?
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

9supratt4 said:
As a kid....my father used to take me to a fishing pier in lavalette and we used to fill a bushel from the pier.
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yeah...hate to say this but the development along the shore compounded with over fishing have resulted in a lot less bushels to be had. I have never heard of anyone catching a bushel via pier, that doesn't mean it's impossible, just highly unlikely. At least not legal size.

I've never rented from causeway - but you never know.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

Well....rented a tiller from Causeway Boat Rentals. Spent 8 hours out there. Caught 10 crab and not even a nibble from a fish. Definitely did not get my $200 worth of ren5al5fees and bait back in seafood :(
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Steve, I had a good chuckle!


Had a friend who had a 32 foot boat in the Highlands....so no rental fees. HOWEVER, after about 100 gallons of gas and $30 - $35 in bait, and getting skunked.....and now having to stop off at the Belford Seafood Coop because I had told the wife we'd be eating fresh fish that night......your $200 sounds about right.


Now here's the sad part......we'd want to do it again next weekend.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

9supratt4 said:
Well....rented a tiller from Causeway Boat Rentals. Spent 8 hours out there. Caught 10 crab and not even a nibble from a fish. Definitely did not get my $200 worth of ren5al5fees and bait back in seafood :(
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sorry man. Nice weather I hope on the water?
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

redfishbluefish said:
Steve, I had a good chuckle!


Had a friend who had a 32 foot boat in the Highlands....so no rental fees. HOWEVER, after about 100 gallons of gas and $30 - $35 in bait, and getting skunked.....and now having to stop off at the Belford Seafood Coop because I had told the wife we'd be eating fresh fish that night......your $200 sounds about right.


Now here's the sad part......we'd want to do it again next weekend.
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Paul....that's not sad....I would do it every weekend as well if I could! I really want to buy a small center console that I can use in the bays as well as get out in the ocean, but that is on hold until we buy a house (same reason my tank is still on hold lol), which may be happening very soon!

If I did have a boat....I'd be out there every chance I had!

Hawkeye said:
sorry man. Nice weather I hope on the water?
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Weather was phenomenal all weekend!! Unlike back home where it was 10-15 degrees hotter!
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Funny to see this thread. The wife and I just went crabbing yesterday with my Mom, brother, and his family. We were no where near LBI, in fact, we were on the other side of NJ at a place called Matt's Landing.

My brother said he had a "spot" that was great for crabbing, so we followed him there. We normally go find a low bridge around Mays Landing area, where you can just drop your traps straight down and if you're lucky the water is clear enough to see the crabs enter your trap. But this new "spot" involved driving down a dirt/stone road to a parking area. We unloaded everything and set up along a shell filled beach (mostly large clam shells) with some marshy shore lines. There was also a small wooded area that provided some decent shade on our backs. I have to admit, the location was a better visual experience and much safer than the typical busy road/bridge scene we were used to. He brought his 2 yr old daughter and 3-month old baby, so he wanted to go somewhere a bit safer than a bridge with cars passing every few minutes.

Unfortunately, we caught about 45 crabs, but only about 9-10 of them were keepers. I think the smaller ones we kept throwing back just kept running back to our traps to continue their free meal. :(

We spent about 5 1/2 hours there with several different types of traps and a few hand lines with a net combo. It was fun, but I prefer it when you actually come home with some crabs to eat, LOL. As we were packing up to go home, I told my brother his spot sucks, lol.

My best experience crabbing was when we used to go camping down in Cape Charles, VA at Cherry Stone Campground. We used to go out on the docks at night time as the tide was changing. All we had to do was shine a flash light into the water and the crabs would swim up to the surface to see what it was. Then we scooped them up in a net and into the cooler they went. We got a few dozen large keepers in about a half hour of work! :encouragement:

Anyway, glad to see I'm not the only one that loves to go crabbing.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Land based crabbing is hit or miss, so hitting 45 and keeping 9 aint bad. The only time i've done well on land was in the Chesapeake near the Assateague state park. it was early morning where you could see the trap (less than 2 feet) and by the time tide came in, the crabbing was much better. We went home with 2 dozen good sized jimmies. In MD the min size is 5".

Anyways I like to use handlines as there is more of a "battle" so to speak. My kids and i always joke that we may not have caught many crab, but we definitely caught chicken...lol.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

9supratt4 said:
If I did have a boat....I'd be out there every chance I had!
Weather was phenomenal all weekend!! Unlike back home where it was 10-15 degrees hotter!
Click to expand...

yeah tell me about it. i would love to have a skiff to just hit the water every day. I'm going to go out next week on a boat around patcong/somers. I will let you know how we do.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Hawkeye said:
Land based crabbing is hit or miss, so hitting 45 and keeping 9 aint bad. The only time i've done well on land was in the Chesapeake near the Assateague state park. it was early morning where you could see the trap (less than 2 feet) and by the time tide came in, the crabbing was much better. We went home with 2 dozen good sized jimmies. In MD the min size is 5".

Anyways I like to use handlines as there is more of a "battle" so to speak. My kids and i always joke that we may not have caught many crab, but we definitely caught chicken...lol.
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Haha, yea we caught lots of chicken too! And I prefer the sport of the hand lines too. We used hand lines with net, 2-door box traps, triangle traps (look like a pyramid with 4 triangular sides instead of a normal box shape) and we also had a few that were sort of like a mesh net with different sized metal rings (they lay flat, but as you pull the string, it opens up like a basket). So 4 methods in all.

Oh, and I think I spent about 2 full hours of my crabbing time fixing broken strings and stuck trap doors, lol. I swore when I left that next time I'm going to make my own traps and leave those junkers at home. :mad:
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
1384545816219.jpgHey guys. I have a nice boat any of yous can borrow any time yous want. You can trailer it anywhere you want. I haven't had the chance to use it at all this year, been too busy with work. You's can even do a group thing and if it's close to me, I'll put it in the water for you.
 
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