Watch your crab pots on westside of Vashon Is

Caught an older Arima with older Evenrude outboards, stealing my crabs yesterday, Almost to them at ramming speed, and they dropped the pots and took off, Chased them almost to Gig Harbor, They where abit faster, and we had a youngone onboard. If you chose to steal someone's property, First you need to decide if the risk is greater then the reward. If I can catch you I can bet it will not be. Please come back for seconds, I am waiting

I have had my pots cleaned out several times this year.
What a bunch of losers.

I will be on the lookout for that POS.

I have a friend that sometimes leaves his pots for a over night soak and the pots were cleaned out more than 4 times and even stole a few of his bait containers (which were clipped on very good) before dropping the pots back in.

I was over on the Hood Canal. Same thing, not only did they check my pot, but moved it 30ft shallower and took the bait and disconected the trailing bouy.
I found it at this low tide. Luckily a friendly boat came over to say I was crabbing rather shallow?

No keeper crab or chinook for me today.

I have also had my pots pulled more than once this year. Pisses me off after all the time, effort, and costs to get out crabbing to get jacked by some dishonorable POS.

I stopped crabbing a couple of years ago when somebody stole my really nice stainless steel pots out of Port Townsend Bay. They were presents to me, worth a lot of money, and it made me sick to my stomach when it happened.

I can't deal with crabbing now. Just pisses me off that people are like that. I hear about it too much. Good luck to anyone who is taking on the scumbags head on. Life's too short for me to do something that makes me angry. Same reason I gave up golf!

Someone was stealing your golfs ball out on the course?

Haven't heard that one before.....

Come on man, just admit it that you shanked the T-shot off the fairway and out of bounds!

It was the part about doing something that made me angry. Golf was the frustrating game I EVER played.

SkyGuy and I had our pots picked...we left them at 9pm on Friday night, and on Saturday morning at 5am we were already too late...even the bait was gone in a couple of them. Two pots that weren't picked...keepers. Two pots that were picked...empty of crabs and bait.

Fish on...

Todd

Empty of turkey legs and bones here on the Canal. Took my trailing bouy off the pot near the mouth of the Skokomish.

Do you eat the worms too ?

I stopped using pots years ago. All that I use anymore are rings. 2 people, 4 rings. By the time the 4th ring is down its time to pull the first one. Never takes long to get limits.

That is where I'm going wrong. I drop pots on the way to troll for salmon. Return to the GPS spots to retain my gear.

Perhaps the scumbag will feed the crabs in the near future. His or her time will come...

Not trying to start anything here...but if you have any way of singling out this Arima it would help. I've been out off the claybanks before and it looked like an Arima commercial. It's kind of a neat site to see a local company with that kind of following.



Anyhow...there's some good people out there in Arima's...I'll bet the good ones could identify the perpetrator.

An Arima was a bit faster? What where you driving...lol

Hey, my Arima is fast. Faster than my friend's Livingston, at least.

I was making 24 the other day with 2 fat guys and my buddy Steve in my SeaChaser with a 50merc. On a good day (like yesterday) we were screaming across the sound at 26.9

How many of you guys who are getting your pots picked are using a zip tie on the door(s)? It's cheap and it makes it perfectly clear whether someone else opened your pot while you were away. More importantly, the doors sometimes accidentally pop open when the pot hits the bottom if they are not closed well--especially the cheap square Danielson pots which catch a lot of crab but don't stay shut great. I'm sure I'll get pilfered someday but I've crabbed for several years now and never pulled up a pot with a broken zip tie.

2nd time in 2 outings that Ive had pots stripped of bait and crab. Never happened until this year.... south of Muk launch. First time out had 6 of 8 pots raped, they were in overnight.

I was de crabbed at West Point 2 weeks ago. I here maritime law says you can legally shoot the bastards. Is this true?

I have had 2 pots taken this year and had my pots checked several times. At least someone re baited them the last time.
I am down to fishing 2 [Bleeeeep!] pots, and not worrying about em. I check them irregularly, and get more than enough crab. Just tough to plan on having enough for a group.

scumbags

I always drop my pots in 50 feet of water at low tide with a 50 foot rope. Only time it can be pulled is the next low tide.

Almost forgot...I always rig the bouy so the square end is down.....that way the kelp can move it to a new place for me.

Agree!

Check this site to see if there's a pic of the Arima:
http://arimaboatownersgroup.yuku.com/

I would be very curious to know how many people's pots have actually been raided, and how many pots were flat-out skunked.

I pulled my pots this afternoon, and got nothing other than a 4" red rock in my best pot. I was quick to blame a pick but I realized the pots were right where I dropped them.

They have produced since Friday, but maybe the crab just weren't there yesterday and today.

Crab do move around. I was told that a crab was found in a pot west of the entrance to Sequim Bay that had been tagged in Boundary Bay outside Blaine. I don't know if it's true but it's a good story.

I was a commercial crabber for a while out there. We used the zip ties all the time to verify someone raiding our pots. Get a pack at the hardware store and get it done. It is really easy to use them.

Get the large zip ties.....that way if you do catch a pot thief, you can zip tie his hands to your pot before you reset it.

Only reason I can see to strip the bait too is that you dont want any other crab wandering in the trap. Henceforth ergo, it must be an activist group.... probably the same outfit that Set-Free-The-Lobster lady belongs to...The Crustacean Nation. Theyre everywhere apparently and they are crazy nutwhacks.

And when someone runs over it as the tide is just coming up or dropping and wraps their prop, or trolls over it and snags it, it would be justice if they kept your poorly set pot. There is a reason for the floats to be visible and above the surface.

Crab CAN and WILL get out of pots that most folks think are escape proof. Once they tear through the bait, they have no reason to hang out. Crab thiefs seem to be at an all time high, but I've had a few overnight sets this season where they've cleaned me out on bait and been gone by the morning

Sucks when ya can't drop'em and go fishing or go site seeing.Boring as hell to sit and stare @ the bouy's before pulling'em.........Good luck,
SZ


PS, That sucks Matt..............

I was cleaned out on an over night soak as well and I had left a limit in the pots. They left the bait containers, opened, minus the chicken legs. Crab don't eat bones. Not that fast anyway. Can't prove it but my guess is a tribal member. Take our crab and make sure we don't catch any more by also taking the bait. Otherwise wouldn't it be more prudent to leave the bait so the owner would never know he'd been hit?

Rad! I like seeing people actually get popped. A slap on the wrist just make them break the law more.

If that Hummer had a boat trailer on it and was used to store over limit crab, it should have been seized along with the boat as it also fascilitated the crime. This isn't a case of a couple soft shell, or miscounting. These guys are intentionally stealing from everyone. Throw the book at em.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.404712216253061.95166.220381881352763&type=1

I hesitated to post on this topic but I have to use your claim and the claim of a co-worker as an example of "wanton rumor spreading". (Sort of like Wanton Waste of game.)

Short story, we use the exact GPS coords to set pots. Jim comes to work on Monday claiming the Indians stole his pot. bla bla bla...
Next week I go out there and there it is, right where we set it, empty, no crab, no bait, nothing but kelp.

Pots get robbed, but if you're going to start spreading rumors, at least have some facts. Nothing makes me more angry than people generalizing when they have no facts.

By the way, crab may not "eat" chicken bones, but I've pulled pots with crab still holding on to leg bones OUTSIDE the bait box. They are deft and strong creatures and will rob that bait box in short order.

They will also leave when there's no reason to hang around.

Regards,

Mike

Could have thrown some heavy stuff overboard to gain speed....??

Hey jackass...explain how crab opened the bait cages while you are at it. Why I bet while incarcerated the crab teamed up, dismantled everything, carted off all of the bones and then brought in a crew to put them all back together. These were clearly picked by a PERSON! Stop practicing wanton waste of brain cells. "I hesitated to post on this topic" you should have listened to your intuition instead of looking like an idiot. "Nothing makes me more angry than people generalizing when they have no facts" Oh yeah?

+1 and +1million braincells for stlheads post...how does a turkey leg bone get yarded through a baitbox that has a significantly smaller diameter opening.

I think Aunty mightve nailed it.... again. In any case, next outing Im hiring my 15 year old nephew to sit on shore with his buds for 6 hours. Camera and cell phone in hand. We will fish from 6a to 1130a and be within 10 minutes of said pot drop. I spend $50 for vigilance and maybe get $200 worth of crab.... and a misfire with the flare gun that lands in a 15' piece of sh!t Livingston.

I called it in to the White House. They were very interested. Seems they've been after an extremely smart crab called Dungy Bin Laden who's been crawling around organizing other crabs. They can't wait to hot water board him.

This is all good advice up to a point. Giving LE timely and complete information is beneficial for focusing surveillance. That additional LE presence may reduce the illegal activity in the original area but it takes citations and charges (in my opinion) to make the real point with these people. And it just seems that some of the county prosecutors simply do not perceive our concerns as worthy of their time and effort.

Last year there were two specific incidents that come to mind. The first involved a tribal commercial crabber who pulled pots owned by a non-tribal commercial crabber. The "resolution" by the Island County prosecutor was to defer to the tribal court system (an informational black hole). The other involved recreational pot(s) being fished by Todd which were observed being illegally pulled by others. So far I haven't heard of any formal action being taken on that incident.

I believe in Odd's case, the Prosecutor declined to PROSECUTE. And when I looked up her Party Affillation and how many $$$$$$$ were donated to her by the TRIBES, well you draw your own conclusion.

And in Todd's case I believe he had photos of the boat and crew doing the nasty deed. Again, given that information (evidence) one has to ask why not prosecute? Leads one to conclude either indifference or, as JohnQ suggests, a possible financial interest.

In any case this is certainly frustrating for those having their pots raided/stolen and probably also for the LE folks who hear our complaints.

We didn't have photos...and I'm not sure where the investigation came to an end, but I'm pretty sure it was at the tribal governance end, not at the Island Co. prosecutor end.

Richard would know as I was off to northern BC for a while when it was being handled and I didn't have much participation with it after the first couple of days.

Fish on...

Todd

I stand corrected; maybe the pics I was recalling were of the other incident. Bottom line from my perspective is that deferring to the tribal courts on crimes off reservation and involving non-tribal members is abdicating responsibility and authority to an entity which essentially has a closed door to non-tribal members.

I'm just wondering why it seems that everyone jumps to the conclusion it's the indians picking pots.

By the way, I've seen crab pull bones through the mesh. Strong little guys. I can't explain your situation, maybe you should provide some evidence.

Regards,

you assume it was mesh....any other questions?

stlhd said he thought the offender was tribal, and provided no reason for this speculation.

Maybe he's right, but sounds like baseless speculation to me.

I don't think fever displayed any reading comprehension problem.

It was my educated guess based upon past witnessed occurances so it isn't baseless. I use the same bait cages Hookedup posted except I have a clip so it clips shut and a much larger bungy to hold it in place. Is it possible that a crab figured out how to use his claws like apposable thumbs? Maybe but not likely and when it's both pots you are talking lottery winning odds. Like I said it was "my guess". My guess is it's someone who is cruising the shoreline near or after dark, has a pot puller and is cleaning all pots he can find as fast as he can and taking the bait means they have an axe to grind. This would lean towards a commie or tribal boat.

Fair enough

Perhaps not baseless, but not based on any evidence related to this occurrence, right?

I guess I'm just not a big fan of "X probably did it" type of accusations without any hard evidence.

Isn't there anyway you could leave some sort of surprise in the pots? You know, something that could possibly take a finger or at least get some sort of painful retribution? I'm serious but I'm not a crabber so I have no suggestions as to what it would be. This is just another episode about scum bag @ssholes that have no regard for anyone else. It's the same as leaving your car/truck at a trailhead, having your car/truck broken into at a boat launch. It feels like crime is holding good people hostage and I'm f*cking sick of it. I was in a Rite Aid store close to my house the other day. They told me cars were being broken into in broad daylight. It's a wide open area and it's the only store in that location. In other words they have big frickin balls. There has been a rash of home invasions in the Seattle/Tacoma area in the last few months and finally the homeowners are fighting back. How? By shooting the f*ckers! The prosecuting attorney for Tacoma gave a great opinion that you don't often hear from someone in that position. He said "There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't break into someone's home or you'll get shot." I applaud him. It’s a real shame that we have to think about what crime element we need to worry about relating to what activity we’re doing. I can remember in the 60’s leaving a car at the trailhead of a hike and not even thinking twice about it. Or leaving crab pots overnight or leaving your car at a boat launch. It was extremely rare to have any thefts. I fully intend to protect myself and my property by any means necessary. Unfortunately most of these crimes happen with no one is around.

This whole thread is great, but does not explain why my bouy was somehow missing as well as the bait from the pot at the sill of the Skok. near 47 21 744 ,123 07 927 ?

We know a tribal member was caught red handed. From now on if it happens I am going to assume it's the same unpunished tribal member. Maybe if enough of us do the same the tribe will be forced to take action when/if the next one is caught red handed. Being a black eye on the tribe and all. Have at it and prove me wrong.

we zip tie too. have been for a while, we still were suspected getting picked a few years back and did an experiment and you can still clean a pot through the crab doors.

we figured either that was happening or they were just re zip tie them... have not had a problem in the last 2 years though

All my crabs have to be taken through the entry doors, on the danielsons we bend the loop all the way around so it is no longer collapsable, And for me to lighten the load I would have had to throw the two passengers out. I stayed pretty close during the chase, And the next two pulls on subsequent days the pots were stuffed with big crabs. It was to close a call for them thieves, I don't think they would risk returning. Only my pots in this area, so they can't make it look like they are pulling thiers, I do hope to catch them on the water, So we can have a little chat about ethics........ Matthew

Lots of crabby people on here.

Busted for generalizing.... OK, not everyone blames the tribes.....

Yeah, that's exactly the kind of thing I find distasteful (and, frankly, un-American).

I've seen non-tribal members commit crimes. Does that mean I should presume all crimes are committed by non-tribal members?

You might be right. It might be that *one* tribal guy whose robbing pots from Edmonds to Olympia. But I don't know why you would assume that, and it's certainly no basis to think poorly of any particular tribe or tribal member (other than an individual you know did it) in general.

How do you know that you didn't drop your pots where there weren't any crab?

I can't believe you pig-swines drag me into this......

We too have had a few of our pots picked this year. First time in many years.

The giveaway was the location of the re drop. (My pots are weighted they do not move.).

I think I will add a laminated photo to my bouys.

Let me explain life to you. First, most people don't care what you find distateful. Second, if a tweaker is seen breaking into houses and another house get's broken into then 9 times out of 10 the home owner is going to say "it was probably that tweaker again". Of course here's where you chime in...."I find it distasteful that you would blame that poor tweaker without proof. Why that's just un-american." Third, you commit crimes and eventually you are even suspected of crimes you didn't commit. The police can explain that one to you. Nobody except you blamed an entire tribe and nobody but you is trying to make mountains out of mole hills. Get a life.

There he is! He's infiltrated the net!
Don't listen to him! I've heard he's very convincing.

you sir are a racist...

I once had a pot with all red rocks in it... I bet someone took all the dungies and left me with nothing but the reds...

I couldn't agree more! When the tribes commit crimes and they are criticized it’s racism to some and that’s total BS. If a group of people continuously displays a type of behavior they are bound to be stereo typed regardless of race. The tribes have displayed a hatred for white people and an attitude that they should have a first grab at anything and everything. That attitude is what drives them to do whatever they want feeling that it’s their right, including robbing crab pots. I could name enough examples to crash this web site! But I will save everyone the pain. So, although this crime may not have been committed by a tribal member it certainly isn’t a far stretch to consider that a possibility.

Stlhd,

Thank you for "explaining life" to me. I'll try to apply your advice immediately.

From now on, I'll just assume everyone who posts something stupid on the Internet is a sport fisherman. After all, I know of one sport fisherman who got caught red-handed doing it.

Sincerely,
MPM

P.S. I don't think we need to be jerks to each other, but it *is* the Internet, so I guess that's just how it goes.

I'll agree with that. Nor is it a stretch to consider the possibility that a non-tribal person did it.

I am VERY sure how and who were involved:

1. It was a tribal members and also a habitual violators of Pot Theft.
2. And from Odd's and other members on that boat, your description of said boat, occupants, and other descriptions, the Prosecutor Declined to do anything. And I did verify that campaign donations were received by the prosecutor from Tribes. This is one area that really pisses me off and that is if Tribes and the State "Consider" the Tribal a Soverign Nation, then way are they allowed to sully up our political waters, they are way too dirty in the first place. Kind of like having their Paid Off Political Cake and Eating It Too.
3. Based upon Odd's and other members present and the descriptions given, investigators did what investigators do, investigate. They did find the culprits, searched their premise, presented their findings/recommendation to prosecute, and a noteworthy note, seized a lot of pots that had Non-Tribal markings, i.e., Stolen Pots, and returned said to the owners.
4. The decision to NOT prosecute was based upon the the prosecutor's "Feelings" that the cops could not prove that the three tribal members involved "Actually" stole the pots (Odd's & Others), i.e., just maybe some low life Non-Tribal miscreant stole the pots and smuggled them onto the Tribal Members Property.

Now, Draw Conclusions if yah got'em

No one stole our pots...but we know exactly who stole our crabs

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. Keep yer shitferbrains "Odd" on the dark side.

We pull our pots every couple hrs or so to make sure we have no sea stars and to grab any legals. I leave the sub-legals in the pot until my last pull. We had 2 of our pots picked clean off Hat island 2 weeks ago. Pots we'd sent down with a bunch of sub-legals. Definitive proof of picking.

What I don't get. Why not pull the pot and either steal it outright or just eyeball for keepers and quickly drop it back down.

-S

They found Other Folks Stolen Pots at the miscreants abode, It's "odd" that you identify your brain pan content. and I think I still have "That Sssssssshush PM of yours around here someplace.

My guess is that pot raiders aren't exactly sticklers for size/limit regulations either.

Or sexual orientation. lol

Well if there are no crabs in the area then what happened to the bait?

[/quote]

How do you know that you didn't drop your pots where there weren't any crab? [/quote]

Seriously ?

easy for a door to stick open, especially if they are not weighted

Well it happened to me yesterday for tbe first time. I dropped my pots in the morning in an area where I have averaged over 18 legals per pot for the season. Crabbing has been that good. Took my nephew out so we dropped three pots so he could get 'The Deadliest Catch' experience. It was overkill on the pots but I had plenty of bait (horse clams, squid, herring, salmon and albacore) and he wanted the thrill of using tbe put puller. We dropped tbe three pots and when we were done I didn't like how close the first pot was to the second pot so we pulled the pot to reposition it. It had been soaking for maybe 10 minutes and already had two legals in the pot. We left the crab in the pot and dropped it it a better position so all three pots were in a line and at tbe same depth.

When we approached the pots later that afternoon I got a bad feeling. The pots were not in a straight line and there was two other pots dropped real close to mine, in a area I hardly ever see another pot and when I do there is plenty of distance between the sets. The first pot I pulled was the one that had had the two legals in the morning. I was expecting it to be stuffed. It had 4 keeper dungies and a half dozen red rock. Mind you I have been averaging over 18 legals per pot. The next pot had five legals but what really pissed me off was the clip for the cleanout door was unlatched. I know I latched it and it takes sone effort to undo it. Last pot same story. It too was unlatched and only held three legals. Yes we got our limits, but these pots should have been loaded and two were unlatched. I have my suspicions that it was the guy who dropped on top of my, but only a suspicion. Bottom line we got our crab but it really, really pisses me off that I was robbed for the first time. I guess it could be worst. Tbe could have taken my Mckays.

did you really get out run by an arima??

Dude. Fair point. I'm one of these schmucks that follow the rules and figure I might get checked. It never occurred to me that it may be jokers that are stealing & poaching outright. But I bet you are right. I'd always figured it was dirt bags that actually set out pots but then ran around pulling pots of other people.

I bet you are right.

-S

Outlaws are poachers.

Call 1-800-477-6224 with description and boat numbers if you can. It would be great to have video from the phone as well. I did some marine enforcement as a reserve deputy sheriff after my millitary service.