One of the perils of recreational crabbing here in the Puget Sound WA is exposing yourself and your crabbing gear to potential thievery.
Okay, so maybe it’s not quite as perilous as the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” but it certainly is extremely annoying and frustrating!
We went out onto Hood Canal last Saturday afternoon to retrieve our crab pots, only to find 3 out of the 4 missing. The remaining pot had been picked clean.
There are instances (usually during the weekdays) when we don’t have a lot of time, and simply drop off our crab pots, leaving them out overnight. On the weekends, when we’re not in as much of a hurry, we’ll catch some rays, or tool over to Pleasant Harbor, while we wait for our pots to fill up.
Occasionally, it is entirely possible to set your pots too close to a steep underwater shelf, and have the current drag them into deeper water. But we dropped ours out at the peak of high tide, and left more than enough excess rope to compensate for any variables. It’s also highly unlikely that 3 pots, set at varying depths, would all strangely disappear, or that the 4th pot would be empty.
So, to you low-life crab pot crooks, I offer the following message:
Each of my crab pot buoys are marked with my name and phone number - Rich Jacobson (360) 440-4758. If you feel it necessary to pull up our pots and pilfer our crab, then at least leave the crab pots intact where you find them. We’ve always been very generous with the bounty of our catch and we don’t mind sharing some with you. But having to replace our gear is a huge pain and gets rather costly.
May the Creator of Crabbing Karma repay you for your dastardly deeds of Dungeness deprivation.
~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ o ~
Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com and SOUNDBITEBLOG, CrabbingInTheHood, or e-mail: kitsapagent@gmail.com
This makes me sad, Im sorry to hear this Rich. What a bummer!
Ouch - I hope you find your gear.
Hey, Josh!...eh, it happens. But like they say, the worst day on Hood Canal is better than most days doing something else!...
Hi Rich... I am a big believer in karma, whether it comes to crabbing, blogging or life in general. I hope the crabs attacked the thieves!
Hey, my family and I were out in your neighborhood this weekend! My kids dug up some clams, and we found a bounty of blackberries, but no sightings of stray crabpots....
HA! How many crab pot thieves do you believe are following you on ActiveRain. Did you leave your AR blog address on the label on your pots. Ah Ha!!
Rich, bummer.
It's a shame that some low life people have such poor moral values. I hope karma catches up with them.
My the big crab hammer come out of the sky and ruin their feast. There is nothing better in summer than sitting around the table with family and picking crabs.
It is enough to make even the easiest going person get a little ' Crabby ' !
Some years ago I knew of a fellow on the Oregon Coast who watched through his telescope people who set out there nets an left them for hours on end. He then would go out and pilfer the crabs sometimes more than once if the catching was good.
I never knew him to take the traps though.
Rich~ it is a shame that people can't be a bit more courteous, sorry to hear about that.
A POX on all "low-life crab pot crooks"! man that is really low and I have always enjoyed reading about your crabbing adventures! You should post some recipes too! I do LIKE your attitude and it's the same with me, even on bad days playing in Austin is just about as good as it can get! Other than this nonsense, I hope all is well in your part of the world!
Hello Rich, sorry to hear of the thievery of your essential gear. Wonder if the Lo-Jack folks have an application that would help you out for the future deployments? John
Remember when Kramer brought lobster for all the guests on Seinfeld? Then they found out he poached them? Isn't it against the law up there to poach? I hope someone brings your pots back, that is a shame. Good luck, Rich!
Sooooooo funny.....I really love the photo. Seriously though. I used to trap and it made me so mad that the equipment that I purchased was taken. It'd be nice to see someone somehow get caught in one of them.
Rich - you are an amazing writer! From title to subject you hold your audience in the palm of your hand. Now if you could just do the same for your crab pots you'd be doing great! Seriously - good luck with the pots. Lee being from Maine, feels your pain...
Let's go rough up some people... Ok, instead of that, let's go hang out on the water and chillax...
Rich - I thought Pot was supposed to make you not crabby..... :-)
Sorry to hear about your lost crabs.. I know how much you love them... bummer....
Rich,
It's too bad that something as sublime as crabbing gets affected by these morons. There seems to be always someone who has to ruin a good thing.
They didn't have a pot to shishi in :) :)
Deadliest Catch is my favorite show! This is awful!!
Maybe they'll call you when they want to sell their house....;)