# Chesapeake Crabs



## leadslinger (May 12, 2002)

I feel the need to share this info. with those members who like crabbing. The little park at Great Neck Locks off Battlefield Blvd, has been producing coolers full of jimmie and JUMBO male crabs. I had read that the big males gravitate towards brackish water, it must be true because they are there. I have seen bream captured and have caught brown catfish caught there, both make superior bait for the jumbos in a trap. Hand lining to me has really been the way to go. Even the female that I have caught there are big and without sponges. the area is small but still there are spots that reward you and some where you get a lot of dinks.


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## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

I believe you mean the Great Bridge Lockes. And if you are going to catch anything out of this water, I would highly advise not eating a lot of it. That water is very polluted and you are only supposed to eat small portions every now and then.
:redface:


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## red_fish (Jul 22, 2007)

I have lived here my whole life and have eaten bushels and bushels of crabs out of there and am still alive almost every fish\crab\sea critter probally passes through or vistits that area sometime in there life. Also the striper fishing in there can be pretty good in the fall legal limit is four fish any size


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## dafishguy (Apr 13, 2006)

*Great Bridge Locks------*

It sounds like there are crabs there, I would like to get a hold of some them. I have studied the reports from this area and others and there is no problem with the crabs. I have worked in the seafood industry in our Hampton Roads for a while and I love my crabs!!!!


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## sand flea (Oct 24, 1999)

I used to crab there as a kid. It was actually illegal to crab there in the 1980's due to kepone spills, but it seems to have cleared up.

I'd eat 'em up. Not nearly as nasty as eating crabs out of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, which I've seen people do. :--|


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## Advisor (Jan 12, 2003)

*Re; Kepone*

Flea, My brother in law worked for the Virginia department that did the "scientific studies" about the Keypone scare. The actual findings were that a person would have had to eat seafood ,from the effected area, three meals a day for 5 years to get enough keypone in their system to have had any effect. Like many "studies" or "scientific findings" they tell only the information derived from the study, not the reality and it's true effect.
In the 1940's and 50's, Ocean View and the whole bay was polluted far beyond what it is today from sewage, oil and garbage being dumped from ships and private industry. I saw it. I was there. These things have, for the most part, been stopped by legislation and strict Coast Guard enforcement. The bay and estuaries are cleaner than they have been in my lifetime. I have been eating Chesapeake Bay seafood of all kinds all my life and will continue doing so.
Algae blooms are a part of nature and come with the heat _AND_ it's reaction with some pollutants :but, there are also algae blooms in pristine waters where there are no pollutants. I have been told and do believe that some people try to start a scare or rumor in order to make fishermen reluctant to fish or crab and area, just so they can have it to themselves. JMHO


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## baitslingin (Jul 31, 2005)

well put


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

red_fish said:


> Also the striper fishing in there can be pretty good in the fall legal limit is four fish any size


Is this a misprint? 4 stripers any size? Got to be joking


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## baitslingin (Jul 31, 2005)

hengstthomas said:


> Is this a misprint? 4 stripers any size? Got to be joking



its a freshwater thing... u wouldnt understand


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## Baitshack (Aug 28, 2004)

*Eating crabs*

Most of the crabs around here ( Portsmouth ) come out of the Elizabeth river......Go figure.

Not the cleanest spot in the universe.


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

baitslingin said:


> its a freshwater thing... u wouldnt understand


Please enlighten me . I fish FW too and Stripers everywhere I know of are regulated with size limits and creels limits. We are talking about a gamefish here . Just doesnt seem right to me.


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## baitslingin (Jul 31, 2005)

do some research at the Virginia department of game and inland fisheries webpage.

i could link , but youll find with maybe some other info you could use.

your welcome, no problem


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## red_fish (Jul 22, 2007)

yes i think its called below the fall line or something but alot of the wardens dont even know it either have had them take our fish but no ticket go figure them fish went home with him for dinner always carry the book with the regs to show the wardens or they will bully you out of youre fish


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## Steve O (Nov 3, 2005)

I just visited http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/ and if I understand correctly the stripers in this area are not landlocked as defined by the regulation. 
Therefore you a have to abide by VMRC when fishing in these waters. Depending on where they draw the exact line the limit is still 18" and 2 per day.


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## Advisor (Jan 12, 2003)

The "exact line" is the bridge [under construction] at Great Bridge. On the side where the locks are is considered fresh water and you must have a FW license to fish it. The other side is salt water [go figure] and you must have a SW license to fish that. Just ask the F & G guys that give you the ticket when you are on the wrong side.


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## Cdog (Mar 18, 2002)

http://www.dgif.state.va.us/fishing/regulations/creelandlengthlimits.pdf

Unless you are fishing for landlocked stripers up around Stanton or Danville there is not a 4 fish limit. At least the way I read it...


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## Advisor (Jan 12, 2003)

WOW! Did I screw up!! I was wrong in saying the "Exact line" was the bridge and that the fresh water was on the 'locks' side. The line has been change to being the Locks them selves and the fresh water side is toward the bridge. Sorry for the goof. Put it up to "Old Man" confusion.


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## Suavea (Oct 9, 2002)

*Crab Trap?*

Can a person use a box crab trap in that area?


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## Advisor (Jan 12, 2003)

Suavea said:


> Can a person use a box crab trap in that area?



You can; but, you'll probably loose it. There's a bunch of junk on the bottom there. I'd recommend hand lines and a long handled net.


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## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

Advisor you had me straight scratchin my head confused...but you are right in that it is the locks side being salt


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