12th Ave bridge in Seaside crabbing

[mikeaaal]

Does anyone know how the crabbing is on the 12th Ave Bridge in Seaside? Thanks in advance....

 

[Socaaron]

Check the tides and how long it's been since it last rained on the coast range. If it's been raining the fresh water is going to push the crabs and other salties out of the tide water and crabbing will be poor at best. It can be good though if it's been a bit since it rained and the incoming tide. It's a ways off but I like to go there in the fall, you can toss your pots to soak and then walk down to the river and try for some fall nooks

 

[n8r1]

Does anyone know how the crabbing is on the 12th Ave Bridge in Seaside? Thanks in advance....

I had 3 pots soaking below the 12th Street Bridge from Friday afternoon until an hour ago, with nothing to show for it other than a few big females and a bunch of little ones. Nobody else on the bridge was having any luck either. It's still pretty slow.

 

[fishtales]

bummer deal. what kind of bait did you use? Back in the day, Seaside Safeway would sell left over fish scraps, but now days I'm pretty sure their fish is sent to them precut/packaged. Bell Buoy always has the frozen bags. Besides that I will use chicken, whole chicken, canned cat food or cans of tunna. Of all the baits, fresh fish scaps work best...heads, tails, or whats left from fillets.

 

[n8r1]

I was just using chicken thighs.

Bell Buoy does sell salmon carcasses and heads for pretty cheap, like $3.00 for enough to bait 2-3 traps. Since it was so slow, I didn't bother going there.

We have a place in Seaside and I keep a variety of crab bait there. Usually a good supply of chicken as well as the carcasses of any fish I've caught, and any old meat that has gone bad in the freezer.

The best bait I've ever used was a flounder that I caught (while salmon fishing) and some mackerel that a guy on the bridge gave me. The mackerel was disgusting--the guy had intentionally let it rot so it stunk really badly, but it caught a lot of crab.

 

[mikeaaal]

So heading down to Seaside this morning. Any tips for crabbing off the bridge? Thanks in advance.

 

[Raincatcher]

Good luck to you, mikeaaal! Good to see you're back in Oregon, I missed seeing an announcement that you had returned. Thank you for your service to this country. :hi:

 

[n8r1]

So heading down to Seaside this morning. Any tips for crabbing off the bridge? Thanks in advance.

Incoming tide is best. There's two deeper channels that you can spot from the bridge that are the most productive. If you're facing toward the ocean, the first one is about 15 feet to the left of the garbage can. The 2nd is another 40 or so feet to the left of that.

If you have cheaper traps, ($20 Danielson Cages) you can leave them in overnight. People will steal the expensive ones though.

All bait works. There aren't any seals or sealions to steal your bait so fish carcasses are ok to use.

Get ready to crab next to 50 of your best crabbing friends. Combat crabbing at it's finest. But the crabbing should be pretty good.

 

[FishFinger]

With so many crabbers chucking pots off 12th street, I'm surprised you'd catch anything more than females and juveniles. When they are clearer from one pot and released, they simply move on to your neighbors soaking pot.

I have a buddy who's a local and he sets his pots a few hundred feet down from 12th, granted he does so from a john boat.

 

[n8r1]

We have a place that's only 1/2 block from the 12th street bridge. Granted there are a ton of pots out there, but I've caught several limits from that bridge with nothing more than the cheap Danielson cages. I just toss them in, leave them for 8-12 hours, and come back with them full. There are a surprising number of crabs in there for such a small estuary.

 

[mikeaaal]

So thinking about heading down in about an hour. Any suggestions for crabbing off the bridge today.