THE CRAB INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 495 
Crabbing grounds.—The larger portion of the catch is made in the 
Choptank, Tred Avon, Wicomico, St. Michaels, Chester, and Little 
Annemessex rivers, and Chesapeake Bay, on the eastern shore of the 
state, and in Mill Creek, a tributary of the Patuxent River, on the 
western shore. The crabs are taken in depths of water varying from 
2 feet in the rivers to 40 feet in the open waters of Chesapeake Bay. 
The average depth would be about 10 feet. They usually frequent 
muddy bottoms, but at certain seasons of the year they are found on 
hard bottoms, thus differing from soft crabs, which always seek grassy 
bottoms. 
Season.—At Crisfield the fishery for hard crabs is carried on from 
early in April until the latter part of November. In most other local- 
ities the season is considerably shorter. The larger portion of the 
catch is taken between June 1 and September 1, most of the fishermen 
discontinuing at the latter date to take up oyster tonging. By reason 
of this reduction in number the crabbers who continue during Sep- 
tember and October succeed in making fairly good catches. They are 
also aided by the cooler weather, which permits of the catch being 
kept in good condition for shipment until the following day. During 
the winter quite a number of hard crabs are taken incidentally in 
oyster dredges. There is very little sale for these, however, except 
at Crisfield, where one firm is engaged in picking crab meat during 
the entire year. This firm depends upon New York State for most of 
its supply of crabs during the winter. It is thought that the winter 
catch could be augmented should the demand become greater. 
Apparatus.—W ith the exception of the crabs already mentioned as 
being caught in oyster dredges and the few taken together with soft 
crabs, the entire hard-crab catch of the state is obtained with trot lines. 
These lines vary in length from 200 to 1,000 yards, the average being 
about 450 yards, and are of cotton, manila, or grass rope, the size run- 
ning from one-eighth to five-eighths of an inch in diameter, but usually 
being about one-fourth inch. Many fishermen tar their lines, though 
the practice is not universal. In some localities snoods about 18 
inches in length, of fine twine, are fastened to the main line at inter- 
vals of 3 to 4 feet, the bait being placed at the ends of these snoods. 
Other fishermen, however, use no snoods, but make a loop in the main 
line, through which the bait is slipped. The use of snoods is prefera- 
ble where the water is rough, as the crabs are not so easily shaken off 
by the strain on the line when pulling the boat along and when the 
line is being lifted from the water in removing the crabs. Many fish- 
ermen advise their use under all circumstances, as with snoods swing- 
ing from the main line the crabs are able to see the bait from any 
direction. Trot lines are always anchored on the bottom of a stream. 
For this purpose grapnels or killicks weighing from 5 to 10 pounds 
are used, one being placed at each end of the line, and in many eases 
