There are other ways to tell a 

 peeler, such as nicking the hinged side 

 of a crab's claw to check the develop- 

 ment of the soft crab inside. But 

 overuse of this method can increase 

 mortality, says Wescott. 



Ideally, soft crabbers should 

 harvest only those peelers that will 

 shed in five days or less. White-lines 

 require extra attention and sometimes 

 feeding. Holding crabs two weeks or 

 longer usually results in 70 to 80 

 percent mortality, says Wescott. 



"You should shoot for never 

 holding a crab longer than three 

 days," he says. Shedders should aim 

 to emulate natural shedding mortality, 



Ideally, soft crabbers 

 should harvest only those 

 peelers that will shed in 

 live days or less. 



which in the wild is between 8 and 10 

 percent, he says. 



Peelers are usually caught in 

 special crab pots — those wire cages 

 that allow crabs to enter through a 

 funnel-like hole on either end and 

 from which they can't crawl out. The 

 pots are lowered to the bottom and 

 attached by a rope to floats on the 

 water's surface. 



Peeler pots have a smaller mesh 

 size than standard crab pots, and most 

 don't have bait wells. Besides the 

 sexual hunger that attracts female 

 crabs to jimmies, Wescott explains, 

 not much is appetizing to a pre-molt 

 crab. "Their teeth are soft, their heart 

 is soft, their lungs are soft — they 

 can't eat right before they shed," he 

 says. 



Wescott speculates that the pot 



Penny Hooper and J.R. keep an eye 

 on the peelers. 



itself is inviting to a peeler seeking 

 shelter for its molt. These first few 

 walk-ins entice others. "Crabs like to 

 congregate," says Wescott. "You get 

 one or two in there, and they'll stop 

 and visit." 



As Penny Hooper keeps an eye on 

 the peelers, her husband and their 

 assistant Brad Woodward, "Mr. B," 

 prepare the boat for an afternoon of 

 checking some 300 peeler pots. 

 Before leaving, they place several foil- 

 wrapped sandwiches on the engine 

 manifold — a hot supper for an 

 evening break on the water. They 

 motor through Middens Creek, 



stopping to pull pots as they head 

 toward Core Sound. 



Mark, who fishes for hard crabs in 

 the fall and winter, trawls for peelers 

 as well as bare potting and jimmie 

 potting. 



Early in the season, high tide is a 

 good time to trawl near creek edges, 

 where peelers seek shelter in clumps 

 of grasses. 



Peeler harvesting methods and 

 fishing locations vary. A good 

 working knowledge of migratory and 

 mating habits is an asset to the serious 

 soft crabber. 



"Any time you find populations of 

 mature males, you'd find immature 



10 MAY/JUNE 1992 



