Why Orange Bullets?

Two weeks ago the water temperature was bumping up around 49 F, and after the snow last week, 46 F. However, during the week, John Keener, whose office at the Charleston Crab House looks out over our traps, reported that several dolphins had been diving around one of our pots.  They were most likely feeding on blue crabs attracted to our pig's feet bait.  'Blues' are running now.  So, I have decided to rig and set another four prospect pots in areas known to be havens for stone crab.  With the sun out, and the days growing longer, the water temperature will rise steadily, and we want to be on the first stone crab.


Josiah wrote earlier about the different types of crab traps, and I wanted to say something about the buoys.  There are basically three types of buoys; round, football, and bullet.  We are using orange bullet buoys.  Orange, because they are easy to spot on the water (not to mention that we are Clemson Tiger fans). And, bullet buoys because they ride higher in the water under strong current. The rounded pointed end faces into the current while the full cylinder rear lends greater buoyancy to stick up and out of the water.  Each buoy must be marked with the crabber's commercial license identification number.  Our number is A93.

On each rig I have tied a 'looped figure eight knot' so that we could attach the SCDNR's research tag.  The tag lets other commercial crabbers, on whom we may accidentally encroach, the general 'crab loving public', as well as SCDNR Wildlife Law Enforcement Officers that these traps are slated for research.

Will the SCDNR tag with the big, official, glaring, "DO NOT DISTURB" proclamation keep us out of trouble?  Not a snowball's chance!