A Beginner's Guide to Crabbing from a Harbour Wall

Why the Harbour Wall Beats a Day Indoors

Crabbing is the cheapest, simplest seaside activity there is. You need no booking, no licence for a hand line, and no particular skill, just a stretch of harbour wall with a couple of feet of clear water at the base. Almost every British harbour, from Padstow to Whitby to Oban, has a quay or stone ledge where green shore crabs gather in numbers, and they will take a bit of bait at nearly any state of the tide.

It suits everyone from a four-year-old with a bucket to a grandparent with a flask. You learn something real about the creatures living under the boats, you spend two hours in the fresh air, and everything you catch goes back exactly where it came from.

The Kit, Which Costs Very Little

You can buy a purpose-made crabbing line for a few pounds, or assemble your own. What matters is that the bait sits on or just above the seabed, where the crabs are.

• A line or a drop net. A crabbing line is simply strong cotton or nylon with a small weight and a clip or loop for bait. A drop net is a mesh bag on a weighted ring, lowered on a rope; it is easier for small children to manage and much harder for a crab to escape from.
• Bait. Bacon rind is the classic because it stays on the hook and smells. Raw fish heads, a bit of mackerel, squid or a chicken wing all work. The smellier the better.
• A bucket. One with a handle, for carrying a little seawater and a handful of wet seaweed.
• A small weight. A large nut or a split shot is enough to take the bait down.
• Something to cut and tie with. A spare length of line and a pair of scissors will save the day.

Skip the fancy tackle. A drop net, a line, a bucket and a bag of bacon will catch you as many crabs as anything in the shop window.

Baiting Up So the Crabs Find It

Tie your bait firmly so a crab cannot simply tug it free. Bacon rind threaded through itself twice is ideal; fish heads should be lashed on with a couple of turns of line. Leave a tail of bait dangling free, because a moving, smelly scrap is what gets attention.

Lower the bait until it rests on the bottom or hangs a few centimetres above it. If you are using a drop net, lay the bait in the middle of the mesh, lower the net flat to the seabed, and let it settle. Choose a spot near weed, a mooring chain or a shadowed corner of the wall rather than open water, as crabs like cover.

Reading the Line and Lifting Your Catch

Wait quietly and keep the line between your fingers. A crab will tap and tug, and the line may go briefly slack as it takes hold. Resist the urge to strike like a fisherman. Lift slowly and steadily, taking up the slack as you go, and keep the bait in the water until you can see the crab clinging on.

Then bring it up in one smooth movement and hold it over your bucket. A crab that drops off halfway down the wall is a crab you never see. With a drop net, the technique is the opposite: let it sit for a few minutes, then pull it up briskly and evenly, keeping the ring level so nothing tips out.

Handling Crabs Without Harm to Either of You

Pick a crab up by the back edges of its shell, from behind, so the claws point away from your fingers. Never lift one by a claw or a leg; they snap off, and the crab suffers for it. Shore crabs are mostly bluff, but velvet swimming crabs have paddle-shaped back legs and a genuine nip, so treat every crab with the same respect.

Wet your hands before you touch one, and keep the handling brief. Put it straight into your bucket, which should hold a couple of centimetres of cool seawater and some wet seaweed to hide under. Keep the bucket in the shade, never in direct sun, and swap the water every twenty minutes or so. If you have caught several, it is kinder to return them than to keep them in a bucket all afternoon.

Returning Your Catch and Knowing the Local Rules

Release your crabs gently at the waterline. Tip the bucket so they can walk out into shallow water, or lower them by hand to just above the surface and let go. Dropping them from the top of the wall may kill them.

A few rules are worth knowing. Some harbours restrict crabbing from particular pontoons or during maintenance work, so ask at the harbour office if you are unsure. Any female crab carrying a sponge of eggs under her tail, known as a berried hen, must go straight back. If you ever intend to keep crabs to eat, minimum sizes apply and differ by species, so check the current rules for your area before you do.

For a beginner's day out, catch and release is the simplest, kindest approach. Wear shoes with grip, as wet harbour stone grows slick algae, keep children back from the edge, and watch for boats, mooring ropes and ropes that move. Then bait up, wait, and let the crabs come to you.