Whats the best way to use crab traps at port a, going next weekend and would appreciate some tips is the time of year right? Type of bait?, Type of traps? Locations?

Good to the boat dock's. They are $2.50to $3.50 a pound. The big shrimp is much better.

two ring drop nets+ chicken legs+a few hours= many crabs(the kind you want even:))

Just drop em off a dock or bridge.....might have to look around some first but hey.

There's the Show Palace out in Corpus, but if those aren't the kind of crabs you want boat ramps and the King Docks off the ferry rd between aransas pass and port A are good for crabbing and have more than ample bulkhead space

TXaggie08 describes the best method

Go to Shorty's on Wed. night and find a fat chick. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

go to port A, head south till you cross the border, see "Gold Tooth" . a la Crabs !

If you are like me- I always like detailed instructions. This may be more information than you need, but I'll tell ya what I know:

There are 2 ways I like to catch them. One is by using hoop nets and the other is by throwing a string with a chicken part tied to it into the water. (The 3rd way people catch them is with the black mesh cages you seen sold at Academy, but I usually don't use that method cause it can take some time for it to fill up.)

1. For hoop nets: You can buy a string hoop net for around $1.50 at Academy. I usually buy about 5 or so depending on how many folks are going with me. (Of course gotta have a saltwater stamp) Tie a chicken part (usually a neck or drum stick, whatever is cheap) with string into the middle of the hoop. With another piece of string tie the hoop net to a stick or directly to the pier. After a few minutes pull it up and see what you have.

2. Old School Method: Tie a chicken part to a long piece of string and throw it into the water. Check it by tugging on the string. Slowly pull the string in and before the chicken is lifted out of the water - scoop up the crab with a dip net.

I like to crab off piers or rock structures, but you can also catch them in the surf. Crabbing seems to be better when it is warm, but you can catch them anytime of the year. I like to go at the lowest point of the tide and when the tide begins to come in so do the crabs. The fist few hours of an incoming tide seem to be the most productive for me.

Let me know if you need additional info and good luck.

To me traps were always to much work and to much trouble. I simply used some good twine and chicken necks or wings and a good dip net.

Run say 5-8 lines tied off to the dock with enough twine to reach the bottom. If there is a current you might need a one or two ounce weight too.

About every five minutes check your lines if you feel a crab slowly pull the line up and dip net him. They are greedy and hold on long enough to net. Just go deep below them and bring the net up.

One real important tip. Tie your dip net with a piece of twine so the crab only goes about half as deep as if the net were not tied. In other words reduce the capacity of the net by about 50%. That way the crab won't go all the way to the bottom and be hard to dump into a cooler.

It will also give you a "handle" to grab and shake the crab out of the net with so you don't get pinched.

On any given day you can easily fill a large cooler with this method. I can have a dozen crabs caught before most guys can deploy two or three traps and I don't have to drag heavy traps nor pay for or maintain them,

Oh another way I used to get em that was real easy. I grew up in Florida and used to go out to Jacksonville beach at low tide. I would go down to the pier and walk the pylons. Small pools would form around many of them at low tide. Walking slowly many of them would have a blue crab or two hiding in the soft wet sand.

You would see the back flipper legs just barely sticking out. Shoving the net into the sand from behind the crab and quickly lifting it would catch them. Often you could get two per pylon.

It has been many years since I did that but often we would just go pick up three to four dozen just by walking the pier at low tide and scooping them up,

if you want to use a tramp, excuse me trap, you can use chicken parts. most traps have a special compartment to put the chicken in. I try to use chicken that has the skin on, I think it releases more oils, scent to attract crabs. You can place the traps practically anywhere. Best are around rocks or grass beds. When you use a trap, make sure it is properly marked. Depending on when you want to start, you can check about every 4-6 hours, then leave over night, and check early in the morning. I like to keep them away from the people traffic, so that no one messes with them. The cheapest and easiest is to go with a drop net,and bring a cooler. If you have kids, they will have fun and you can become superdad. If you need to, you can pick up the crabs by squeezing the to rear flat legs together near the base of the shell, this seems to paralyze the crab