How to Make Crab Snares

A crab snare is a simple trap designed to catch small blue crabs or shore crabs. A snare does not need to be a complicated device. As a general rule, the simpler the snare, the easier to deploy. Unlike the deep-water crab pots, a snare is set on the beach in the sand, usually during low tide, with the hope of trapping several small crabs as the tide comes in.

Things You'll Need

  • Small hand shovel
  • Tide table
  • No. 5 plastic bucket
  • Marine cord
  • Tent stake or ground stake
  • Mallet
  • Bait (cat food, chicken necks or rotten chicken parts)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Tie a piece of marine rope or cord to the handle of a No. 5 bucket. Make the rope long enough to set and drive into the ground up shore from where the trap is set.

    • 2

      Find several small stones along the beach and place them in the bottom of the bucket.

    • 3

      Consult a local tide chart for the times low tide. At low tide, walk to a point between the marks made by high and low tides on the beach and dig a hole just barely big enough and deep enough for the bucket to fit into it.

    • 4

      Place the bucket in the hole and walk up shore with the rope and tie the end to a stake. Hammer the stake into the ground far above the high tide line. This prevents accidental washing away of the bucket snare.

    • 5

      Add the bait to the center of the bucket and leave as the tide comes in. After the tide goes out, check the snare for crabs. Due to the slick plastic walls, the crabs fall in during the tide but cannot get out.