buckytom
Chef Extraordinaire
I remember one day walking down on the pier at work and there were some guys crabbing and their chicken necks were floating in the water. They had bought chicken necks from the meat case that were partially frozen and were trying to crab with them.
they were probably using a hand line.
it's as simple as putting a chunk of bait, in their case chicken necks, on a hook, or diaper pin, or even a large paper clip on the end of a thin rope. the crabs are so eager to chow down that they will hang on all the way to the surface. if they see you, they'll let go. but if you hide behind the gunnel, you can flip them into your boat, or onto the shore where you can catch them.
my wife is excellent at this. she carefully pulls them up, flips them into the boat, then runs around screaming until i grab them and put them in a bucket.
i use the same bait but in traps, and she outcrabs me with a hand line every time.
professional courtesy, i say...