If you're having trouble with Crab

[SkyDriver]

I've seen it all over the internet, and I too had issues early on while trying to figure out how to make any money with it.

Things you can try, which increases pots.

1. Crab pots should not be placed any closer than 200 meters from one another. If you're placing them too close together, you're dramatically reducing your catch. I drop all my pots between 250 and 500 meters apart, and typically catch between 2,000-4,000lbs, each pot. If you place 5 pots along a 500 meter stretch, you should expect to get between 100-400 lbs per pot. Just 1 pot in that whole are will net you much more crab.

**this also gives you time to reach the next pot at full throttle while your crew is busy sorting crab. As soon as they pick up the pot, step on the gas and head for the next one. They should finish just before you get there.

2. Relax your trigger finger. A lot of people like to drop their pots and lines as soon as they see a corresponding fish or crab. No no no. If you're sonar is set to 100m, and the depth is 120(M), you want to drop your pot when the crab is just passing the (M) in the depth reading. If you see that spec of orange signifying a crab and you drop immediately, you dropped too early. Your pot isn't directly over the sonar. It's further back on your boat. Give it a couple seconds.

3. Trying to find the best spot. One thing I see in a lot of videos is people think the amount of crab you'll catch is correlated to how densely populated the area is with crab icons. This is not necessarily true. If you're dropping pots the way you should be (every 250-500meters) then it doesn't matter if you passed 20 crab while waiting to reach that distance from your last pot. All you need is a crab 250-500 meters from your last pot. 1 crab all by itself is fine for hauling in a couple thousand pounds of crab, if you dropped your pot right.

4. Crab getting away. From what I've gathered, crab seem to move faster than anything with an engine in this game. Meaning, if you passed some crab while out fishing and marked their location to come back to later, your'e likely not going to find anything when you get back. The best ways to find crab are picking up very recent tips at the bar, or finding an AI Crab Boat, and following it. The AI knows where the crab is. You can get those tips before their boat even made it back to port to hit the bar.

5. If the area you're crabbing is still populated as you're picking up your ready pots, you can instantly re-bait the pot you picked up and emptied, and drop it on another nearby crab icon. If you have a crew member working the crane, just switch the pot status from "stack pot" to "prepare pot", and have another crew member in the 'bait and set pot' slot to instantly start rebaiting the pot as soon as it's been dumped on the sorting table. Just be careful not to put new pots down too close to other pots, or you'll incur the penalty for having pots too close together. When you've learned how time your pot setting with retrieval times, this is a great way to keep a loop going without any or much downtime of having to wait on pots.

I'll update this if/when I learn anything new that might benefit newer players. The biggest thing to take away from crabbing in 'Fishing North Atlantic', is that you're not doing it for the money. There are many better ways of making money in this game. If you're crabbing, it's because you find it fun and it's more interactive than some other forms of fishing in this game. Those are the only reasons you should be crabbing, because if you're doing it for the money, you're going to be disappointed.

[SkyDriver]

Originally posted by Number9ark:

we all already know this , this is old news search function works great .

You should check Youtube. There are lots of videos on all these subjects. They obviously need you around to make sure only 1 person makes a guide, instead of multiple people.

[UrNxT]

Originally posted by Armadaus:

I've seen it all over the internet, and I too had issues early on while trying to figure out how to make any money with it.

Things you can try, which increases pots.

1. Crab pots should not be placed any closer than 200 meters from one another. If you're placing them too close together, you're dramatically reducing your catch. I drop all my pots between 250 and 500 meters apart, and typically catch between 2,000-4,000lbs, each pot. If you place 5 pots along a 500 meter stretch, you should expect to get between 100-400 lbs per pot. Just 1 pot in that whole are will net you much more crab.

**this also gives you time to reach the next pot at full throttle while your crew is busy sorting crab. As soon as they pick up the pot, step on the gas and head for the next one. They should finish just before you get there.

2. Relax your trigger finger. A lot of people like to drop their pots and lines as soon as they see a corresponding fish or crab. No no no. If you're sonar is set to 100m, and the depth is 120(M), you want to drop your pot when the crab is just passing the (M) in the depth reading. If you see that spec of orange signifying a crab and you drop immediately, you dropped too early. Your pot isn't directly over the sonar. It's further back on your boat. Give it a couple seconds.

3. Trying to find the best spot. One thing I see in a lot of videos is people think the amount of crab you'll catch is correlated to how densely populated the area is with crab icons. This is not necessarily true. If you're dropping pots the way you should be (every 250-500meters) then it doesn't matter if you passed 20 crab while waiting to reach that distance from your last pot. All you need is a crab 250-500 meters from your last pot. 1 crab all by itself is fine for hauling in a couple thousand pounds of crab, if you dropped your pot right.

4. Crab getting away. From what I've gathered, crab seem to move faster than anything with an engine in this game. Meaning, if you passed some crab while out fishing and marked their location to come back to later, your'e likely not going to find anything when you get back. The best ways to find crab are picking up very recent tips at the bar, or finding an AI Crab Boat, and following it. The AI knows where the crab is. You can get those tips before their boat even made it back to port to hit the bar.

5. If the area you're crabbing is still populated as you're picking up your ready pots, you can instantly re-bait the pot you picked up and emptied, and drop it on another nearby crab icon. If you have a crew member working the crane, just switch the pot status from "stack pot" to "prepare pot", and have another crew member in the 'bait and set pot' slot to instantly start rebaiting the pot as soon as it's been dumped on the sorting table. Just be careful not to put new pots down too close to other pots, or you'll incur the penalty for having pots too close together. When you've learned how time your pot setting with retrieval times, this is a great way to keep a loop going without any or much downtime of having to wait on pots.

I'll update this if/when I learn anything new that might benefit newer players. The biggest thing to take away from crabbing in 'Fishing North Atlantic', is that you're not doing it for the money. There are many better ways of making money in this game. If you're crabbing, it's because you find it fun and it's more interactive than some other forms of fishing in this game. Those are the only reasons you should be crabbing, because if you're doing it for the money, you're going to be disappointed.

Unlike the other post thank you for taking the time to post this information. I am sure this information in on the internet, just you have posted it on steam and all in one area for people to read. I will try this, I found many things i have been doing wrong I did not understand the mechanics of the area the pot covers and where the location of the sonar vs the pot drop thank you again for this information.

[Possum]

Nevermind that other guy. I appreciate the info in your post. I'm only in the first October in-game, so I've been focusing on swordfish and tuna for the money. I do want to try crab and lobster next because the mechanics seem interesting.

[SkyDriver]

Originally posted by Possum:

Nevermind that other guy. I appreciate the info in your post. I'm only in the first October in-game, so I've been focusing on swordfish and tuna for the money. I do want to try crab and lobster next because the mechanics seem interesting.

There's more work involved in lobster and crab fishing, which will keep you engage more. Both in the process of fishing for both types, as well as the need to drop a few rounds of pots in order to fill your boat. I wish it was more indepth, but it's not. The only thing I suggest you keep in mind while fishing for lobster or crab is do it for the entertainment. The money for time ratio is horrendous, but they're much more engaging and fun imo. I also have youtube or an internet radio playing in the background while fishing to help from getting board. My step dad was a pipe fitter off season, and worked on crab boats when we lived in Seattle growing up. All I remember of it was he'd be gone for weeks, and then come home with a cardboard box big enough to make a fort out of, filled with 200lbs of King crab for the freezer. His last year on the Silent Lady fishing vessel, they had to rescue the crew of another crab boat that capsized. We moved the next year, and the year after that the Silent Lady went down and all 5 crew members perished. My mother convinced him to move and find a different line of work, thank God. I'll stick to crab fishing this way.

[rickmcdole]

I usually shoot for 300 lbs./pot, and sometimes get up to 400 lbs. I usually drop 10 pot strings as well.

[SkyDriver]

Originally posted by Number9ark:

Originally posted by Armadaus:

There's more work involved in lobster and crab fishing, which will keep you engage more. Both in the process of fishing for both types, as well as the need to drop a few rounds of pots in order to fill your boat. I wish it was more indepth, but it's not. The only thing I suggest you keep in mind while fishing for lobster or crab is do it for the entertainment. The money for time ratio is horrendous, but they're much more engaging and fun imo. I also have youtube or an internet radio playing in the background while fishing to help from getting board. My step dad was a pipe fitter off season, and worked on crab boats when we lived in Seattle growing up. All I remember of it was he'd be gone for weeks, and then come home with a cardboard box big enough to make a fort out of, filled with 200lbs of King crab for the freezer. His last year on the Silent Lady fishing vessel, they had to rescue the crew of another crab boat that capsized. We moved the next year, and the year after that the Silent Lady went down and all 5 crew members perished. My mother convinced him to move and find a different line of work, thank God. I'll stick to crab fishing this way.

I would ignore everything this "player" has to say advice wise with fishing north Atlantic . because I make bank with lobster using knots landing . they are not hard to find the pots come in fat . lobster are nothing like crabbing two completely different fishing tactics . I drop 10 pot strings I have many times average 1k lb per pot had many pots with 3-4k lb ea . So don't take advice from someone that has just watched youtube videos . listen to all of the longer time players who have figured it out who do not live by the video to hold their hands . just my 2 cents .

Don't forget to give yourself an award for your comment.

[roguepossum]

man i cant even find any crabs. i was in sept and wanted to try crab so fast forward to mid nov. find a 3 day old tip and nothing in a 5 nm radius. waited until dec and found two more 3 day old tips and same thing. im searching in front behind and anything within 2nm and nothing but fish two months into crab season

[BOOM-noHAX]

Originally posted by roguepossum:

man i cant even find any crabs. i was in sept and wanted to try crab so fast forward to mid nov. find a 3 day old tip and nothing in a 5 nm radius. waited until dec and found two more 3 day old tips and same thing. im searching in front behind and anything within 2nm and nothing but fish two months into crab season

I am having the same problem. I cant find crab anywhere.

[DU$T]

Originally posted by SkyDriver:

I've seen it all over the internet, and I too had issues early on while trying to figure out how to make any money with it.

Things you can try, which increases pots.

1. Crab pots should not be placed any closer than 200 meters from one another. If you're placing them too close together, you're dramatically reducing your catch. I drop all my pots between 250 and 500 meters apart, and typically catch between 2,000-4,000lbs, each pot. If you place 5 pots along a 500 meter stretch, you should expect to get between 100-400 lbs per pot. Just 1 pot in that whole are will net you much more crab.

**this also gives you time to reach the next pot at full throttle while your crew is busy sorting crab. As soon as they pick up the pot, step on the gas and head for the next one. They should finish just before you get there.

2. Relax your trigger finger. A lot of people like to drop their pots and lines as soon as they see a corresponding fish or crab. No no no. If you're sonar is set to 100m, and the depth is 120(M), you want to drop your pot when the crab is just passing the (M) in the depth reading. If you see that spec of orange signifying a crab and you drop immediately, you dropped too early. Your pot isn't directly over the sonar. It's further back on your boat. Give it a couple seconds.

3. Trying to find the best spot. One thing I see in a lot of videos is people think the amount of crab you'll catch is correlated to how densely populated the area is with crab icons. This is not necessarily true. If you're dropping pots the way you should be (every 250-500meters) then it doesn't matter if you passed 20 crab while waiting to reach that distance from your last pot. All you need is a crab 250-500 meters from your last pot. 1 crab all by itself is fine for hauling in a couple thousand pounds of crab, if you dropped your pot right.

4. Crab getting away. From what I've gathered, crab seem to move faster than anything with an engine in this game. Meaning, if you passed some crab while out fishing and marked their location to come back to later, your'e likely not going to find anything when you get back. The best ways to find crab are picking up very recent tips at the bar, or finding an AI Crab Boat, and following it. The AI knows where the crab is. You can get those tips before their boat even made it back to port to hit the bar.

5. If the area you're crabbing is still populated as you're picking up your ready pots, you can instantly re-bait the pot you picked up and emptied, and drop it on another nearby crab icon. If you have a crew member working the crane, just switch the pot status from "stack pot" to "prepare pot", and have another crew member in the 'bait and set pot' slot to instantly start rebaiting the pot as soon as it's been dumped on the sorting table. Just be careful not to put new pots down too close to other pots, or you'll incur the penalty for having pots too close together. When you've learned how time your pot setting with retrieval times, this is a great way to keep a loop going without any or much downtime of having to wait on pots.

I'll update this if/when I learn anything new that might benefit newer players. The biggest thing to take away from crabbing in 'Fishing North Atlantic', is that you're not doing it for the money. There are many better ways of making money in this game. If you're crabbing, it's because you find it fun and it's more interactive than some other forms of fishing in this game. Those are the only reasons you should be crabbing, because if you're doing it for the money, you're going to be disappointed.

I know it's an old post mate , but I'd like more specific info on the sonar vs when to drop the pot !! I never understood where is the exact (under the boat) real graphic position , if I see a crab going by , is the crab right under my boat when the crab is at center of the sonar graph ? Or at the left of the graph @ the (M) position of the real time depth? Thanks man for that post you took time to explain its appreciated 👍
Chris