Simple Crab Lines for Children at the Harbour

Why the Harbour Wall Beats the Open Beach

Rock pools are lovely, but they ask a child to be patient with a net and a great deal of luck. A harbour wall is different. The stonework is thick with weed, the water is deep enough to hold a proper colony of shore crabs, and the drop is a straight line from your hand to the bottom. You do not need to wade, you do not need to scramble, and you do not need to be quiet. A bucket, a line and a rasher of bacon will do it.

The other advantage is the audience. Harbours are working places, and there is nearly always something to watch — a dinghy being bailed out, a fisher coiling rope, a gull working out whether your bait is worth the risk. Children who have been fishing for twenty minutes and caught nothing are still happy at a harbour, which is more than can be said for most other places.

The Kit Fits in One Bucket

Keep it simple. Everything below fits in a single bucket, and the whole lot costs less than a round of ice creams.

• A hand line. Ten to fifteen metres of strong but thin line — 6lb to 10lb breaking strain is plenty. Wind it round a piece of card or a plastic line winder so it does not tangle in your bag.
• A weight. A small lead weight, a heavy nut, or a stack of washers. Something between the size of a pea and a marble. Too heavy and you will snag on the weed every drop.
• Bait. Bacon rind is the classic, and the salt and fat hold it on the line. Raw squid, a strip of mackerel or a bit of chicken skin all work too. Tie it on with a couple of half hitches rather than threading it onto a hook.
• A bucket. Half-filled with seawater and kept in the shade. A small one is kinder than a big one.
• A towel and some hand gel. Crabs are mucky and children are muckier.

You can add a small hook if you like, but for young children a hook-free line is safer and catches just as many crabs. They cling to the bait rather than swallowing it, and you simply lift them off.

Bait, Knots and the Slow Drop

The technique is the whole trick. Lower the bait slowly until it rests on the bottom, or just above it — do not splash it in. Crabs are cautious, and a heavy plop sends them scuttling under the weed for a full minute.

Let it sit. Count to thirty. Then lift the line a hand's width and let it settle again. The bait smells, the crabs come, and the line will suddenly go tight or twitchy. Do not strike as though you are catching a trout. Just lift steadily and keep the line taut. A crab gripping bacon will hold on for the first metre or so, which is more than enough to swing it up onto the stone.

If you are getting nothing, move two metres along the wall. Crabs cluster, and a good spot is usually a patch of shadow where the wall meets a slipway, a ladder or a pile of mooring chain.

Pick Your Slot With the Tide

Crab lines work best on a rising tide. Crabs move in with the water, feeding over ground that has been dry. The first two hours of the flood are usually the most productive; once the harbour is full and the water is still, the sport drops away sharply.

Check a tide table before you go — every harbour in the UK has one, and the local chandlery or café will usually know the times if you have forgotten. A spring tide moves faster and brings more with it, but it also means the wall gets covered sooner, so watch the water marks on the stone and shuffle your bucket up the steps when it reaches them.

Handling Crabs Without Tears

Shore crabs nip, but it is rarely more than a sharp pinch. Teach children to pick them up from the back of the shell, thumb and finger over the top, rather than grabbing from the front where the claws are. A crab held this way cannot reach round to nip.

Keep them in the bucket for a few minutes of looking, not hours. Seawater in a bucket heats up and loses oxygen quickly, particularly in sun. Change the water if you are keeping them for a while, and put the bucket in the shade with something over the top.

Put everything back where it came from. If you find a crab with eggs under its tail — a berried hen — return it immediately. Check local rules on size if you intend to keep any for the pot, though for most families the pleasure is entirely in the catching.

Safety, and Getting Them Home Tired

Harbour walls are slippery, often unrailed, and usually have deep water right at the edge. A life jacket or buoyancy aid for every child is not optional, whatever the weather. An adult should be within arm's reach, and the adult should be the one standing nearest the edge.

Watch for the tide creeping up the wall behind you, and for wet green weed on steps, which is more treacherous than ice. Take a phone, tell someone where you are going, and leave before anyone gets cold and cross.

Go home with the bucket of seawater poured back into the harbour, a line wound neatly for next time, and two children who have learned that the best afternoons cost almost nothing at all.