It was a beautiful summer day in Kitsap county. As I drove my dad’s truck down the highway my mind drifted to the potential bounty of crabs that I was hopefully about to stumble upon in the north hood canal.

As I went through the mental checklists of gear in my head, a stream of four letter words entered my brain as I realized in horror that I had forgotten ALL of my bait at home.

I could see it clearly. My frozen fish carcasses and horse clams were sitting contentedly just outside the garage in an orange home depot bucket.

Well damn. As I hurriedly envisioned ways to resolve my screw up I saw something lying on the side of the road in the distance. As I drove closer to the lump, an idea formed in my mind and I pulled over.

I picked up a bloody carcass that hours prior had been a living breathing raccoon and threw it in the back of the pickup.

My logic seemed sound at the time, it was somewhat fresh, bloody, and smelly. Everything that crabs seemingly like.

I pulled up to the beach and got to work cutting the meat into pieces and hanging the chunks from the ceiling of the pot, unsure what would happen next. Then, I rowed out to the eelgrass beds just before the dropoff on the beach where a hotbed of cranky male dungeness were known to congregate.

After smothering some smelly jelly (the best stuff hands down) the roadkill was all ready to go and I dropped the two pots in and watched them slowly sink…

Returning the next day I couldn’t wait to see what happened. I brought my soggy bait bucket along for the ride just in case but I was hopeful about the results. And I was right.

The second I started hauling up the pots I could feel the weight. Anybody who has crabbed for a while knows exactly the feeling. And sure enough I limited out each pot I pulled up. That day I had at least 12 keepers in TWO pots. The really painful time is throwing perfectly good crabs back in because you have more than the limit of five, brutal.

I don’t believe I have repeated my experiment as of late. Mostly because I always make sure to have plenty of good bait but also because I just haven’t been back in the habit of picking up roadkill. But for the intrigued crabber, it is definitely something worth trying.

That’s all for now folks! Here’s to heavy pots and calm seas… – Spencer