ough
weather has kept all but the
biggest commercial crabbers
in port today, Friday
11-20. The weather buoys
were reporting winds of 25
to 30 knots over a double
digit swell today. That's
the bad news... The good
news is we are going to see
steadily improving weather
the next few days. The best
window of opportunity to
have all you can eat crab
for Thanksgiving is this
Sunday to Wednesday time
period. The forecast calls
for light winds of 5 to 15
knots and swells of 6 to 8
feet. Private boaters are
still reporting easy limits
of mostly smallish crabs
from all ports and party
boats have room. For Golden
Gate anglers the Emeryville
Sport Center is offering
crab and dab trips daily.
Out of Bodega Bay the Miss
Anita is scheduled to be out
of the boat yard this week
after a months long
repowering and will be
running straight crab trips
while the New Sea Angler
will be running squid trips.
Out of Half Moon Bay the
Hulicat is running crab
trips while the Huck Finn
Center switches over to the
winter focus of whale
watching and wildlife
viewing trips.
POINT REYES TO PIGEON
POINT TO 10 NM-
639 PM PST FRI NOV 20 2009
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR
ROUGH BAR IN EFFECT THROUGH
SATURDAY AFTERNOON...
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN
EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS
EVENING
TONIGHT NW WINDS 15 TO 25
KT...DECREASING TO 10 TO 20
KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. W
SWELL 8 TO 10 FT AT 13
SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND A SLIGHT CHANCE OF
EVENING THUNDERSTORMS.
SAT NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W
SWELL 8 TO 10 FT AT 13
SECONDS.
SAT NIGHT NW WINDS 5 TO 15
KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W
SWELL 7 TO 9 FT AT 13
SECONDS.
SUN S WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WIND
WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL
7 TO 9 FT. A SLIGHT CHANCE
OF SHOWERS.
MON NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT.
WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. NW
SWELL 5 TO 7 FT.
TUE NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT.
WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W
SWELL 6 TO 8 FT.
WED N WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WIND
WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6
TO 8 FT.
Sport
crabbers are finding easy
limits of small grade crabs.
Due to the just under legal
commercial size of the bulk
of the catch we expect sport
catches to remain strong all
season. Private boater
Justin Brewster, reported
pulling 4 pots on Saturday
off of Muir Beach in 85 to
105 feet of water for a pair
of limits after only a
75-minute soak. Once the
pots were left over night,
they realized an average of
25 crab per pot on Sunday
11-15 morning. Warren
Howe of Bay Tackle in El
Cerrito said he went out
with the owner, George Lu,
over the weekend and pulled
6 pots for 70 crab in 80
feet of water off of the
Marin coast after only a
one-hour soak on the first
pots. Emeryville Sport
Fishing hasn't had a crab
trip out since Sunday but
has also been reporting easy
limits. They are planning
crab/sand dab combination
trips throughout the week
depending upon interest and
weather conditions. Retail
crab prices are running at
$6 to $8 per pound. Factor
in a fun filled day on the
water plus six crabs (party
boat limit) and a some sand
dabs to boot it beats going
to the local store for your
crab fix. For info and
reservations 510 654-6040
The
seas have laid down and
private and party boats are
reporting good crab counts
pretty much everywhere from
Half Moon Bay to Bodega Bay.
This is going to be quite a
season for sport anglers and
it looks like easy limits of
crabs will be available
through next spring. The
reason is the small size of
the crabs. Most of the crabs
are sport legal (5.3/4") but
only a few are the minimum
(6.1/4"" commercial size. I
got out to pull 9 pots on
Wednesday 11-11 morning
north of Bodega Bay off
Carmet. We had just enough
crabs to get our 4 limits
and threw back another 30
plus that were just short or
barely legal size. Out of
the 40 crabs kept there were
none over 6 3/4" and fewer
than two in ten were
commercial size. With this
huge biomass of small crabs
the commercial fleet is
going to struggle this
season and sport anglers
will get to load up. Come
November 2010 the commercial
fleet will be well rewarded
but this season will be
usually kind to sport
anglers through next Spring.
The New Seeker out of
Emeryville went on a
crab/sand dab combination
trip on Monday 11-9
that ended up being
basically a crab trip with
21 limits of crab and a
solitary sand dab fishing 15
to 20 miles outside the
Gate. The remnants of the
big swell affected the
ability to fish for the sand
dabs. They have another
combination trip scheduled
on Friday and with calmer
seas the dab fishing should
improve. Private boaters are
reported easy limit of
smaller legal crab in 100 to
180 feet of water from the
outer edges of the North Bar
and on out to N buoy.
Warren Howe at Bay Tackle
said Captain Bryan Chan was
in the shop, and he reported
easy limits of crab outside
the Gate and some decent
halibut action in the bay on
the New Easy Rider out of
Berkeley. Howe added that
private boaters have
reported limits after only a
three-hour soak.
Dungeness
Crab Season Opens on
November 7th.
The 2009 sport Dungeness
crab season opens state wide
on November 7th. Previously
the waters north of Pt Arena
opened to sport crabbing on
the last Saturday of
November. The Cal Fish and
Game Commission decided it
would improve sport
opportunity and be less
confusing to have a uniform
opening state wide.
This fishery has attracted a
huge following among
saltwater anglers. With the
rockfish season now closed
north of Pigeon Point party
boats will be making both
"crab and dab" trips out of
the Golden Gate. Anglers can
expect to catch 25, 50 or
more sand dabs to go with
the party boat limit of six
crabs. Most other
ports do not have the sand
dab fishery and far fewer
party boats are offering
trips this season.
2008 was a low of the crab
cycle and we will start to
see a rebound in the numbers
this year. Last season many
sport anglers saw catches of
just 2 to 4 crabs per pot.
Some did better and others
fared far worse. This season
it looks like we are going
to see an explosion of
smaller sport size crabs (5
3/4 to 6 1/4) but larger
crabs will be fewer in
number. Commercial boats
won't likely see a huge
increase in their catch but
they will do better this
season compared to last
year's "bust". There is a
huge biomass of smaller
crabs and I expect that next
season (2010) is going to be
excellent for sport and
commercial alike.
Top bet for Golden Gate
anglers lie along the edge
of the North Bar in 12 to 15
fathoms or if you don't mind
traveling the waters around
N buoy and south Drakes Bay
in 15 to 30 fathoms are also
top producing areas. To the
south the sandy bottom from
Mussel Rock to Pacifica is
another good area but
usually best in the Spring
time when the crabs migrate
into shallower waters.
Navigating the hazardous
bars outside the Gate is for
experienced anglers only and
when the swell is up a far
safer bet is to book a trip
on one of the many party
boats that offer trips.
Crabbing is expensive but
even with the cost of
gear and gear lose, fuel and
bait it is much more
satisfying to catch your
own. If you don't want to
invest a couple of grand in
gear jumping on a party boat
is less expensive and a
great way to spend a day on
the water. Out of the Golden
Gate Emeryville Sportfishing
is offering crab and sand
dab trips daily beginning
next Saturday. 510 654-6040.
This
is your last chance to stock
up on white meat and also
put some carcasses in the
freezer for the upcoming
Dungeness crab season. Party
boats are reporting solid
fish per rod to limits of
lings on top of limits of
rockfish out at the Islands
the past few weeks. The
Captain Hook out of
Emeryville went up the Marin
coast on Sunday 10-25
for 280 rockfish and 10
lings to 10-pounds for 31
passengers. Yesterday's
trips to the Farallons and
the Marin coast and in the
bay by the New Seeker, New
Salmon Queen, New Huck Finn,
Captain Hook and C Gull II
produced limits of rockfish
with 712 rockfish, 5 lings
to 12-pounds, 5 halibut to
12-pounds and a five-pound
striper.
Sheryl Jimno at the Rusty
Hook in Pacifica said things
have been a bit slow in the
area with most fishermen
eagerly anticipating the
opening of Dungeness crab
season. There have been
numerous red and rock crab
taken off of the pier with
good scouting reports of
Dungeness crab. Hopefully,
these crab are making it
back into the ocean from the
nets. There are a few
anglers fishing for
stripers, but overall action
has slowed. We will post our
annual crab forecast this
coming weekend.
Upcoming Events:
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organizations that
benefit anglers and
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Contact us at
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information on our
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Party boat contacts:
The Emeryville
Sportfishing Center is
currently booking potluck
and sturgeon
trips. They have a great
promotion that when you take
six trips your "lucky"
seventh trip is free. This
is good on any of their
boats. Reservations can be
made at 510 654-6040.
The California Dawn / Berkeley 510
773-5511
Great Links
Fishermen, check out
DF&Gs easy-to-use
California Ocean Sport
Fishing Regulations Map.
Simply click the marine
location where you plan to
fish, and you will access a
list of Sport Fishing
Regulations for that area.
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on top of the action check
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