
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.
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.
Talking with a commercial
friend who took advantage of
the sport season to check
out the local grounds said
they had 40 crabs per pot
out in 50 fathoms off Pt
Reyes with just 2 to 4
commercial size crabs per
pot. 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.
Out of Half Moon Bay private
boaters are reporting a
slightly better grade of
crabs. There are lots of
sport size crabs here but
there are a few private
boaters reporting some large
and jumbo crabs in their
gear. Most are fishing off
the Radar and down along
Martins beach in as little
as 60 and out to 200 feet.
From the early reports
deeper seems to better when
it comes to grade. The Huck
Finn Sporting Center will be
running their last rockfish
trips of the season this
week. The season south of
Pigeon Point closes on
November 15th at sunset. The
rockfishing trips will be on
the New Gravy and the Que
Sera Sera has both rockfish
or combo trips available.
650 726-7133
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 due to the
rockfish closure.
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.
Where to fish your pots is
not as simple as picking a
spot out in the ocean,
tossing your gear and
retrieving a limit. You want
your gear on sandy or muddy
bottom, not near reefs. Toss
your gear in close to a
rocky shoreline and you're
going to catch rock crabs.
Don't fish your gear in less
than 70 feet of water if you
are fishing in unprotected
waters overnight. Gear
fished in tight will "tack"
or sink when the swell is
up, much like your feet in
the surf.
Pots fished in the deeper
waters tend to drift less
and fish better when the
weather is tough. In fact
crabs feed best during big
weather as it churns up the
bottom and exposes food
sources. Always use fresh
natural bait. My favorite is
to use squid inside a bait
jar and then a mackerel or
rockfish carcass hanging
bait on the hook above. Cat
food, road kill or last
year’s halibut fillet you
found in the bottom of the
freezer wont cut it. Pull
your pots no more than twice
a day as takes time for the
crabs to find their way in.
You will find lots of crabs and gear just outside the Pillar Point but the
crabs here get mopped up
quickly and thievery is a
problem. You will be better
off fishing the sandy bottom
off of Martin’s Beach to the
inside edge of S buoy in 100
to 225 feet. If you are day
fishing and able to keep an
eye on your gear the outer
harbor does produce good
numbers for the first few
weeks of the season. Pier
anglers do well using crab
snatchers off the outer
jetty or when the swell is
low the Pacifica pier can be
very productive in high
production years.
Ethics: While most anglers
are honest.... when it comes
to crabbing there is just
something about a buoy
sitting in the open ocean
that some can't resist.
"I'll re-bait the pot and
more crabs will go in" or
"look how many pots this guy
has..... he won't miss a few
crabs" are some of the more
arcane excuses sport anglers
use when they are stealing
another's catch. No matter
the excuse it's just plain
wrong to ever touch another
angler's gear.
If you catch someone pulling your gear get their CF number and call Fish
and Game and give them a
description of the boat and
operator and file a
complaint. Don't resort to
violence. One of the
easiest ways to spot a
poacher is right at the
launch ramp. It's the boat
that has no bait or pots on
board and the last person
jumping on has a case of
beer on their shoulder.
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
and a fun way to spend a day
on the water with family and
friends.
Due to a computer crash I
have lost many of my photos.
If readers want to share a
few shots of their crabbing
adventures email them me at
fishsite@aol.com
Git off U'r Butt!
We
here at USAFishing
strongly support fishery
conservation,
unfortunately we can't
say the same of most
California "sport" anglers. We
are at a crossroads and
unless anglers support
conservation groups
(that our currently
waging a losing battle
against the multi-million $
water lobby) we will
lose every key fishery
that is connected to the
delta. If you think that
these "water issues"
won't affect your
favorite fishery you are
likely wrong. The
effects will be
widespread and include
the continued closure of
California and Oregon
saltwater salmon
fisheries.
The state water projects
are being consolidated
and the governor is
looking to toss
the only Bay-Delta
protections we have and
ship water from Shasta
and Oroville directly to
LA swimming pools and
subsidized cotton
farmers in Westland's.
If these water projects
go through you can kiss
goodbye (as in forever)
what is left of our
salmon runs, and our
striper and sturgeon
fisheries will continue
to decline. We don't
have an ocean salmon
season this year or last
because of too much
water being pumped from
the delta. If these
water projects get
passed we will have none
in the future. At no
time in the past has it
been so critical that
anglers understand
these issues and support
the work that the
California Sportfishing
Protection Alliance
is doing.
Bottom line..... It's
time to get off your
butt and support the
CSPA or in a few short
years there will be NO
salmon, striper and
sturgeon fisheries and
they won't ever recover.
No group has done more
over the past two
decades to protect
fisheries than CSPA. In
the past two months
USAFishing readers have
raised nearly $10,000
for
CSPA but much much more
is needed. Please visit
their website and learn
more about all the great
work they are doing.
Become part of the
solution and support the
California Sportfishing
Protection Alliance
today!
Mike Aughney
The Huck Finn Center is
taking reservations for
rockfish throughout the
summer months and
LIVE BAIT rockfishing
trips and tuna trips on
their five owner
operated boats. Please call the
Huck Finn Sportfishing
Center for reservations
at 650 726-7133
Upcoming Events:
USAFishing supports the many
fishery and wildlife
organizations that
benefit anglers and
hunters throughout
Northern California.
Does your organization
have an upcoming event?
Contact us at
fishsite@aol.com and
we will gladly post your
group's
information on our
reports pages.
California Waterfowl 2009
Dinners and Youth Events
Calendar
Party Boat Contacts:
The
Huck
Finn Sportfishing Center
is taking reservations for
rockfish and ling trips
650 726-7133
New Captain Pete
Sportfishing
with captain Dennis
Baxter is now taking
reservations for
charters
(650) 726-6224
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.

Reports will resume when
salmon reopens in 2010

Reports resume in July of
2009 or when the longfins
return.
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