Half Moon Bay Fishing Report and Whale Watching

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.