Tough 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.

After canceling Thursday's squid trip 10 miles offshore (you know it's rough when Rick turns back) the New Sea Angler got out for their first successful sea monster trip of the season on Saturday 11-14. It wasn't the normal group of hard core anglers looking to sink the boat. This group of 18 was a mix of first timers, families, kids and even a couple looking to load up on bait for their crabbing adventures. Rick said it was sloppy but the bulk of the group stayed at the rail. They got the squid up under the boat for about 2 hours to land 152 squid with a solid 30 to 35 pound average. They lost 5 anglers to the weather so an overall great score for an inexperienced group. Rick said it was blowing 20 knots with 10 foot seas and thinks they could have easily landed 300 if the weather had been more cooperative. Rick is taking a few days off and the next squid trip in next Sunday 11-22.
Crab counts are holding up well with everyone reporting limits of crabs except for a few working the outer bay. Best depths 70 + feet from Salmon Creek to the River but a few guys working the outer bay above Tomales are seeing some great counts of 6 to 12+ crab per pot for a 1 to 2 day soak. Pack your pots with lots of bait and use jars or nets as there are so many small crabs in the mix any hanging bait will disappear quickly.

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 with a few friends 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 and average size of six inches. Talking with a commercial friend who took advantage of the sport season to check out the local grounds he 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. The Miss Anita is on the waves but will be back on the water (after a full repowering) Thanksgiving week. Ed says they hope to have their gear in the water and make a few trips per day during the long Holiday weekend.
On the squid front the New Sea Angler canceled their squid trips this weekend due to the weather. Rick is planning Sea Monster trips this Thursday and Saturday. With squid bait running at .50 to a buck + a pound these trips are a great option to load up on some tasty table fare and save the heads and legs for something even tastier.

The crab season got under way on Saturday 11-7 with very swelly and marginal weather. Many anglers who had dropped pots off Carmet and the Russian river earlier in the week found the seas too big to face and wisely turned back and never pulled their gear. Those anglers who dropped gear Friday night and Saturday morning in the Outer Bay were rewarded with even better than (we) expected counts for the Outer Bay this season. Out of the handful of reports we received counts ranged from 5 to 12 crabs per pot for those working in 50 to 80 feet of water between the jaws and Tomales Bay. Despite the weather, thievery is already a problem with one friend reporting 4 of his pots pulled (all zip tied so he knew for sure) but managed to get three limits out of the 10 others. Another reader reported 48 crabs for 4 pots fishing in 50 feet off the Estero in what he said were some of the biggest seas he has ever fished in his little 18 foot boat (I'm guessing dinner was a higher priority than death but that is what having crab feed plans with your in-laws can do). The majority of crabs are sport size averaging 6 inches with only a few large crabs being reported in the mix. This is good news for sporties and with the lack of commercial size crabs sport anglers should see a long and prosperous season. The commercial fleet will do a bit better this year compared to last but next season they will finally have a pay day. This year they will be working hard sorting through lots of shorts.

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.
The best bottom changes year to year. Last season was decent (at best) for sport crabbers but this season looks more promising. Many anglers prefer the protected waters of the Outer Bay. It can be hit or miss but in a good season anglers will find plenty of crabs working the waters south of Doran beach in 40 to 70 feet + of water. Its unusual to lose gear in the Outer Bay even during large storms and in a "good" season there is no need to fish unprotected waters if you can get limits in the outer bay. The best producing waters but offering no protection are from Salmon Creek to the Russian River in 70 plus feet. The commercial fleet works these waters hard and for good reason, they often produce the largest catches. Yes there are lots of crabs to be caught inside of this line but if you are leaving your gear in overnight you are taking a chance. Deeper is not always better but the further offshore you fish the less likelihood of having your catch robbed. Bodega Bay is one of the more popular ports and on opening weekend it's not unusual to see over 200 private boats launching, all the local campground will be full and the tap, tap, tap of crab being cracked around the fire.

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