Crabbing in the San Juans

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Pat Anderson

New member
Patty here. We have crabbed in a variety of places in the San Juans but never near Sucia. Has anyone thrown a pot out near Sucia and had good luck? In fact, I'd be interested in hearing other places where the wily crab has been caught if you won't have to kill me if you tell.
 
I was at sucia last fall and there were several pots in the large bay to the north, I forget the name, but a boat came in to pull them and I believe it was one of the tribes from the looks of the boat. looked like there were a few crab in most of them.
 
never tried suica but I do lilke the end of the runway at blakelyspot. Now I will have to imposs a crab trap of say 25% of all crab caught here. Just dont leave your trap out over night.
 
Doing an overnighter this weekend and I just bought my first trap/permit. Gonna give this dungeness thing a try. Wish me luck...cause I'm gonna need it! :lol:
 
I am on the second day of an 8 day charter and yesterday we stayed over Reid Harbor. Lots of pots. We caught 4 overnight. We are in Victoria tonight, Sydney tomorrow night and then north.
 
Anna Leigh":vsd5l9wg said:
I am on the second day of an 8 day charter and yesterday we stayed over Reid Harbor. Lots of pots. We caught 4 overnight. We are in Victoria tonight, Sydney tomorrow night and then north.
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So what are you chartering and how do you like it?

Warren
 
Working a Montefino 69. Italian built boat. BAck in Sydney today. Todd Inlet and Butchart Gardens tomorrow and then Ganges, Montague, Roche and home on Thursday.

Saw Kingfisher 22 here on Wed. Havent had time to check and see if they are still here today or not.
 
Dave,
Kingfisher (22) is "out and about" up here. We have been in contact and keep on doing the anti-rain dance for them.

If you meet up say Hi from us.

Merv & Kathy
 
Anna Leigh":1fkkzppt said:
Working a Montefino 69. Italian built boat. BAck in Sydney today. Todd Inlet and Butchart Gardens tomorrow and then Ganges, Montague, Roche and home on Thursday.
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Are you the captain of this charter? I must not have received the memo...

Warren
 
No, it is a 79 ton vessel and I only have a 50 ton. I am 1st mate. Great way to vacation. The charter folks take us out with them for dinner every night, good food all day, and I get paid for it.
 
Anna Leigh":13he4phh said:
No, it is a 79 ton vessel and I only have a 50 ton. I am 1st mate. Great way to vacation. The charter folks take us out with them for dinner every night, good food all day, and I get paid for it.
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Color me envious!
 
Brats,
Went out for crab yesterday only got three legal. We had five posts fishing,all at differing depths and locations. We set pots at Port Susan and the East side of Camano Island, it was a good day on the water but a little disappointing considering the effort and expense of trying to find decent quantities of crab. Does anyone crab the West side of Camano Island with better success? If someone has information for better locations locally it would be greatly appreciated.

Dan
 
Hmmm, west side of Camano, now your stepping into my waters. Yes there is pretty good crabbing. My neighbor went out on opening day, 20 keepers in 1 pot and he was right in front of our house, about 200' from shore. That would put it in about 60" of water.
 
Dropped our one and only pot on the south point just as you enter Penn Cove from the South, in about 60' and left it overnight. Three keepers and a star fish in the pot. Two very large one's (>7") and one just legal. The wife says "Look at the octopus!". I'm like "...what octopus?" :? "You mean the star fish?..." :lol:

I figured for the first time crabbing with only one pot, we did OK. There's only two of us at home now.

We tucked into the small bay south-east of Camano Island State Park for lunch and dropped the pot for about an hour. Lost an obvious keeper about 1' from the surface, as it was just entering the trap when I began pulling. :x Oh, well. Wasn't meant to be. A small red-rock also inside that I released. Gonna go get one more trap prior to our Bellingham trip.
 
Hey Localboy

That little bay you were in south of the state park is Elger Bay, that is my front yard, I am 1 block up from the water, yes there are crab in there. On opening day you could just walk across it with the number of boats in there. Sometimes on really low tides we can just walk out and get them. I usually launch my boat out of the state park.
 
Don and Brenda":3qyofk3m said:
Hey Localboy

That little bay you were in south of the state park is Elger Bay, that is my front yard, I am 1 block up from the water, yes there are crab in there. On opening day you could just walk across it with the number of boats in there. Sometimes on really low tides we can just walk out and get them. I usually launch my boat out of the state park.
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There were quite a few pots out there. I lost count at >20. One boat, a Striper, stayed in the area, another aluminum fishing boat was anchored just east of us and a Bayliner with two aboard came in and was checking his pots. We were just looking to get into a lee so we could anchor and have lunch. My wife suggested dropping it for the time we were there...nearly worked. :lol:
 
Just be careful at the point and just inside on the north side, there is lots of seaweed. When the mooring space at Langley fills, this becomes the overflow. We end up with a few sailboats and a few cruisers spending the night.
 
Don and Brenda":hhqm5sld said:
Just be careful at the point and just inside on the north side, there is lots of seaweed. When the mooring space at Langley fills, this becomes the overflow. We end up with a few sailboats and a few cruisers spending the night.
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OK. Thanks for the info.
 
Well, we crabbed on the north end of Center Island this weekend, and the Saturday soak yielded six nice big dungies. So we are not skunked for 2009 anyway! Lost one of our nice stainless pots but that's another story.
 
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