Crabbing on the California North Coast

J

Jim Gibson

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Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
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C Dory Year
1998
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
Pounder
Just posted a few pictures in the "Pounder" photo alblum. Opening day of crab season was Saturday, November 11, 2006.

On that day the seas were ten feet by 8 seconds, with 35 mph winds out of Bodega Bay, California, so we did not leave the harbor. Calmed down on Sunday, November 12th and we made it out to have a great harvest of fresh Dungunese crab, probably the finest there are in the world.
 
Jim I see you have several different pots in the boat. How do you like the plastic ones. I have seen them around but have not used one yet. Was one pot style getting more crab then the others. 80 crab. you must have a better limit then we do.
 
Starcrafttom-

Those plastic pots were an experiment for trying to get some shrip also. The plastic pots are worthless for crab, and only marginal for shrimp, even when we added finer mesh to the plastic pots.

The legal possession limit is 10 crab per license. We had 8 valid licenses onboard the boat. With 8 fisherman/women and all those crab pots one can see that we were packing quite a load, probably much more than any c-dory would want to carry in the open ocean, especially on the rough North Coast!
 
I thought you said that you are in Northern California!! Just kidding we are in Eureka, the real Northern Ca. Our season opened Sat. the 25th. We got out and did pretty good. A 3 1/2 hour soak for 27 crab most crab were full however, some were only about 1/2 full. We're going to give it a try in the morning. I'll post our results.
Gene Morris
 
I know that I said that I would not be posting here any more , but after looking at Pounder pictures on his Album! Made me shake my head . I personnaly think that in this day and age with looking at fishing going for a sh,,,, I don't care if you tell me that opening of crab is only 2 days , showing that on the internet , with this type of crowd browsing ,is disgusting. Rock Cod for bait is sick. That is my opinion his own mind needs to kill so many crabs to feed ones self? Not to mention the endangerment of the species of bottom fish .
 
DodgeRam-

What would you like to use for bait? Meat or chicken from the store? Do you really think that is ecological? What do you think those crab eat in real life? Have you ever been crabbing?

For your information, most of our bait we used was from frozen fish guts from the cleaning of prior game fish we caught in the year. We did use the rock cod to supplement our frozen fish gut bait.

Get your facts straight before you start jumping down someone's throat on the internet.
 
Jim, you might want to check the date on your digital camera. It shows that those crab pictures were taken on 5 November, well before the season opened. I'm sure it was a camera/date problem...

Charlie (who doesn't fish for/eat crabs... :( )
 
Charlie-

I was well aware that the date stamp on my camera was incorrect when I posted that picture.
 
Charlie-

I was well aware that the date stamp on my camera picture was incorrect when I posted it. Thanks.
 
FOR MY CRABS AND PRAWNS, I USE PIG HEADS, ROAD kILL, CANS OF CAT FOOD, HO, AND ALSO COMMERCIAL PELLETS AT $48. + PST AND GST THAT IS TAXES IN CASE YOU NEVER BEEN HERE. POOF :wink AM OUT .
 
Nice looking crabs Jim! Interesting that you have Dungeness crabs up North and we have their cousins(?) Rock crabs down here in SoCal. Best meat to weight ratio on crabs I believe.
 
Way to go Jim.

Love those dungeness crabs.
 
Rock crabs vs dungys. I really like the sweeter meat of the rock crab. You don't get as much and they are harder to crack but the meat is better tasting. If we could cross breed the two into a bigger rock crab with a higher meat content then we would have good crab. better living thru science.
 
Great pics and info! I need such encouragement after my first fiasco, er, attempt.

J
 
Darn it Jim.... now I will need to try that... I have never been crabbing and it looks like fun... and nothing is better for dinner than fresh crab.

Joel
SEA3PO
 
I wonder if ole DodgeRam ever thought about what was in those cans of cat food ?? Steak ? Chicken ?? Liver n Onions ?
I very much doubt his traps would fill using veggamite... or coffeee grounds....or even chiefs salid...

I know....Be nice... but I just can't resist...

Joel
SEA3PO

A note to DodgeRam...don't bother to reply...I already know.
 
" I have Never been crabbing" stop whining lobster boy!! Man I would love to be able to catch my own lobster for dinner.
 
Well we just returned from a long day on the water. The ocean was great and it was the first time we had the tomcat on a long ride, 60 miles roundtrip. All worked as planned, we set the crab pots on the way to Cape Mendocino. At the Cape we fished for rockfish, 10 fish per angler limit because our management and population density allows for thriving schools. We also use black rock cod carcases for bait, because they are superior to any commercially prepared baits. We picked up the pots on the way home for 20+ crab.

I will post some new pics in our album about todays trip.

Gene Morris
 
WOW Jim way to go! It looks like a PBS documentary on crab fishing in ALASKA!!!! Love those crabs!
 
Nice looking crab. they look alot bigger then what we have here but our size limit is higher. we will be coming thru your area after christmass on the way to my brother. Think I can get some crab on the way for new years??
 
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