Yaquina crabbing and fishing

C

CatyMae n Steve

New member
We trailered over to Yaquina Saturday morning to find the old ramp blocked! We hadn't been over there since spring of this year, and had no idea they'd put in a brand new launch -- very nice launch, lots of parking and probably 6 or 7 wash areas in the tie-down lane that spreads the entire length of the parking area. After getting a slip, buying some frozen herring (there were none to be found in Albany) and tossing them in the brine to try to get them thawed and ready, I baited the crab pots with some yummy turkey legs and we were off for a day of fishing and crabbing. We spent the morning in the mouth area (we've never caught anything over there, so were experimenting with various areas, out of the way of the sailboat races in the bay) but found few boats and even fewer fish. We fished there for a few hours, then took off to pull the pots and just go relax at the dock for a while. The pots were empty, and there were 4 fellas we noticed just leaving the area where the pots were and we wondered aloud to each other about the huge grins on their faces -- they were in a rental boat -- so when we pulled the pots we moved them to the other side of the bay and just cruised them for an hour....picked up 9 nice large crabs and headed to the slip for a fresh crab dinner. We tried our luck fishing this morning in the upper river...more boats fishing and saw a few caught. Steve had one take down just as we were getting ready to leave...thought he had hit bottom and gotten hung up...but NOT...it was stripping line, then spit the hook. As we were doing the tiedowns on the boat, Steve watched a guy trying to catch the dock in his boat, turned around to hear a splash as the fella fell in -- he ran down and gave him a hand back to shallow water and someone else caught his boat for him. Steve asked if he was ok, and they guy said he was fine...just ticked at himself for falling in :-)

That boat surely draws attention everywhere -- Steve and I were talking about all the looks and comments on our way home....it DOES have some mighty fine lines :smile
 
Great story! We went out this a.m. and only got 2 keeper dungeness that we had for lunch; had to come in as its scheduled to blow up to 70 mph gusts this afternoon and evening.

We often go to the Auke Bay harbor here and just sit in lawn chairs and watch the launching and retrieving while having lunch. Very entertaining at times; of course, it makes me nervous when a bunch of people are watching me!
 
Salmon Slayer, I don't think there's anything sweeter than crab freshly caught, cleaned, cooked and eaten within the day -- I cleaned what we and our friends didn't eat and it's in the freezer for another day :-)

70 MPH winds...not optimal for being out on the water, eh? Time to hunker down with a nice fireplace :thup
 
Boy I agree on the crab; we just dropped them live into a pot of boiling water with some Old Bay and lemmons and had a mini feast. We are going to put out our King pots next weekend but I like dungeness the best.

Its windy here now (not 70 yet), rainy, about 39 degrees, hot dogs and beans in the oven and smelling good....nice and comfortable. I have always loved the fall.
 
Well, we're leaving the crab pots home (Steve hates crabbing for some reason) and heading back to the Yaquina for the coming weekend...those fine salmonoids gotta start biting sometime! They were rolling and jumping last weekend ... I've learned that when they're doing that, they're not biting for the most part ... hoping they have all their jumps outa their systems by the time we get there :wink
 
We've all but given up on crabbing. We have had our pot pulled by evil-doers here time after time after time. They even have the audacity to re-bait the thing. We know the crabs were stolen because the new bait is a whole cod with the belly slit open...sure sign of the commercial boys. It's sad.

Rick
 
Hey - the last time I went crabbing, I threw a brand new pot with all the rigging over the side and never saw it again!

I didn't learn much from it, though. Because today I bought two new pots with rigging and plan to give it a try in the CR this weekend. Tell me this: Do I tie the line to just one spot on the top ring of the pot, or make a three leg bridle? These are heavy 30" pots with a 1/2 flip top lid.
 
Mike,

I used to make up the three rope bridles (or I should say buy them) until I started pulling Pilar's pots. They were tied on one side. They are far easier to pull this way. You need to be careful to position the rope on the same side as the escape hole so when you pull the pot the crab don't fall out the hole on the bottom or crawl out the hole on the side. Keeping the hole at the top really helps. Also make darn sure the door is secure.
I hope this helps... I know it works for me and I even apply this technique to the square danielson pots.
 
3 or 4 leg....I've started doing 4 cuz it's easier to tie for me...but I have the foldable kind now...much lighter for our old bodies to pull and don't put a gaping hole in our IRAs if one gets lost or 'borrowed.'
 
21 MPH winds forecast for tomorrow until nearly noon -- (s'posed to be raining too, so maybe those lil buckeroos'll bite!)...we're going anyway...we're weekend fishers and we must seize the moment :)
 
Those fishes should bite in the rain. I don't think they mind getting wet. Have fun you guys.

We are wanting to go crabdigging in the CR tomorrow. Clatsop Spit had 33 mph today, and supposed to be more tomorrow. We will see how it looks in the morning. The boat is hooked up, but I took a little nap this afternoon and didn't get it in the slip. If the wind isn't too bad, we're going.
 
Good luck...forecast doesn't look so bad around noonish...bet the girls love crabbin....hope y'all get out and get crabby :lol: The crabs we got last weekend were really nice sized ones...nice n meaty too..yum
 
No sailboat races this weekend! Ever tried to troll through about 30 sailboats on the bay tacking from one side to the other? Tons of fun :)

Anyhow, this weekend, Saturday we had a couple cleansings from the heavens, wind wasn't too bad and we got one native fishie we had to put back in the river...Sunday morning, it was pretty foggy until we got upriver and started fishing...cleared right off! I had a fish on in our first 15 minutes of fishing...another native destined to go back in the water. Then, late this morning, I had my herring skinned but the durned fish didn't get a sticky hook in his mouth...DRAT!

Looks like next weekend, we've been summoned to my grandson's last football game (he said, "Gramma, no fishin that weekend!") of the season -- we'll be there with lots of cheers for him :wink:

Tyboo, Kay, Tiffany and Jaime...did you get any crabs this weekend? Weren't many out crabbing yesterday at all, but there were several happy folk getting some nice ones today :thup

We got to spend the night on the CatyMae again...what great fun! Shhhhhh....don't tell that I told ya, but I whooped Steve at some poker :xnaughty
 
Sounds like you had a fun weekend. Did you do any more crabbing (dungeness, that is) today? That's cool hooking the fish. I didn't even bother trying up here.

Saturday we got one keeper crab, but because Jamie got a little sickly we were only out there for an hour. One pot had a salmon head and chunks for bait, the other had turkey thighs (couldn't find any legs Friday night). The fish bait got nothing, and the turkey got about a dozen in the hour, even though all but one went back. Today I had me some turkey legs, and put them in both pots. One pot got two little guys, and the other got close to two dozen, including 6 legals. I wanted to stay out (by myself today) through high slack, but the wind was getting nasty.

Now then - this is my first time crabbing, other than tossing in a pot once and never seeing it again. I already learned about the turkey legs (thanks!), but how come two identical pots/bait within 100 feet of each other come out so different? Kay figures the first of the two to attract anything just drew a crowd and nobody down there bothered to notice the other one.

Kay made fun of me Saturday. She was on the phone with her sister when I brought out the big propane burner for my one crab, and she laughed at me! I mean, I had to cook the critter, and she wouldn't have been laughing if I stuck it in the house on her stove. I used the little pot, but the big blow torch burner works for it, too. I didn't see her out there in the rain crabdigging, so she shouldn't be laughing at me, don't you think? The first day, the crab was worth about $200 a pound, not counting the boat. Now we got it whittled down to less than $30. I don't think that's funny at all.
 
Crabbing reopens in the San Juans mid November and I'll be back at em'! Many times I have had a pot with several keepers near another with none or small crab. Currents are probably a big factor. If the crab "live" somewhere down current of your pots, then the first pot may pick up most of the crab as they follow the scent.

The bottom conditions can be quite different just a few dozen feet away and that can have an effect. If all of the pots over the last month have had salmon, then the crab may be in the mood for turkey. (OK, scratch the last one!) Some of my "hot spots" have been consistent week to week - season to season - and other areas don't seem to have repeat performance.

I may buy a "fish camera" ($100 @ GI Joe's) to check out just what those crabs are doin' down there anyway! Each summer I plan to dive on a soaking pot and check it out..... maybe next summer. Bottom line is probably only the crab know what they are up to and that may be a scary thought.
 
Thanks for your comments, they make a lot of sense.

...then the crab may be in the mood for turkey.
Click to expand...

I bet after next month they will be wanting the Christmas goose. I suppose that crabdigging is much like fishing. Sometimes one pole (usually my wife's) will get all the action even though it is rigged and fished the same as others. The scent trail may have something to do with it. The bottom conditions in the area we crab down here are very consistent for the full length of that section of river. It is sand sloping evenly from the beach to the drop at the channel. Most pots are dropped in 30 to 40 feet, and for a couple miles the botoom is even. What is really bugging me is that I think the unlucky pot is the same one consistently (well, OK, I have only dropped them in three times). Next time, I am going to put a big star on the lucky float.

There isn't much to fish for in the river this time of year, so I have been anchoring near where the pots drop and waiting it out. I caught up on the newspapers today. Just for something to do, I bought us a couple of these gizmos, and me and Tiffany will be playing with them next weekend while we wait.

2inchsnarealone.jpg
 
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