Kayak Crabbing

[John H]

I am a little off topic but we can always use a post so here it is. Hopefully someone out there is interested.

I have always had the crabbing bug. When I was a kid I crabbed from the pier at Lawson's Landing and Bodega Bay. When I was nine years old I wanted to be either a business tycoon or a crab fisherman when I grew up. I ended up as a civil engineer which was probably a better choice for me.

Last week I took my kayak up to Oregon and did some crabbing in Tillamook Bay. I had a couple of traps and bought one more so I had the Oregon legal limit of three. I bought some bait and a PFD, checked the tide tables for slack tide, went to the marina to launch and headed out. Most of the bay is shallow but I have a depth finder so I could get in the deeper water, 20 feet or so, but still stay out of the boat channel. Long story short, I got a bunch of crabs but it is some work and you get pretty wet. Fun times if you like that kind of thing.

They are getting rain up there and the rivers are looking good. If that continues there might be some steelhead fishing next month. Hopefully Sage will fix my rod in time to fish the winter steelhead. They sent me an email that said it would take a long time and that I should not contact them because they are busy. Okay, Sage.



http://i.imgur.com/7uOR9oB.jpg (https://imgur.com/7uOR9oB)
Loaded up and ready to go.

http://i.imgur.com/oryPljh.jpg (https://imgur.com/oryPljh)
Traps are in the water.

http://i.imgur.com/mK9J0z7.jpg (https://imgur.com/mK9J0z7)
Dinker crab

http://i.imgur.com/y2BsDcO.jpg (https://imgur.com/y2BsDcO)
A trap full to sort through. No keepers in this one.

http://i.imgur.com/DbThUT1.jpg (https://imgur.com/DbThUT1)
A bunch of crabs in the hold.

http://i.imgur.com/dl4zkW6.jpg (https://imgur.com/dl4zkW6)
A big one but it was soft and went back in the water.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Excellent post and photos John....



We see lots of people using kayaks to put out crab traps in Tomales Bay.


Raw chicken, dark meat, bone in, skin on is a popular bait to buy anywhere.

Fish heads and carcases are real populat too.


Slack tides are supposed to be the best time.


The rest of the time you can fish around out of your kayak.

[Scott V]

I do a descent amount of kayak crabbing every year. Nothing like a fresh boiled dungy.

As for Sage, their warranty sucks. That is the main reason I will never buy anything with the name Sage on it. I had a brand new pair of boots blow out at the seams within a couple months and they refused to help me in any way. And I take great care of my gear.

[Darian]

Yet another great report and great photography (especially the second photograph). Like others have said before, Im living vicariously thru your posts (IMO, one of the best parts of this strange year). Keep 'em comin'. :cool:

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I am also living through John's posts and pictures.

They are so inspiring.....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I do a descent amount of kayak crabbing every year. Nothing like a fresh boiled dungy.

As for Sage, their warranty sucks. That is the main reason I will never buy anything with the name Sage on it. I had a brand new pair of boots blow out at the seams within a couple months and they refused to help me in any way. And I take great care of my gear.


Scott, What brand boots were they?

What size is you foot?

[Rossflyguy]

I do a descent amount of kayak crabbing every year. Nothing like a fresh boiled dungy.

As for Sage, their warranty sucks. That is the main reason I will never buy anything with the name Sage on it. I had a brand new pair of boots blow out at the seams within a couple months and they refused to help me in any way. And I take great care of my gear.


Sage makes boots?

[DLJeff]

Blaahh haa haa, I had the same thought.

[Scott V]

Oops, my bad. Simms.

[John Sv]

I spent my childhood years on the east coast, walking distance from the Chesapeake. They have a different kind of crab, blue crab there, and the softshell ones are a serious delicacy. OTOH we would use em as bait to catch catfish. Can you not keep soft dungeneess or are they not tasty?

[John H]

I would like to try some blue crab.

After the dungeness molt they are soft, not full of meat and not so good for eating. It is like a 4” crab in a 6” shell. They test the crabs before they open the commercial season and delay the start if the crabs are not at least 25% meat. They also have to make sure there are no whales around that will get tangled in the ropes and that there is no domoic acid in the crabs. If all that is clear they haggle over price with the big buyers and if that gets done they start crabbing. Needless to say the commercial season never starts on time which is good for the recreational crabber because the commercial guys mop them all up pretty quickly.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We stopped at a place out on Chesapeake Bay called the "Crab Shack".....to eat Blue crabs.

I love soft shell Blue crabs and eat them when I can.

Our really great older waitress told us to come back in August because the size of the Blue crabs was the largest then.


I have always heard that some use soft shell crayfish in the American river for Stripers.

I guess at certain times of the year and month the crayfish molt and are under the rocks in a soft condition.

Would love to find some and cook them up?

[David Lee]

I have always heard that some use soft shell crayfish in the American river for Stripers.

I guess at certain times of the year and month the crayfish molt and are under the rocks in a soft condition.


Back in the early/middle 2000's , I remember standing downstream of the Howe Ave. bridge on the South bank - I'd watch the Stripers (some looked to be pushing 30 Lbs.) cruising around in 3-6 feet of water . They would push rocks around w/ their noses and suck up Crayfish . Sometimes the Craws would try to squirt away , and the Stripe would do a 180 turn and slurp them up a few feet away from the turned rock . I think Jeff Goding was with me once while watching this ?

Neat stuff !

D.~

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Around 40 years ago we had a real American river veteran angler coming into our shop.

He was a smaller framed, quite old, Italian gentleman, Chris was his name.

He bought some nice Camo neoprene boot foot felt sole chest waders from us.

He lived somewhere above Watt Avenue, very near the river and fish with spinning gear for everything in there.


He described to us his method of using soft hell crawfish for Stripers.

I think that certain timing was needed to find the crawfish in their molted soft condition.

He would use only a good single large hook with a soft shell crawfish for bait, tose it in the riffle at the top of a big hole.

He said it was just a matter of time and he would almost always catch a good Striper.

.

[John H]

I fished the Black River in Arizona for smallmouth once. I did okay on the fly but the guy with me collected a bunch of crayfish for bait and cleaned up. The big bass in the deep holes were all over the crayfish. It was impressive. I would like to go back there.

I saw on the news the whales have left, the crabs are full of meat and if they negotiate a price the commercial season will start on the 23rd. Chances are they will get stuck on price and delay the start. All the fisherman stick together and nobody goes out until they settle on a price. I expect there is some vigilante enforcement of anyone trying to break ranks and fish early. When they start they go 24 hours a day to try to get all they can before the other guys do.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Many years ago I read an article about catching Oregon Summer Steelhead way up rivers on Crayfish tails.

[Rossflyguy]

Many years ago I read an article about catching Oregon Summer Steelhead way up rivers on Crayfish tails.

There’s a local gear guide on the American that’s says the steelhead there eat crawfish. The larger ones would have beat up noses digging them from rocks.

[OceanSunfish]

There is a short period when the Coho are rolling around Tillamook and are susceptible to sight fishing with casting gear. I don't see why an adventurous Kayaker with fly rod and reel wouldn't have a shot at 'em during the same time. <hint-Hint> Take pictures!

[mems]

One of the best Ulua flies to have is a crayfish, they love baby lobster.