Where are the crabs?

TCWestby · Post by **TCWestby** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:44 pm

Anyone seen any crabs lately? I was at Mukilteo yesterday and nothing but small juviniles.

Not many starfish either.

Sasquatch · Post by **Sasquatch** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 10:15 pm

Albertsons has them for $13.99 a pound.

$\:D/$

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:03 pm

:wav:

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:05 pm

My doctor said that the medicine should have gotten rid of all of them............................................................... ](*,) ](*,)

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:36 am

pogiguy05 wrote:My doctor said that the medicine should have gotten rid of all of them............................................................... ](*,) ](*,)

AGGGHHH!!! You werent supposed to go diving while you were on the medication! you killed them off. :(

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:10 am

Well, we managed to find 15 catchable-sized ones on Wednesday (among five divers, so we were legal!). But you had to look hard, because there were SO many smaller ones. It's really amazing how many crabs are under that dock.

nice-diver · Post by **nice-diver** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:51 pm

winchester bay oregon, we pulled out about 14 Dungeness, some were huge. Also seen about 7 ling cods two were probably spearable.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:04 pm

Lopez Island last week-end ... we found only one keeper at Agate Beach ... but it was a monster 7-1/2 incher.

Odlin Park was much better ... we got four nice ones on Saturday.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:06 pm

And they were delicious!!! $\:D/$

Rockfish · Post by **Rockfish** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:10 am

Talked to some of the WDFW guys and they said that the commercial opener (which was before the recreational opener) has really affected the recreational catch and that crab availability was scarce. Most of the crab that we have seen is either undersize or soft shell. I hope they firm up before the close of the season which is Labor Day if I am not mistaken.

Pescadero · Post by **Pescadero** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:05 am

Dove Yaquina Bay on Sunday. Got two limits of Dungies and two limits of Cockles. Out of the 24 crab, 4-5 were not full. The rest were nice and firm.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:21 am

Skip, I'm jealous! Still haven't figured this crab thing out... Bassman and Mouse tried Sunnyside and only got two smaller Red Rocks...
-Tom

Pescadero · Post by **Pescadero** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:27 am

Hi Tom:

I guess we are pretty lucky down here. Your diving is so much better, that's what brings me up there. But, our bays and estuaries are very healthy and support tremendous numbers of crabs and clams. Every day and every tide change is a little different. You never know exactly what it will bring. But, generally the next 2-3 months are very good. For example, I saw literally hundreds of females, and twice that many juvenile crabs in the 2-5 inch range. Just more than you could ever count. Out of that we were able to select our keeper males. We have a short ocean closure but the inland waters are open 24/7/365. The night time crab diving is an absolute riot. Nasty job, but then somebody has to do it. $\:D/$

I have tapped you for some mentoring and local knowledge. It would be a pleasure for me to expose you to this activity, a little later in the fall. Maybe you could think in terms of dropping down for a couple days of 'harvesting'.

Bye the way, I know you can't see the 'pause' here, but I held up my typing and called ODFW to check on your requirements. They say that if you chose to come down, you would NOT need an out of state fishing license. As long as you limited your harvesting to clams, crabs and mussels, you can get a 3-day, out of state 'Shellfish' tag for $9.00. Success on Cockles and Mussels is extremely high. Would expect success. You have to 'arm wrestle' with the crabs and so that can be a little more speculative. .

LOL

Let's seriously consider this.

Skip

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:36 pm

Sweet! I'm in! $\:D/$

Since the out of state license isn't a huge issue the main cost will be getting down there. We'll have to figure out a time...

-Tom

thelawgoddess · Post by **thelawgoddess** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:03 pm

sounds like the crabs at mukilteo have been fine. our buddies got 8 last weekend just diving the shallows.

Seth T. · Post by **Seth T.** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:23 pm

thelawgoddess wrote:sounds like the crabs at mukilteo have been fine. our buddies got 8 last weekend just diving the shallows.

I dove Kayak Point on Saturday and saw tons of crabs. Even some 12+ inchers. Too bad I didn't get a license.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:23 pm

Seth T. wrote:
thelawgoddess wrote:sounds like the crabs at mukilteo have been fine. our buddies got 8 last weekend just diving the shallows.
I dove Kayak Point on Saturday and saw tons of crabs. Even some 12+ inchers. Too bad I didn't get a license.

I know I should just google it, but as a South ender, where is Kayak point? Need to get there !

TCWestby · Post by **TCWestby** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:39 pm

When you get to Marysville head East till your feet get wet. Call me sometime if you don't ming a fairly new buddy.

Sergeant Pepper · Post by **Sergeant Pepper** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:40 pm

It wouldn't suprise me to hear that you didn't see any crab if people are going down there and taking 5 per person per shot. Personally, I don't like seafood, but I do like to look at it when I go to our dive sites. Let me loose in a chicken farm though ...

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:07 pm

TCWestby wrote:When you get to Marysville head East till your feet get wet. Call me sometime if you don't ming a fairly new buddy.

I'd love to take you up on that TC... Have you everdove there? I don't think I've seen a dive site report anywhere... although again, I'm too lazy to google it at the moment.

I have family in Anacortes and it would be fun to hook up for a dive sometime on the way up north.

However... until the repair snafu

gets itself sorted out on I-5 I think I'll be staying down here for awhile!

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:24 am

Kayak Point's a great crabbing spot ... at least, early in the season or until the tribal members get done with it. It gets pretty cleaned out usually after the first couple of weeks of the season.

There's absolutely nothing to see down there except crabs, though ... which is why you don't generally hear dive reports.

Used to crab there pretty regularly when I lived in Mill Creek ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

TCWestby · Post by **TCWestby** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:44 am

I haven't been there yet other than to hango ut on the beach with my kids. I know that my neighbor has told me that crabbing from the pier is good so I'd figure that getting away from it might be interesting.

I have seen a few writeups I have one in Puget Sound Shore Dives as well as a couple of diving boards.

From what I hear though it can be fairly shallow and never looks too current sensitive, at least from the beach. Since it is just a big bay I would think the currents shouldn't bee too bad. If anyone has any imput I'd be interested.

SPD says that it is a good site for shecking new gear and skills and such. I hope to dive it soon and find out for myself though.

PM or call me, numbers in my profile and we can hook up.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:56 am

Never experienced any current there at all. It's shallow for a fairly long way out ... then it drops off pretty steadily.

Vis is usually pretty bad ... due to the fact that it's fairly shallow and there's very little water movement in the bay. Make sure you have a solid separation plan ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Seth T. · Post by **Seth T.** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:53 am

I did a pair of dives there last weekend with my new buddy. I picked a shallow dive spot because I wanted to give him an easy refresher course (it had been 4 years since he dove last).

The first dive our max depth was 17', though our dive time was a whopping 64 minutes! That's my longest dive here in the NW. There is virtually nothing to see but sand and seaweed. However, we saw plenty of life including endless hermit crabs, flounder, shrimp, a couple stingray, gooey ducks, massive crabs, and a little eel. Viz was not bad at all actually, given that you stay below the wicked halocline at about 12 feet. The water was an insane 61 degrees. You drysuit divers may actually get too hot.

The second dive was very different. We followed the indentical navigation and suddenly ran across depth! We followed the slope down to 81' and leveled off, keeping our first dive series moderately shallow.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:12 pm

Seth T. wrote:I did a pair of dives there last weekend with my new buddy. I picked a shallow dive spot because I wanted to give him an easy refresher course (it had been 4 years since he dove last).

The first dive our max depth was 17', though our dive time was a whopping 64 minutes! That's my longest dive here in the NW. There is virtually nothing to see but sand and seaweed. However, we saw plenty of life including endless hermit crabs, flounder, shrimp, a couple stingray, gooey ducks, massive crabs, and a little eel. Viz was not bad at all actually, given that you stay below the wicked halocline at about 12 feet. The water was an insane 61 degrees. You drysuit divers may actually get too hot.

The second dive was very different. We followed the indentical navigation and suddenly ran across depth! We followed the slope down to 81' and leveled off, keeping our first dive series moderately shallow.

4 years dry and the second dive was to 81fsw? Nothing like jumping in with both feet!