Posts Tagged ‘Crab’
Ok, so I totally suck at this WDFW two cards for crab thing. And, honestly I think it is a setup. WD
FW figures if they can make it complicated enough lots of people will forget and next year they can get an extra $10 out of them. So much for my conspiracy theory.
I am writing this post to tell you all that I and my 12 year old daughter just turned in our winter crab catch to WDFW at this site. It was a great winter season.
Good Luck.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
WDFW gave us a little Christmas gift and opened crabbing in area 11. It will remain open until the end of December. In the last couple weeks we have caught good numbers of fat, hard shelled dungeness. The bodies on these winter crab are are jammed full of meat where in the summer a lot of them are soft and in the molting process. 
This is a good time to use those Tuna scraps you have left over from the summer. If you don’t have that Turkey legs, Salmon carcasses or heads will work and in a pinch you could even use good old Puss in Boots cat food.
Oh and Sportco has a great deal on crab pots at $15 for a nice box whith an opening top. Crabbing in Quartermaster Harbor has been a great time for the kids and I. We’ve even gotten some of our friends in on the fun.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
I almost missed it but winter crab opened today. 
The cool thing about winter crab is the shells are harder and they are packed full of yummy meat. Check out the map pages for where to fish and there is some good info on the wdfw website also. The season will be open 7 days a week till December 31st but make sure you check the regs.
From WDFW: Waters reopening to sport crabbing Oct. 8 at 8 a.m. include marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu), 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1 (Deception Pass, Hope Island, and Skagit Bay), 8-2 (Port Susan and Port Gardner), and a portion of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) north of a line that extends from Olele Point to Foulweather Bluff.
Marine areas 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island) and 13 (South Puget Sound) will reopen for sport crabbing at 8 a.m. on Nov. 21.
In each area, crabbing will be allowed seven days a week through Dec. 31.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
As opening day of crab season approached I was feeling a little tentative. I have heard the tribes hit my favorite spot, Quartermaster Harbor, pretty hard so I was afraid it was going to be slim pickens if you know what I mean.
As we arrived Friday morning there were tons of boats around and loads of pots. So we wiggled our way in and dropped in about 75 feet of water. The low tide was a -2.5 that day so I didn’t want to go much deeper than that. We went to Dockton for the day and came back and checked after lunch. There were three nice dungeness in one pot and nothing in the other so we moved it closer to the first. At 8 o’clock we checked a last time and got three more combined to finish my limit.
Saturday morning brought 5 more dungeness (one was about 7.5 inches) and a rock crab that went back. we soaked the pots again till 11:00am and when we checked them they were completely empty.
Overall it was an average opening but I hope we will do better as the season continues and there is less pressure on the fishery.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission met recently and made some big changes for fishermen in the state. The biggest for people around here is probably the crab rules for Puget Sound.
In other action, the commission approved new regulations for the 2011 recreational crab season that reflect a new policy adopted last October to expand sport fishing opportunities for Puget Sound crabbers.
Those new regulations allow sport crabbers to fish for Dungeness crab in Puget Sound five days a week – Thursday through Monday – with a five-crab daily limit. Most of Puget Sound will be open from July through Labor Day.
The Elwha fishing moratorium, set to begin in March of 2012, is designed to protect native salmon and trout during demolition of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams and encourage their expansion into 70 miles of new spawning and rearing habitat.
The commission had previously planned to include Lake Sutherland but was convinced to allow limited fishing in this area.
Also during the February meeting, the commission reduced the daily bottomfish limit from 15 to 10 for recreational anglers and closed several commercial marine fish fisheries in Catch Area 4B (western Strait of Juan de Fuca). The changes provide additional protection for bottomfish in the western Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
This will make Ben happy.
Four marine areas of Puget Sound will reopen to recreational crab fishing Nov. 15, based on summer catch assessments by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) that show more crab are available for harvest.
At 8 a.m. on Nov. 15, marine areas 6 (eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca), 9 (Admiralty Inlet), 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) and 12 (Hood Canal) will reopen for sport crabbing seven days a week through Jan. 2, 2011.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com