Winter Crab Season

[Cornfed]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Cougman]

Just got back for a weekend at Long Beach with a few friends. Crabbed out of Chinook. Saturday the weather was awesome. Put out 9 pots and had limits for 4 by the time we pulled the 3rd pot. Sunday the weather turned to shit. 3-5ft wind chop but we went any way. Put 3 pots in let them soak 30 minutes. We would have waited longer but we were getting our asses kicked. Pulled the pots and had 3 more limits. All good clean hard crab.

[ChrisCurtis]

Originally Posted by Spokaloo

Tommy do you mind traveling? Might be putting together a trip in a few weeks to Oregon for the late season bay crabbing, just before they green-light the commercials.

E

Spokaloo's got it.
Come on down to the SW coast and crab in the river prior to mid-December, commies go in Dec 1st. Limit is 12 @ 5 3/4" min, although we haven't had to measure but a few out of 48 and those are usually 6+, just look small compared to the 7"-8"ers!!

oh, and limits of bottom fish too...................

[Cornfed]

Originally Posted by Spokaloo

Tommy do you mind traveling? Might be putting together a trip in a few weeks to Oregon for the late season bay crabbing, just before they green-light the commercials.

E

Originally Posted by ChrisCurtis

Spokaloo's got it.
Come on down to the SW coast and crab in the river prior to mid-December, commies go in Dec 1st. Limit is 12 @ 5 3/4" min, although we haven't had to measure but a few out of 48 and those are usually 6+, just look small compared to the 7"-8"ers!!

oh, and limits of bottom fish too...................

Might have to do that. Thanks for the the intel.

[Tower Todd]

Here is the update:

WDFW News Release: Two areas of Puget Sound reopen for late-season crabbing; Hood Canal to close

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
October 27, 2009
Contact: Steve Burton, (425) 775-1311 ext. 126

Two areas of Puget Sound reopen for
late-season crabbing; Hood Canal to close

OLYMPIA - Two marine areas in Puget Sound will reopen to recreational crab fishing Nov. 1, based on summer catch assessments by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) that show more crab are available for harvest.
Starting Nov. 1 at sunrise, Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton), and most of Marine Area 9 (Admiralty Inlet) will reopen for sport crabbing seven days a week through Jan. 2, 2010. The portion of Marine Area 9 south of a line from Foulweather Bluff to Olele Point will remain closed for the season.
Crab fishing also will remain open seven days a week through Jan. 2 in marine areas 4 (Neah Bay), 5 (Sekiu) and 13 (south Puget Sound), where the fishery has continued uninterrupted since summer.
Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal), currently open Wednesdays through Saturdays, will close for the season at 6 p.m. Oct. 31.
Sport crabbing will not reopen this year in marine areas 6 (Strait of Juan de Fuca), 7 (San Juan Islands), 8-1, 8-2 (east of Whidbey Island) and 11 (Tacoma/Vashon Island), where the summer catch reached the annual recreational quota, said Rich Childers, WDFW shellfish policy lead.
"We want to give crabbers as much opportunity to fish as possible, but with great weather this summer, we had a lot of people out crabbing and catch rates were high," Childers said.
Of the more than 236,000 people that were issued Puget Sound crab licenses, 104,634 complied with the Sept. 21 reporting deadline. That includes 70,172 who filed their summer catch reports online.
"The data we receive is important for managing the Puget Sound crab fishery, which is why people are required to submit catch reports," Childers said.
To increase compliance, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2008 approved a $10 fine for failure to file a catch report. Crabbers failing to submit their winter reports, due by Jan.15, will receive the fine when they apply for a 2010 Puget Sound crab endorsement.
State fishing rules require that all sport crabbers submit catch reports whether or not they went fishing or were successful in catching crab. Childers suggested that people who have winter catch cards, but do not intend to go crabbing, send in their catch cards now.
Catch record cards may be mailed to WDFW CRC Unit, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501-1091. The online reporting system will be available Jan. 3-15 at https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/wdfw/puget_sound_crab_catch.html
The daily catch limit in Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6¼ inches. Fishers may catch six red rock crab of either sex per day, provided those crab measure at least 5 inches across. For more information about recreational crabbing in Puget Sound, see WDFW's website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/crab/

[Hoghunter]

Just got the email, crabbing re-opens this Sunday November 1st in area's 9 and 10. Will not reopen in area's 6, 7, 8 and 11. Closes Saturday the 31st in the Canal.

Will be open 7 days a week through January 2.

So you got your wish Tommy now go get um.

[Swede]

I want a refund!

[Ducttape]

so what if we don't turn in the summer and winter catch cards??? or one and not the other???

[Cornfed]

Sports Authority told me that they didn't have their winter licenses printed off and told me I would have to come back at a later time to get mine. Did anyone else get this story?

Can't wait to dump my 6 cubic ft crab bait freezer.

[goatram]

Originally Posted by Hoghunter

Just got the email, crabbing re-opens this Sunday November 1st in area's 9 and 10. Will not reopen in area's 6, 7, 8 and 11. Closes Saturday the 31st in the Canal.

Will be open 7 days a week through January 2.

So you got your wish Tommy now go get um.

Commercials got their wish as well. Ronzob Deal with the sight of all those commercial pots scattered all around

[Pipe Dream]

So 236,000 Puget Sound CRC holders continue to be constrained to 1/3 of the non-tribal allocation while approximately 225-250 Puget Sound commercial license holders get the other 2/3. I understand and support having both Saturday and Sunday open for working folks (I've done my duty, thank you very much) but to then couple that idea with a reduction in daily limit from 5 to 4 is another slap. Worse yet, Staff did not even provide alternatives to the Commission for their consideration.

I was at the Commission meeting several years ago when a Commissioner asked the Director how that 1/3-2/3 split had been established. After much discussion between Staff the answer was that when Rafeedie (sp?) gave the tribes half the shellfish WDFW had to come up with a way to apportion between sports and non-tribal commercials. It was their best guesstimate at the time! No facts. No CRC; nada.
And where is it carved in stone that it has to remain at this split? Considering that virtually all of the tribal take is commercial and the same for the coast it would seem that the sport folks closest to the high population (easy access; relatively safe waters) would have priority. Well, nothing new in this rant but have to agree that I did well on crab this past summer. If I remember the math I did a couple of years ago 1/3 of the allocation divided by the number of CRCs issued resulted in about one limit of crab for each CRC holder.

[ronzob]

Personally I think MA7 was crabbed less this summer than any I can remember. Not once during the summer season did I see the usual spots fished heavily or consistently. I would be hard pressed to believe that the sport crabbers had much of an impact this season.

That said, on the way to town today...I would guess that there were a minimum of 300 commercial pots set at either end of Guemes Channel and in Padilla Bay. Let's see here...how long is the opening, how many sets can they make... how many Dungeness will they take in a very short period of time? It's all bullshit folks.

I'm at a loss as to why the State continues to make wild ass stabs at determining quotas. I'm at a further loss as to why we sport crabbers and fishers continue to sit back and take it up the ass while the State mis-manages most if not all our fisheries.

Yeah I know.. I'm starting to sound like Troy..but in my mind... I can only guess..."What's Next"!!

Ron