Crabbing Rules

[John Berg]

As you know us regular Guys are in a court battle with the commercial Guys. They say we won't document our crab catch as well as they do so they should get more of a season. Just wanted to give a heads up of rules I never knew of, either because I didnt read them or im just a little slow. In prior years I emptyed the crab pot and threw it back in before entering my catch on the card. DOCUMENT CATCH ON CARD (BEFORE) DROPPING POT BACK IN WATER. I have a feeling THAT will be the time when a boat will approach at a high rate of speed and ask for your catch card. The second thing is to weight your line. I did not realize it was a rule before. I did it out of courtesy. John

[Tim_Mattson]

John ,
The Fish and Wildlife Dept. love to watch crabbers from the beach at Alki then meet them at the ramp to write them up for setting without writing (ever try to write on paper while pulling and baiting a crab Pot?) or for giving crab to another boat ( your buddy with friend from out -of -state who loves crab) or for not wearing your Visible Crab license on your person .......though we didn`t get one of those yellow tags this time.
We also get a $10 fine added to your license if you bought but didn`t turn in a catch card,EVEN if you didn`t go.But they also have Two seasons with Summer and Winter cards.......
Now define a soft-shell crab and how you measure this so a novice can go and feel sure what is what and you are ready to go Crabbing in Wash.
Also consider we have Tribal harvest which is equal to the Non-Tribal Commercial harvest.
Trouble with cutting a "living" pie in half more than once is,you don`t leave enough to replenish.We each get "half",but we split our half in "half"again.
"Paper Crab " stink worse than real ones!
Worse part is we can`t harvest in the mos. that crab taste the best,Crab in the Months with "R"s is what the old-timers used to say.But that would be breaking the law today......
TM

[Helmar]

No License Required

Well, never having a shell fish license you almost have to be an attorney to understand what they want you to do or not do, I find it much cheaper to just purchase it from the Indians when they come back in from there catch.

Kind of takes all the fun out of all that expense, time, stolen pots, fines, fuel, bait and trying to understand the rule book written by someone from outer space, But, I try

[Skagitguy]

When i was a kid and we wanted to go crabbing , we would just look under the rocks on the beach. Chuck

I think I'll stick to fishing.

[John Berg]

crabbing success

Launched COOL JUNK on Friday afternoon with my 12 year old daughter and dropped 4 pots at pigeon creek. Payed $11.00 to launch and parking till 3pm Sunday. Very good value. I leave my boat tied up at the launch. Only $30 for both nights. It gives me an opportunity to do tune-up on the trailer. I changed out one roller. Now Im set up with my floating clubhouse. checked pots Sat morning and only got 3 crab. I pulled 2 pots and put them away because I was alone. I rebaited the other 2 and went back to work. Tried to check pots again sat night and did something I have never done before. I got to the end of the jetty and turned around. I used to think nothing could stop me no matter how rough it was. I think I have reached another mile stone in my life. My Mom used to say better safe than sorry. Im 53, and finally listening. Went out Sun morning in beautiful calm water and sunshine. Pulled pots with 5 keepers. Im still trying to catch shrimp but no luck. Caught 11 spot but no coonstripe or other legal ones. Had to throw them back. Good times. John

[Wally]

They will get me for:

1. Having our Hood Canal address and phone number on the buoy instead of the Montana address which is on my $94 combo license.

2. Using nylon rope which sinks just fine w/o a weight. You can follow their rules with the weight in the correct place and if the tide goes way out, there will be a lot of rope floating on top if you use yellow poly.

3. One more thing. Launched the Bayliner at Summertide Resort this morn. There was a whole lot of gravel on the narrow ramp and I had trouble getting the empty trailer up the ramp (2-wheel drive truck). The guy said he was cleaning it off last week with a small tractor and the crab-checking DFW guys came over and said that was against the law. The resort will lose our easy money since I won't be able to get the boat up the ramp the way it is now.

[Helmar]

They will get me for:

1. Having our Hood Canal address and phone number on the buoy instead of the Montana address which is on my $94 combo license.

2. Using nylon rope which sinks just fine w/o a weight. You can follow their rules with the weight in the correct place and if the tide goes way out, there will be a lot of rope floating on top if you use yellow poly.

3. One more thing. Launched the Bayliner at Summertide Resort this morn. There was a whole lot of gravel on the narrow ramp and I had trouble getting the empty trailer up the ramp (2-wheel drive truck). The guy said he was cleaning it off last week with a small tractor and the crab-checking DFW guys came over and said that was against the law. The resort will lose our easy money since I won't be able to get the boat up the ramp the way it is now.

I really wonder if the person(s) making up the rules even Crabs or Shrimps.
I just found out from John Nelson that I think he said he has to pay about $650 a year for a gill net license and that some of the commercial boys pay some place around 5K and better..

I am sure it would be fun without rules that make little to no sense (like the rope and gravel on the ramp, Gawd) but I can beat them out of there own money. I just buy it from the Indians when they come back in after a catch.
The money I save, I can buy supplies or fuel for my "pleasure" boat.

I would think these rules are because of revenue needs and abuse in the past.
I remember in the mid 70's I was teaching Scuba out of Portland and we would bring the students up to Hoodsport, Port Townsend and Port Angeles for the open water dive requirements.
Hoodsport and Potlatch us instructors and advanced students would go out on night dives with our goody bags and "Fill" them with crab and shrimp for the evening gathering. opcorn1:

The guys who make the rules are not the smartest. They sit in their office and they think they know whats going on in the water. The local guys (not the corporations) who make their living fishing/crabbing on the water know better as to what's going on. They are not going to over fish because if they do they lose their income. A relative of mine was a commercial fisherman and head of a few fishing foundations. He wrote quite an entertaining book called Dead Fish and Fat Cats. It's the draggers and the corporate fishing companies from overseas that are ruining it for the locals. Just my :TwoCents1:

[Seanfromseattle]

Helmar & Crabbers, You want to know the irony? I am an attorney, and I read the rules carefully, then I went out into area 10 on a Wednesday, and set my pot, then got back to the dock for lunch and overheard an old salt talking to Fish & Game (while I was reporting a poacher) that Wednesday's are not a 'crabbing day'. So there is some truth that the rules are poorly written. I had to go to their website and dig, to figure out what days of the week are 'crab days'. But on the plus side their website is really good and has an informative video that educates about what is a 'soft-shell' crab. So if I had started there instead of with the booklet they give out I wouldn't have been racing back to my pot to avoid a ticket... Oh well, try again tomorrow...

[Tim_Mattson]

Sean,
My buddies were boarded one time along Alki and the Game dept boat had a stack of crab pots the guy said were fishing on a Closed Day......therefore they
were impounded.
Trouble was the guy had HIS days mixed up and it was actually OPEN.
He didn`t have an answer when asked how he was to set them back or return them to their legally crabbed pots.
TM

[Seanfromseattle]

So you're saying that the State basically stole the crabbers property. Ohh, that would be a nice lawsuit! Tresspass to chattels, Conversion, all sorts of fun... I'm glad I didn't get my gear pulled, especially after springing for that nice new fancy s/s folding crab pot...

[Seanfromseattle]

Crabbing in area 10, sucks!

So this is the third time I've been out from Shilshole for crabbing, today I found a good spot off Carkeek park, let the baited pot out for almost 6 hours, and all I've caught are a few small females. Haven’t even see a male in the traps, let alone a legal one. Next time I’m thinking about running over to Bainbridge, but that’s a 4+ mile run, just to set the pots... What gives? Is area ten just wiped out?

[Tim_Mattson]

Sean ,
Go along Magnolia and look for the old Gertson house that slid down the hill on Perkins Lane.Look for the 5 story all glass house and try out front of it.
Try 30-40` of water in this narrow little spot.Closer to the Marina is easier to find the depth but also where people swipe your catch as they drive by.
The other side has them but I`ve wasted countless days trying to find them with no real success.Manchester once upon a time seemed to be the mother load on the west side.
The Tribes do harvest right up until we get to crab,usually takes the males a month or two to grow to legal size.
Try overnight sometime,then pounce on it at first light.Huge ones only seem to go out at night.
Goodluck,
TimM

[TheBronze]

Sorry to be the voice of dissent guys, but the rules aren't that complicated. If you are giong to go out and fish or crab or anything in this state, either grab a free copy of the regs - available at just about any sporting goods store - or download the PDF. Read the rules ahead of time and make sure your ducks are in a row. I've been inspected, boarded, spot checked, etc countless times. Never had a problem. I'd rather spend some time making sure I'm doing it right than lose gear or my boat...

The significant change for this year is sliding the days towards the weekend. Used to be Wed - Sat. Now it is Thur - Sun. Much better for sporting guys.

All that being said, I do think the regs are a bit wacked. The commercial guys dont' really affect most of our crabbing as they do it up in the inlet or coast. The natives, however, drive me nuts. They get to over harvest with abandon and we get the left overs. Not cool. Same with Salmon. Thats why I won't buy from them. I'd rather eat something else thank you very much.

As for crabbing itself... I've had a good couple of weekends so far. 7 crabs in two differnt outings (14 total). At $9 a pound its a great way to eat gourmet on the cheap! I won't tell you where I go... but I have the best luck in about 40 feet of water with chicken thighs and legs. Good luck!