Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It is very windy today and is forecast to continue tonight, but tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be really nice days. The pier will probably be fairly crowded over the weekend with the weekend regulars (who have been catching pretty steadily) having to share the rails with the holiday campers. Casting snares from the beach may be a better way to catch your Dungeness crab. Also, keep an eye out for the California Gray Whale that has been feeding inside the bay for the last month or so. It passed by the pier around noon yesterday and can be spotted from the beach about every other day. By boat you are sure to see it.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The Dungeness crabbing from the pier is still pretty good for those in the know. A few of those "knowers" caught limits last week. For the rest of us it is spotty. The bay slowed down with a lot more red crab showing up where there were only Dungeness a few weeks before. The outer bay is still producing crabs but the quality and numbers have dropped off. If your expectations aren't too high you should leave satisfied.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Not too much different to report. The Dungeness catch numbers have dipped a bit more but are still better than average. The outer bay has slowed down quite a bit and some of the guys are talking about heading back down to Ten Mile. The pier is pretty consistent, slow and relatively steady. The size of the crabs is a bit smaller than earlier in the season. For next year, there will be changes to the regulations regarding groundfish (rockfish and lingcod) but the new rules won't go into effect on January 1st. Fish and Game will let us know when they will apply. Stay tuned.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Not too much to report except that yesterday a couple braved the rain to catch 16 Dungeness off the pier in a few hours time. Not too much competition on the pier now. Still lots of crab in the outer bay.

Friday, December 3, 2010

You would think that the bay would be out of Dungeness crabs by now. The crabbing is definitely slower but the Dungeness are still there, despite the hundreds of traps and nets that have been dropped on them in the last month. The crab that are left are a bit finicky. Fresh bait is important. The bait shop here will be open on the weekends in December and January from 8AM to 4PM for bait, tackle, snacks and boat launching. If the ocean lays down (tomorrow looks good) the outer bay still has a lot of crab, especially in 60 to 70 feet of water.