Crabbing continues to be fairly decent (for some) inside the bay. Outside, well, I hear the commercials are already starting to see a drop in their catch. When the first pull has females in it the keepers aren't thick. (FYI: The large male Dungeness crab are, lets say, pushy. If there's a lot around they will crowd out the females that aren't as big or as pushy. In a good year you catch only dudes for the first month or so. If you catch females on your first drop it doesn't mean the season is over but it sure ain't a sign of plenty.) There will still be plenty of crab out there for everybody that can do a long soak but for us day fishermen the good times are pretty much over. Not too much commercial gear in the outer bay and none in Tomales Bay, so the mediocre crabbing can continue unabated. Rockfish and crab guys, tomorrow is your last chance until April. 

     So, as reported on here a few days ago, a gentleman told me that he saw "black-out-the-meter" baitfish at the weather buoy in Tomales Bay. Well, I like herring for bait (and eating) so Wrybread and I took a little trip today to see if they exist. While we did not find the quantity reported earlier I can say that the fish do exist. The deep hole immediately south of Pelican Point has pinhead anchovies, jack mackerel, sardines, herring, shiner perch, and mackerel in it in 50 to 60 feet of water. My list is from most to least. Probably 50 'chovies to only one mackerel with a half of a five gallon bucket to convert to tray bait and dinner. Wrybread's tempura anchovies and jack mackerel were damned tasty. If only they were larger. After last year's tray bait shortage, and the consideration that really, nothing has changed to make tray bait more plentiful, the vast majority of our catch went on cardboard and into the freezer. Will it be good bait? I guarantee that it will better than no bait at all. We're hoarding for an uncertain future. PS, if you think that salmon aren't interested in mackerel to eat, you've clearly never tried it. They like eating little blobs of fat as much as any red-blooded American. Think Homer Simpson and donuts. I don't know how long the baitfish will stay there but, at 48º, the water says not long. The fish may say something different, though, as pelicans are still around in large numbers as well as whales and feeding birds offshore (I hear). I'd say global warming but 48º seems like the wrong number for that. Whatever, they're there now; get 'em while you can.

   

    I hope everybody had a good winter solstice holiday, Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever it is you may celebrate. It worked and the days are starting to get longer. It also worked in that my wife bought me the reel I wanted. Life is good. The total tally for the family by the end of Christmas makes me happy for my neighbors at the Outdoor Pro Shop. A reasonable amount of their sales were under our tree this year. Most of it wasn't mine, but still. I hope everybody got what they wanted, or at least, as the Jagger said, what you need. 

    The day after Christmas, the 26th, was the day for commercial boats to drop their traps, starting at 8:01 AM. Gage missed Christmas dinner with his mom and dad to go out with his cousin on a commercial crabber (more food for me). He heard of three boats requesting help from the Coast Guard on the 26th. Two were sinking when they called. One, a Farallon, sank (rolled over) just outside the jaws of Pillar Point harbor. At least one other may have been a boat out of San Francisco. I have no facts, but it is reasonably common for boats to roll over or sink on the opener with too much gear on board or on deck. What's too much? I don't know, but marine architects have math to say what's okay. My rule is that if it looks iffy then it is not okay. If I'm not sure then it's iffy. As a man I can tell you, if you think there may be a problem then there probably is (we tend to underestimate danger. Testosterone is a rough drug.) . Be sure and be safe. As far as we heard, everybody made it home safe, but still. A ride home in your own boat is way better then a ride home with the Coast Guard.

     There were only three launches out of here today and they did okay on the crab. Nobody left the bay but they all came home with crab. Low boat had six Dungeness and high boat was limited, so it sounds like there's still a few crab in the bay. Or there were. I heard yesterday that there was "black -out-the-meter" bait just south of Hog, near the yellow buoy. Could be herring. The time is right. The time to catch next season's blue label bait is upon us. Also, they're pretty damn tasty. 

   

   So, Gage, Giuseppi Maselli, Brian Rocha and I decided to give the rockfish and crab a try today. The weather was not quite as advertised but at least running south into a south wind meant an easy ride home. The ride down? Well, let's talk about the nice things. The crabbing was good. This pictured pot had a three hour plus soak. It was our best trap with ten jumbos and two 6"ers. Out of seven traps, we came home with our forty Dungeness, 6"+, and six traps. Note to self, when someone gives you rope saying they don't trust it for their traps and you use it, assuming that your hand pulling won't break it, then you buy a pot puller, you should change your rope. Don't worry, all my crappy traps are okay. Only the good stainless one is gone. Dammit. I had to buy a pot puller after reading on Coastside Fishing Club that anybody without a puller was obviously a pot pirate. You'd think a good pirate would spend his money on a puller rather than traps since one gets the other, but, I bow to the accumulated knowledge of the discussion boards there. That bowing cost me a pot but Gage is still walking upright, so... Break even I guess. The commercials drop on Sunday, so the crabbing awesomeness will likely drop off soon after, but the fishing was stupid. Biggest problem? Too many lings. It is hard to concentrate on rockfish when the lings keep assaulting your gear. We released, conservatively, twenty keeper sized lingcod today, not counting the fish that came off the hook on the way up. Giuseppi said to me, " I've never heard you curse before." Well, he'd never seen me lose a big ling before, either. That fish felt like I'd hooked the bottom except that it was coming up. Dammit. It was a good day, but the ones you lose haunt you. For the record, We crabbed and fished off of Ten Mile, best fishing and crabbing south of Abbott's Lagoon. 

      

   Brad Stompe sent a report :"Hey Willy,

Thanks for the heads up on rockfish reg. changes.  I find it interesting that you have caught so few quillback considering the results we had Saturday fishing between the end of Pt. Reyes and Abbots Lagoon.  I think browns were the most prevalent, but quillback were abundant.  We did well on vermillion and canaries too fishing 150 - 200' of water.  It was one of those beautiful days with little wind that made it easy fishing the deep water.  Also plenty of crab on 10 Mile with easy limits for 3.

Regards,

Brad Stompe"

   Well, Brad, for the record, the first fish we caught today was a quillback, but at 5" long, Gage wouldn't keep it. His pride got in the way. We suck at quillback, but part of that might be our focus on schoolies. In that area we like to find schools and fish them until they quit biting. They clean easier and bite quicker, usually. Today? We think the post-spawn lingcod have the rockfish a bit nervous as they are hungry. The rockfish were schooled up 20 feet off the bottom or more. Seven of eight of our lingcod were spawned out. Try for lings. They were stupid for swimbaits today. 

  

 

     There's a few new rules on the way. It appears that, starting next year (or maybe sooner) the limit for vermillion rockfish will drop from the current five to four fish. Quillback and copper rockfish will have limits of only one of each. The Pacific Fisheries Management Council has concluded that these three rockfish are overfished and need lower limits to help their numbers bounce back. The quillback should be the easiest one to stay legal with, as I rarely see them around here. I think Gage and I have boated three in the last two years, so we'll need to increase our quillback take dramatically to limit out. I'll probably just keep doing what I'm doing. Four vermillions per person is still a pretty good number. You could go over that in the right spot but, probably not. Only one copper, though, will see many a fish tossed back (or should, at least). It's a good thing for coppers that they're nearly indestructible. If they can survive five hours in my ice chest they will probably survive a release. 

   

 No traps tomorrow. Traps open here on Friday at 9:00 AM. So, those of you that purchased your $2.42 Crab Trap Validation, you have sixteen days to use it in Fishing Zone 3. 

"

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program Update

December 15, 2021

CDFW Director Bonham has completed an assessment of marine life entanglement risk for the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fisheries under the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP). Recreational Dungeness crab trap fishing in Fishing Zone 3 (Sonoma/Mendocino county line to Pigeon Point) will open under a Fleet Advisory beginning at 9 a.m. this Friday, Dec. 17, 2021. The commercial fishery will open in that area under a Fleet Advisory at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021, with a pre-soak period to begin at 8:01 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 26, 2021. The commercial fishery 40-fathom depth restriction will also be lifted in Fishing Zone 4 beginning at 8:01 a.m. on Dec. 26.  Based on data collected during the most recent risk assessment, the Director has determined that risk of entanglement has declined, and it is time to provide fishing opportunity in all fishing zones. However, informed by requests from port and crab boat owner associations in zone 3 to promote a fair and orderly fishery, the season delay in zone 3 will continue until Dec. 29. These groups have requested additional time to prepare and set gear for an orderly start to the commercial fishery. This also gives the remaining whales additional time to leave the fishing grounds, further reducing risk of entanglement when the season opens.  To see the full news release please visit the CDFW News Room. For more information, please see the FAQs for the new recreational crab trap regulations or CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries Webpage.

"

   The spotter plane flew on December 10 and now a new California Department of Fish and Wildlife Initial Assessment of Marine Life Entanglement Risk and Preliminary Management Recommendation exists as a result. The CDFW staff recommends lifting the trap restriction in Zone 3 at 9:00 AM on December 16. They recommend commercials be allowed to drop gear on the 19th at 8:01 AM for the "pre-soak." The California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group had differing opinions about opening and, as they are primarily comprised of commercial interests, their interest was in delaying the opening a bit until January 1, mostly. I don't know how much pushback was involved during the last couple of Working Group meetings but I do know that the Director went with the staff recommendation. There are still a few (more than a few?) "actionable species" around, so there's a decent chance the season may still get delayed. Either way, a pronouncement is extremely likely tomorrow. My guess is that the Director will go with the staff's recommendation and we will get to drop traps on Thursday morning (Not in the ocean. 10 to 12 foot swells will lock me in the bay for sure). The commercial fishermen could decide to postpone their start themselves in order to minimize the possibility of an interaction with an "actionable species." Or the fact that the fish processers and buyers are having the same luck finding employees as anybody else (which is not much). Luckily the world needs more drama. Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens....

    

   This just in. Matthew Vansickle reports: "My buddy Lenny and I (Matt) drove out from chico on friday, got limits of crab on fri, ate well! ½ limits on Saturday ,lost  3 hoops on the afternoon out going tide(oops), then on sunday found 1 hoop about a mile from where it was dropped, then (in the middle of talking about how it's too late in the year and the water cooled off too much) caught this halibut on a jig and lost a better one at the surface about 5 mins later. There is still schools of chovies from the landing down to hog ! Love camping at Lawsons and can't wait to come back!" Sorry you got Tomalesed Matthew, but nice job on the bugs and 'but! You'd think that with all those crab in the net it couldn't drag. 

 Here's the official word on no traps here still but traps okay elsewhere, soon:

"

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program Update

December 9, 2021

CDFW Director Bonham has completed an assessment of marine life entanglement risk for the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fisheries under the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program (RAMP). Fishing Zone 4 (Pigeon Point to Lopez Point) will open for recreational Dungeness crab trap fishing under a Fleet Advisory beginning at 9 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2021. The commercial fishery will open in Zone 4 under a Fleet Advisory and Depth Constraint at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2021, with a pre-soak period to begin at 8:01 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2021. Commercial fishing activity will be limited to depths of 40 fathoms and shallower across Zone 4 and be required to have an electronic monitoring system onboard. Information about electronic monitoring is available here. The commercial fishery will continue to be delayed in Fishing Zone 3, from the Sonoma/Mendocino county line to Pigeon Point, due to the presence of high numbers of humpback whales in the Gulf of the Farallones. The temporary crab trap restriction for the recreational fishery will also remain in place in Zone 3 until it can be evaluated at the next risk assessment, currently expected to occur on or around Dec. 15, 2021. To see the full news release please visit the CDFW News Room. For more information, please see the FAQs for the new recreational crab trap regulations or CDFW’s Whale Safe Fisheries Webpage.

" So, we wait a bit longer, as expected.

    Since our power was out this morning I decided to give the Tomales Bay Dungeness a try. I learned a couple of things. First, when the forecast says Gale Warning, there's a pretty good chance that the wind will blow. Hard. This was definitely a day for the conicals as I was pulling everything sideways. You know you're skidding your gear when the nets come up with clam shells in them. Second, I learned that a Gale Warning will clear most of the other boats out. Once I got a few hundred yards from the Landing it was just me. It would have been peaceful if the wind wasn't trying to suck my stocking cap off. Third, you'll be drier and warmer if you wear your foul weather gear. I didn't wear mine. Finally, I tried a few spots but found that the area towards the mouth from Marker 5 and closer to the sand bar was the best place I tried. I finished with nine in a couple of hours using three conicals and I threw back a dozen maybe-legals (they were right on the line with my gauge but not worth a ticket if my gauge and the warden's gauge disagree) and probably three dozen just-shorts. Next year will be good, as will the season end in May and June. They'd be better as jumbos but keepers are all better than shorts. I did see several buoys around with nobody servicing them. Most were lost gear (I was tempted to bring in a trap in four feet of water with a seaweed beard five feet long, but showing up on shore with crabs and a trap in the boat? Nah. Hopefully the cotton is rotten.) but I did see two recently serviced traps. Not coincidentally, Tomales Outlaw texted me this morning to remind me that commercial red crab trap fishing isn't closed. At least, that is our understanding. Neither of us are lawyers. Is it fair? Is any of it? The threatened lawsuit that started this whole mess targeted Dungeness traps, not reds. All the attention went there. I'm not complaining, as I don't want to be the proverbial crab in the bucket, pulling the other crabs back in. A smart crab would pinch the guy that put him in the bucket. I'm glad I didn't catch any smart ones today.

     More of the same crab report. Slow to okay in the bay, a little better in the Outer Bay when you can get there. The rockfish are still out there but I feel like they miss me as I haven't been out to visit them in a couple of weeks. Here's a report/question from a reader: "Hi Willy,

I really appreciate the blog and check it regularly.  I wonder if you might address in a future post the situation that there seems to be a lot of untended crab gear in Tomales Bay.  I was out crabbing with my brother and sister in law over Thanksgiving, using some heirloom hoop nets I stitched together since we couldn't find a store with nets in stock, and in each spot we tried (outer bay, near marker 5, and White's Gulch) we saw a fair number of what looked like crab floats that nobody came to check in a 2-hour span.  We did ok and brought home a smattering of dungeness and reds, but I was wondering if there are a lot of folks leaving their equipment unattended or even using traps and letting them soak for hours or days, either not realizing what the regs require, or just plain disregarding them.  It sure is frustrating to think others are not playing by the rules while we're honoring the gear and time limitations.  OTOH, if I'm mistaken about what I'm seeing and there's a good explanation for the apparently untended gear, I'd be glad to know it.

Many thanks and please keep posting,

Sean"  First off, Sean, for future reference, we have both kinds of nets in stock at the moment, although my guess is that by the end of the month you'll probably be okay to use traps again, legally. Probably. As far as a good explanation for all the unattended floats, well, you can be the judge. Obviously, I can't speak for every buoy, but here are my suspicions:

   Some of those are exactly what you think. There are probably a few traps out there, some from people that are blissfully ignorant of the new regs and some that are just unrepentant poachers. Some people leave nets out for multiple days thinking it gives them an edge (PS: Those people are beyond stupid. That is not how a ring net works. At all. Crabs aren't malevolent spirits that can be trapped in a circle. I kinda doubt that it works with the spirits). I haven't seen a warden here since.... September? August?
But that doesn't mean that they haven't been around. Wardens are like Great White Sharks to abalone divers; you may not have seen them, but they sure saw you. I'm guessing that trap/net enforcement on the water is less than we'd like (unless we were the ones with traps).  But I don't think that most of the buoys you saw were recent traps or intentionally set long-term-rings. As a purveyor of crab gear, I can tell you with some authority that A LOT OF CRAB GEAR gets lost in Tomales Bay. A LOT. The current sucks the buoys under or drags them to a new location. People can't find them and they go home. It is rumored that the name Tomales is from the Miwok word for "lost crab gear" (It isn't but it should be. "Didn't you leave with more gear?" "Yeah, but the current sped up and I got Tomalesed"). I lost a trap in the bay for over a week a few years ago. When I found it again I had the emotional rollercoaster of recovering my lost gear and then having to empty the rotten bait from it. I had an opportunity to go right back out and look because I'm here (and it still took over a week). For the folks that live in the valley? That gear is gone. So what can you do about it? Very little, legally, as it doesn't belong to you. You can, however, go here and report it, where someone may come to get it. Or not, but it lets those in a position to hopefully change policy know that there is an issue. We may not like their solution, however. Be careful what you ask for. 

     So, the new "California Department of Fish and Wildlife Initial Assessment of Marine Life Entanglement Risk and Preliminary Management Recommendation" is out. So far (twice), the Initial assessment has been accepted as the rule. If this streak continues, you can expect traps to open. Not here, of course, but elsewhere. Area 4, Pigeon Point to Lopez Point,  is recommended to open soon for traps. Area 3 (Gualala to Pigeon Point) can suck it continue to crab with nets. Not official, many things can be chosen instead, but if the short history of this regulation is any indicator, this will be the rule. Commercials will get to drop gear in Area 4 as well, with depth restrictions (again, if approved). I know this seems draconian, but just know that as the rules go, we can wrap up as many gray whales as possible with no impact to our crabbing. So, go shallow. I guess we don't care about them. (Okay, for the record, I do care. Whales are beyond awesome. I'm reasonably Christian in my upbringing, but when you see a blue whale, whoah... I now understand how people can assign godlike properties to animals. Those critters are BIG and possibly don't even recognize you and your boat as a thing, like Godzilla smashing Tokyo and not seeing the people. To be in their presence is to witness at least one of the grander works of a God with serious ambitions. There's just so much whale.)

     Luckily, ring nets work. They work better when they're conical, but all of the gear has been working. The flat rings require more effort, but the guys that have been successfully running them for years don't seem to be all bent by the new regs. They just keep quietly catching. So, like so many things, there's a learning curve if you choose to try. If you're a dedicated trap guy with no interest in learning (I feel you, brother) then the cones are for you. Tomales Bay was slow over the weekend, mostly due to king tides. Those excessively high tides are followed immediately by (and strangely, not mentioned in the media) excessively low tides. The eight foot tide change was great for gear loss, and a seller of crab gear I appreciate it. It was not good for actual catching. Outside in the ocean where the tidal currents are less the crabbing was still pretty good, when you could get there. The bar was...dicey at times. I think that expresses that the chances of dying on the bar this weekend were fair to middling. The weather this week looks to be in the crab's favor. The forecast currently calls for a bit of rain in the next week or so which bodes well for our shiny prey, the salmon. They got enough rain to make some babies. Now we need enough to keep them alive. I appreciate the hatchery fish (I eat enough of them, so I should) but naturals are even better. When you hook one, you know.