Thursday, December 28, 2023

 Big winds yesterday and huge swells today made crabbing difficult from a boat on this end of the bay. One large wave set broke all the way down the bar in the middle of the bay, about five feet high. Awesome. A bit scary if you were in one of the small boats crabbing very near there. Nor enough to make them quit, but enough to get their attention for sure. They may have had to unpucker their undergarments. I would have needed it. Breakers down the middle of a "protected" bay mean bad things are running amok. Pucker time. We ended up with a little water in the store (a gallon? Maybe?) because I didn't close the door fast enough when a surge came in. I figured it out for the next ones. Here's a slightly after photo of the beach:

   About an hour's work with rakes and a tractor cleared it up. Ready for tomorrow's tide! Blank canvas prepared. After watching the evening news, I have to say, not much here to see. We  got off easy. This has happened here since well before I was born and it will continue. Life at the beach. Get ready for change. 

   I was sent some video of a tiny boat with two guys aboard sinking while crabbing off of Doran Beach. A guy in a tiny inflatable saved them. I couldn't get the video to load, unfortunately, or I'd show you, too. Thank you, Steve Humphrey, but I couldn't get Blogger to load it. It was good, and I'm sorry for all of us. If you read this and you were one of the guys, lawsonslanding@gmail.com, please and let us know what happened. Anonymity is part of the package, especially if your info can help other people to make better decisions. Kudos, in that case.

   So, the weather has been rough. The crabbing, better, when you can actually crab. Shore snare guys were catching today. Not many, but some short action among the seaweed. And there was a lot of seaweed. I should bold "a lot" but I won't because I'm lazy. 
   In other news, crabbing inside Tomales Bay has been mostly meh. Outside, better, but Ten Mile has been better and outer bay, not so much.  There's more happiness near Point Reyes, but the outer bay has had some quick limits for the lucky and good.. 



1 comment:

oldtimer said...

Incredible photo. You were luckier than other locations. Your old pier would have been taken out. Totally new beach structure for perch and crab!