The "King Tides" this week made for some excitement but not good crabbing. Good crabbing inside the bay generally requires slow currents, but the kings have some of the highest and lowest tides, and all that moving water makes for bad crabbing and lots of gear loss. Eight feet of water rushing out of the bay in seven hours makes for a pretty good river. People were still catching some crab, but not too many. As the moon wanes the currents should wane as well. The king tides did happen to arrive with a storm,.  perfectly timed to maximize damage. We were lucky enough to have purchased some large concrete blocks this summer for our parking lot. After seeing the forecast and tide table, we moved our blocks from the parking lot to in front of the store. They worked, and we were able to stay open and not even have to sandbag the doors. We lost more beach and the use of our webcam for a bit, but we got off light compared to many of the businesses and homes on the bay. When the front passed the wind switched from 50 mph from the south to 65 from the west. We get the worst of it from the south, so our neighbors further up the bay caught the brunt of it, as the long fetch built up some serious waves on top of the highest tide, low pressure and a big northwest swell pushing more water into the bay. Our only real damage was our webcam, as the waves washed out some of the dirt floor of our tractor garage, and sitting on that floor was the battery pack that ran the camera. Amazon is sending a new battery and the camera will live again. The blocks will probably stay until the storms chill. How long until April? 

    Commercial crabbing and traps will be opening soon. The recommendation to the honcho at CDFW is to allow commercial to start here at 50% of traps starting on the 5th. Your traps may start earlier or at the same time. Half gear means harder work for half pay for the commercial guys. I hope nobody gets hurt and no boats are lost. But I worry.