Anyone know were the tribes have not overly fished crab in pudget sound this year ? been out once and got tons of females and lots of under sized males. and only a few hard shell keepers. any suggestions for shilshone or camano park area. thanks any info appreciated.
I have a cabin on Whidbey directly West of Hat Island. The tribes AND commercial crabbers hit it hard before our recreational season started and they haven't stopped.
There are a lot of big, healthy females and far more soft shells than I've ever seen this time of year.
Our neighbor went out on a paddle board and caught 9 keepers in 2 hours. Go figure!
We ended up with 15 over 3 days with the pots left in overnight.
Good luck.
thanks for the info. Saw paddle boarders do that also. they peobably dont leave their pots in as long and who knows why they catch legal crab?????
Think it through guys. The sound is no longer a supermarket. Good crabbing like fishing now takes a bit of thought and effort. That being said, the commercial guys are still catching enough legal crabs to make money or they would not still be fishing. That takes a lot of crab to cover just the expenses. You, on the other hand only need five crabs per person.
Overnight soaking is no longer the way to go. Short sets, 30 min to one hour will do it. If your trap is full of ladies then move. I used to use rings on floats and pulled every 20 minutes. But I found the crabs enter the square collapsible traps just as fast. The advantage of traps is less interference with dog fish. Crabs tend to group in male and female clusters, often only 20 yards apart. That is why the drifting paddle boarders are limiting out. As for the soft shells, do not complain. They are the legal crabs that will be available to you later in the season. Good luck and have a great season.
Note: If you are getting a lot of females, you are in the wrong place. Move. If you are getting a lot of just under males, it has been hit hard already. Move. If you are getting a lot of soft shells, you can't beat nature, try that exact spot (GPS) in a few weeks. As I said, overnight soaks are no longer the way to go. Get your crabs during the three hours of tide change (6 pulls or less per trap) then go fishing. Side advantage: No stolen pots, No current lost pots, opportunity to move or cluster pots as needed after first pull, and a fun active few hours of crabbing. Now go get them. But more important, have fun. Remember, you are not driving your boat to the supermarket seafood isle. I forgot to mention, where there are Dungeness crabs, there are also sole.
Yes I have done a 5 week trial, the crabs that are keepers dine and dash. The soft shells and females stay overnight. Need to do it around the upper end of tide change. Crabs seem to have brains. Try dedicating a few hours around high tide and you will be happy.
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