SF Coast Crabbing didn’t go as planned 1/9/24…………: Decided to to go between storms for the first time in a while, forecasted marine conditions looked tolerable, 1-2’ swells coming in 2...

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

Decided to to go between storms for the first time in a while, forecasted marine conditions looked tolerable, 1-2’ swells coming in 2 directions and 2’ wind waves with 12 knots of wind. It was close to that, but no cigar. We (me and 3 of my Alaskan fishing buddies) met up at 0600 and pushed off at 6:35, dark but minimal fog. Still steamed out at a cautious 13 mph or so, dodged a ferry or two, went through the potatoe patch no problem, then hit the point and the bar. It was rough and we slowed down to about 10 mph until we were well past the point. At that time the seas evened up and we were able to speed up to about 15 mph. Got to the crabbing hole and started to set, between the wind, mixed swell, wind waves and unable to make out land, ours set was a bit of a zig zag pattern. We started pulling pots at about 8:35 after a 40 minute soak, 1st pot must have had over 20 crab, unfortunately only 4 male keepers, the rest were females or smalls. Most all the pots had many, many crab, but that was our best pot, we managed 2 sets and conditions began to worsen, one member got seasick, we drifted so fast it was hard to keep an eye, or find, our pots so we stacked after 2 sets with only 14 keepers for 4 of us. Then it got interesting on the way in……. The point (Bonita) was a nightmare of confused swells and wind waves, a bit of a white knuckler. Everything pushed us one way or another, it was fairly brief, but don’t want to do it again (but if I do I, know how to handle it now). Maybe JK (Jim) will chime in on his view of the seas and how the boat handled.

Once we rounded the point and closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, it was so much better and we decided to swing by Baker Beach to see how the conditions were and they were great, except as soon as we got ready to set, our old friend Lou Seal showed up right at the back of the boat. We then ran him (because he would follow us) down and back the length of the beach a number of times (maybe 3/4 of a mile) and every time we stopped he’d surface with his teethy grin and say “did you miss me”. Finally we tried going out deeper and towards home and he followed for a ways and disappeared, we circled around to try and set, but nooooo, he surfaced with his smile and gotcha face. We threw in the towel and went to port……..

Our 14 crab.
Our 14 crab....

Fredfish Loc: Prospect CT.

40GRIT wrote:

Decided to to go between storms for the first time in a while, forecasted marine conditions looked tolerable, 1-2’ swells coming in 2 directions and 2’ wind waves with 12 knots of wind. It was close to that, but no cigar. We (me and 3 of my Alaskan fishing buddies) met up at 0600 and pushed off at 6:35, dark but minimal fog. Still steamed out at a cautious 13 mph or so, dodged a ferry or two, went through the potatoe patch no problem, then hit the point and the bar. It was rough and we slowed down to about 10 mph until we were well past the point. At that time the seas evened up and we were able to speed up to about 15 mph. Got to the crabbing hole and started to set, between the wind, mixed swell, wind waves and unable to make out land, ours set was a bit of a zig zag pattern. We started pulling pots at about 8:35 after a 40 minute soak, 1st pot must have had over 20 crab, unfortunately only 4 male keepers, the rest were females or smalls. Most all the pots had many, many crab, but that was our best pot, we managed 2 sets and conditions began to worsen, one member got seasick, we drifted so fast it was hard to keep an eye, or find, our pots so we stacked after 2 sets with only 14 keepers for 4 of us. Then it got interesting on the way in……. The point (Bonita) was a nightmare of confused swells and wind waves, a bit of a white knuckler. Everything pushed us one way or another, it was fairly brief, but don’t want to do it again (but if I do I, know how to handle it now). Maybe JK (Jim) will chime in on his view of the seas and how the boat handled.

Once we rounded the point and closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, it was so much better and we decided to swing by Baker Beach to see how the conditions were and they were great, except as soon as we got ready to set, our old friend Lou Seal showed up right at the back of the boat. We then ran him (because he would follow us) down and back the length of the beach a number of times (maybe 3/4 of a mile) and every time we stopped he’d surface with his teethy grin and say “did you miss me”. Finally we tried going out deeper and towards home and he followed for a ways and disappeared, we circled around to try and set, but nooooo, he surfaced with his smile and gotcha face. We threw in the towel and went to port……..

Decided to to go between storms for the first time... (show quote)

Sounds like you made the best of some bad conditions Denny. Be careful out there buddy. Even in a good boat like a Wellcraft, sometimes it's just not worth the risk. Nice crab anyway.

Jarheadfishnfool Loc: Woodlake/Tulare ,Ca.

40GRIT wrote:

Decided to to go between storms for the first time in a while, forecasted marine conditions looked tolerable, 1-2’ swells coming in 2 directions and 2’ wind waves with 12 knots of wind. It was close to that, but no cigar. We (me and 3 of my Alaskan fishing buddies) met up at 0600 and pushed off at 6:35, dark but minimal fog. Still steamed out at a cautious 13 mph or so, dodged a ferry or two, went through the potatoe patch no problem, then hit the point and the bar. It was rough and we slowed down to about 10 mph until we were well past the point. At that time the seas evened up and we were able to speed up to about 15 mph. Got to the crabbing hole and started to set, between the wind, mixed swell, wind waves and unable to make out land, ours set was a bit of a zig zag pattern. We started pulling pots at about 8:35 after a 40 minute soak, 1st pot must have had over 20 crab, unfortunately only 4 male keepers, the rest were females or smalls. Most all the pots had many, many crab, but that was our best pot, we managed 2 sets and conditions began to worsen, one member got seasick, we drifted so fast it was hard to keep an eye, or find, our pots so we stacked after 2 sets with only 14 keepers for 4 of us. Then it got interesting on the way in……. The point (Bonita) was a nightmare of confused swells and wind waves, a bit of a white knuckler. Everything pushed us one way or another, it was fairly brief, but don’t want to do it again (but if I do I, know how to handle it now). Maybe JK (Jim) will chime in on his view of the seas and how the boat handled.

Once we rounded the point and closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, it was so much better and we decided to swing by Baker Beach to see how the conditions were and they were great, except as soon as we got ready to set, our old friend Lou Seal showed up right at the back of the boat. We then ran him (because he would follow us) down and back the length of the beach a number of times (maybe 3/4 of a mile) and every time we stopped he’d surface with his teethy grin and say “did you miss me”. Finally we tried going out deeper and towards home and he followed for a ways and disappeared, we circled around to try and set, but nooooo, he surfaced with his smile and gotcha face. We threw in the towel and went to port……..

Decided to to go between storms for the first time... (show quote)

You Sir are a dedicated Fisherman 🙏👍🤙

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

Fredfish wrote:

Sounds like you made the best of some bad conditions Denny. Be careful out there buddy. Even in a good boat like a Wellcraft, sometimes it's just not worth the risk. Nice crab anyway.

Thanks Fred, I tried. I’m glad I made the decision to stack and go when I did because if it had gotten worse as predicted, I’m not sure what my options would have been. I know now that when the swells are coming from 2 directions to be much more cautious about whether or not I go out.

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

Jarheadfishnfool wrote:

You Sir are a dedicated Fisherman 🙏👍🤙

Thanks Bobby, maybe dedicated with a bit of foolish in there!😬 Going to work on that foolish part though……..

NJ219bands Loc: New Jersey

Nice 👍

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

NJ219bands wrote:

Nice 👍

Thanks NJ!

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

Better than none. I am jealous. Our season is now closed until August. Next Adventure out will be for the short Lingcod season in the spring. Fortunately, I have had little seal trouble with my box traps. I have gotten an occasional octopus or dogfish work their way in. I love the traps you use, but unfortunately, the dog fish hear make them pretty much useless.

Bcmech1 Loc: Clinton Wisconsin

40GRIT wrote:

Decided to to go between storms for the first time in a while, forecasted marine conditions looked tolerable, 1-2’ swells coming in 2 directions and 2’ wind waves with 12 knots of wind. It was close to that, but no cigar. We (me and 3 of my Alaskan fishing buddies) met up at 0600 and pushed off at 6:35, dark but minimal fog. Still steamed out at a cautious 13 mph or so, dodged a ferry or two, went through the potatoe patch no problem, then hit the point and the bar. It was rough and we slowed down to about 10 mph until we were well past the point. At that time the seas evened up and we were able to speed up to about 15 mph. Got to the crabbing hole and started to set, between the wind, mixed swell, wind waves and unable to make out land, ours set was a bit of a zig zag pattern. We started pulling pots at about 8:35 after a 40 minute soak, 1st pot must have had over 20 crab, unfortunately only 4 male keepers, the rest were females or smalls. Most all the pots had many, many crab, but that was our best pot, we managed 2 sets and conditions began to worsen, one member got seasick, we drifted so fast it was hard to keep an eye, or find, our pots so we stacked after 2 sets with only 14 keepers for 4 of us. Then it got interesting on the way in……. The point (Bonita) was a nightmare of confused swells and wind waves, a bit of a white knuckler. Everything pushed us one way or another, it was fairly brief, but don’t want to do it again (but if I do I, know how to handle it now). Maybe JK (Jim) will chime in on his view of the seas and how the boat handled.

Once we rounded the point and closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, it was so much better and we decided to swing by Baker Beach to see how the conditions were and they were great, except as soon as we got ready to set, our old friend Lou Seal showed up right at the back of the boat. We then ran him (because he would follow us) down and back the length of the beach a number of times (maybe 3/4 of a mile) and every time we stopped he’d surface with his teethy grin and say “did you miss me”. Finally we tried going out deeper and towards home and he followed for a ways and disappeared, we circled around to try and set, but nooooo, he surfaced with his smile and gotcha face. We threw in the towel and went to port……..

Decided to to go between storms for the first time... (show quote)

I'm sure your buddy Lou would have loved to have had one of those crabs.

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

bapabear wrote:

Better than none. I am jealous. Our season is now closed until August. Next Adventure out will be for the short Lingcod season in the spring. Fortunately, I have had little seal trouble with my box traps. I have gotten an occasional octopus or dogfish work their way in. I love the traps you use, but unfortunately, the dog fish hear make them pretty much useless.

You are right Bapa, better than none. It ended up costing about the same as if we went to the store and purchased them, but what fun would that be? We learned to not bother setting the loops with a seal around, they just steal all the bait and tear up your equipment, it’s an annoyance, but what are you going to do? Our season is open for quite a while yet, we’ll change over to the standard enclosed pots once the commercial season is open. We’ll set deeper and leave longer as well. The toughest part here is weather, come late December it gets very unfavorable and the days you can get safely out and back in are limited. If you get down this way give me a heads up and maybe we can get you out!

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

Bcmech1 wrote:

I'm sure your buddy Lou would have loved to have had one of those crabs.

Old Lou can just dive down and get all he wants off the bottom, he wants our squid and herring that we bait with, easy lunch for him without the crunchy shell!

bapabear Loc: Blaine, Washington

40GRIT wrote:

You are right Bapa, better than none. It ended up ... (show quote)

Thanks, I will do that. I unfortunately don't go that way much since my folks passed in Monterey, but you never know. I have been thinking about an extended trip to chase stripers in the delta. It might be fun to combine trips. I still have a few good years.

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

bapabear wrote:

Thanks, I will do that. I unfortunately don't go that way much since my folks passed in Monterey, but you never know. I have been thinking about an extended trip to chase stripers in the delta. It might be fun to combine trips. I still have a few good years.

👍👍

OldBassGuy Loc: Temecula, CA

40GRIT wrote:

Decided to to go between storms for the first time in a while, forecasted marine conditions looked tolerable, 1-2’ swells coming in 2 directions and 2’ wind waves with 12 knots of wind. It was close to that, but no cigar. We (me and 3 of my Alaskan fishing buddies) met up at 0600 and pushed off at 6:35, dark but minimal fog. Still steamed out at a cautious 13 mph or so, dodged a ferry or two, went through the potatoe patch no problem, then hit the point and the bar. It was rough and we slowed down to about 10 mph until we were well past the point. At that time the seas evened up and we were able to speed up to about 15 mph. Got to the crabbing hole and started to set, between the wind, mixed swell, wind waves and unable to make out land, ours set was a bit of a zig zag pattern. We started pulling pots at about 8:35 after a 40 minute soak, 1st pot must have had over 20 crab, unfortunately only 4 male keepers, the rest were females or smalls. Most all the pots had many, many crab, but that was our best pot, we managed 2 sets and conditions began to worsen, one member got seasick, we drifted so fast it was hard to keep an eye, or find, our pots so we stacked after 2 sets with only 14 keepers for 4 of us. Then it got interesting on the way in……. The point (Bonita) was a nightmare of confused swells and wind waves, a bit of a white knuckler. Everything pushed us one way or another, it was fairly brief, but don’t want to do it again (but if I do I, know how to handle it now). Maybe JK (Jim) will chime in on his view of the seas and how the boat handled.

Once we rounded the point and closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, it was so much better and we decided to swing by Baker Beach to see how the conditions were and they were great, except as soon as we got ready to set, our old friend Lou Seal showed up right at the back of the boat. We then ran him (because he would follow us) down and back the length of the beach a number of times (maybe 3/4 of a mile) and every time we stopped he’d surface with his teethy grin and say “did you miss me”. Finally we tried going out deeper and towards home and he followed for a ways and disappeared, we circled around to try and set, but nooooo, he surfaced with his smile and gotcha face. We threw in the towel and went to port……..

Decided to to go between storms for the first time... (show quote)

I think I saw this episode on "Deadliest Catch", be safe out there Denny!!

40GRIT Loc: San Ramon, CA

OldBassGuy wrote:

I think I saw this episode on "Deadliest Catch", be safe out there Denny!!

Lol, not quite but felt like it at times…..