Long time lurker, first time poster. 

First off a brief intro. I originally found this site back in 2005 when I started fishing for rockfish. I was limited to charterboats and thought it would be cool to invest in a kayak to be self sufficient as well as save a little cash. I think what changed my mind was one day (pre-kayak), I took my float tube out into the ocean in Santa Cruz. That trip did not end well and the memory of waves bashing me into the rocks as I flailed and screamed like a little girl pushed out all desire for me to ever venture into the ocean in a human-powered craft again for the next 5 years. Lol.

Fast forward to spring 2010. I've started freediving and with a bouyant 7mm wetsuit to keep me warm and more importantly bouyant, my fear of venturing out into the ocean has subsided....somewhat. I've only taken my kayak out on the ocean a handful of times, but hope to do more with it in the future.

 
on to the report!


Initial plans were to take the kayak out and drop traps Saturday afternoon outside the jaws at HMB and pick up my hopefully loaded traps Sunday morning, but checking the weather forecast I noticed Sunday looked pretty snotty, with heavy rains and high winds. Decided at the last minute not to drop traps because if the weather turned bad and I wasn't able to launch on Sunday to retrieve them I'd lose all my gear.

7:00am Sunday found me sitting in my truck in the parking lot at Sam's Chowder House staring slack jawed at the whitecaps outside the harbor. Gusting wind, pounding surf, heavy rain, and a small craft advisory to boot! I had all my gear ready and didn't want to go home so I decided to putt around the harbor and drop my traps inside. Dropped one trap in the sand away from boat traffic and the other next to the rocks near the south jetty and then just paddled around to kill time. I had my wetsuit on and gave diving a shot and found 2 foot vis on the sand and mere inches next to the rocks by the jetty. I tried to look into the holes for rockfish, but each time a south swell would slam into the jetty, mud would come streaming through the rocks obliterating all vis.

A while later I ran into my buddy Manny as he motered in with full limits and he told me the wind and swells outside had calmed down some.  Poked my head out the jaws again and while it did look better, it was still pretty sketchy conditions to kayak in. Ended up diving a different section of jetty and while scouring the sand I ran into a dungeness crab. Quickly pounced on it and I had my first crab of the day! Measured it and it was a barely legal clicker, but I was in no position to be choosy so in the bag it went. Pulled my two traps next and the trap I set in the sand had 5 dungies in it, but all were between 2 and 3 inches in diameter. Cute little cute little guys that went back in the drink.

The trap I set next to the rocks was loaded with rock crab from which I extracted 5 keeper sized ones and threw back the smaller models.

All in all I have to say this was quite a different experience than going out crabbing from a powerboat. Your crab puller isn't a machine, but your own two hands. I also found you have very limited deckspace to carry traps, sort the keeper crab from the smaller ones, and you are definitely limited by the weather. All in all it was a good learning experience and I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet, but I have to admit I was a little bit envious when my buddy's boat pulled up next to me with 80 crab and here I was struggling to get just one. Humbling for sure.

Opening weekend for crab has come and gone and here I am with "no limits". Lol.