I crabbed at HMB several times but at Bodega Bay only during a couple Crabfests. I’ve had much better luck at HMB but I’ve been there more often. I was looking at my fast track account and realized starting the 1st it will cost me $36 for bridge tolls and $19 to launch if I go to HMB but $4 to launch at Doran and no bridge tolls. Both are about an hour and a half from my house but coming home from HMB takes me through San Francisco when the traffic is heavy. I’m thinking If the crabbing was equal I’d be better off switching to Bodega Bay for the lower cost and better drive. It looks like Bodega Bay is a little deeper and with the nickname Blowdega it might be windier.

How does Bodega Bay stack up against Half Moon Bay for Kayak Crabbing?

It looks like the turnover has happened. I’m going to try it today. I wonder how long it’ll take for the bite to recover.

This was my first time crabbing on opening day. The wind report had me worried that I wouldn’t be able to go, but I decided to make the trip and hope it was calmer than the forecast. I arrived at 5:30 and it was dead calm. I headed out before daylight hoping the wind wouldn’t arrive before I had a decent amount of time to get some crab. As it turned out it was a beautiful day. It was so calm that the surface of the water was smooth. The wind didn’t pick up until about 1:00 but by that time I had my limit. I dropped my nets at three waypoints I have from past trips. The first pull came up with two crabs about an inch and a half wide. The second pull got me three crabs about three inches wide. Then I got several empty pulls. I heard someone on the radio say they got a nice one at fifty feet so I left my net at that depth even though it had come up empty for me. I moved my other two to that area in the hope that it would get better. Around the time the tide slacked off I pulled up one with four keepers of good size. Then every pull had at least one keeper until I got my limit. The last pulls of the day all had undersize only. That was around 1:00 and the wind was starting to pick up. According to Willy Weather real time wind it was blowing around 12-13 mph, so not horrible but it did make the paddle in more difficult. All the crabs were bigger than the gauge and some were nice jumbos. All in all it was a great first time opening day. 

I’ve only fished Albion a few times. I’d like to give it a try if conditions cooperate sometime before the season ends. I don’t know if the 20 fathom line is so limiting that it will create a problem or are there still decent spots open to fishing from a kayak. Does anyone have advice or recommendations on fishing that area with the new restrictions in place? Thanks

Albion is one I can think of. Pillar Point and Doran both have launch ramps but I’ve never heard anything good about the rockfish fishing there. Any suggestions?

You can select a charity and Amazon will give a little every time you buy. I chose Heroes On The Water.

"This is the quarterly notification to inform you that AmazonSmile has made a charitable donation to the charity you’ve selected, Heroes On The Water, in the amount of $364.95 as a result of qualifying purchases made by you and other customers who have selected this charity.

Thanks to customers shopping at smile.amazon.com, or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app, everyday purchases have generated over $321 million in donations to charities worldwide so far.

AmazonSmile's impact:
$5,580.46 to Heroes On The Water*
$285,795,312.80 to all charities in the US
$321,230,298.08 to all charities worldwide"

I am looking for a replacement console/peddle scupper plug. Anyone have one laying around after installing their peddles? Thanks Ken

Does anyone own this map. The photo on the website seems to show a coverage area that extends into the ocean. My old navionics maps cover lakes and near shore ocean. Everything I’ve read about the lakevu does not mention anything but lakes. So is the image showing ocean coverage accurate? Thanks.