Giant Sheep Crab

I thought this might be worth mentioning. I found it pretty interesting.

I was fishing in Capitola last Saturday with sardines on a halibut rig when i thought i got a big hit. I went to set the hook but just felt the bait come off. I hooked up another sardine with a stinger hook and sent it down and got hit again right away and this time i set the hook or so i thought. As i started reeling in whatever it was it felt like it got tangled in kelp, tangled up good. Trying not to break my line i pulled it up slowly but surely still tangled in a mass of anchored kelp. Keep in mind i was only in about 10 ft of water just on the inside of the kelp beds. When it was about 3 feet under my boat I looked down to see what i was trying to catch and if it was worth all this effort. To my surprise it wasn't a fish at all but what looked like an alaskan king crab? With huge 18 inch long arms waving at me this creature was walking up the kelp fighting for the bait. Now i didn't know what it was but i sure wanted it. I love crab! Now that i wanted it i pulled too hard and whatever was holding the crab on came off.   I wanted to see that thing close up so bad. Just after that a freind of mine showed up and told him i lost  crab 3 feet from tip to tip but i don't think he believed me.I could barely believe what i saw.

Here is a pic of what it looked like. Not actually it.

First time I saw one was diving near Catalina. I got a cool pic holding it's arms apart underwater.
I heard the shell is SUPER thick and not worth the effort to clean.

I believe it's the Spider Crab.  The shell is very hard but it's good eating.

In southern Cal some of the resterants sell them under the name Spider crab. I have eaten them once or twice but the are super thick shelled and not worth the 10.00 a pound they get for them

I'm kind of a geek about biology. This is from the DFG website.
Status of Biological Knowledge
“Sheep crab” is the common name of one species within a family of crabs
(Majidae), collectively known as spider crabs. Consequently, the sheep crab, which is
the largest member of the California majid crabs, is often called “spider crab”. They
range from Cordell Bank (off Marin County) south to Cape Thurloe, Baja California, in
depths of 20 to 410 ft. It is not known whether the sheep crab resource consists of
more than one population. Sheep crabs are apparently most abundant off southern
California.

I snagged one of those last year while bouncing a bar off the bottom to piss off a ling, IMO not worth the effort to clean and eat

Totally cool rare catch.  I hope you're researching the camera mount setup you need!     Thanks for sharing that.   

down south we get hundreds of them crabbing and lobster hooping there all over the place all about the size u said there not worth cleaning thow or at least in my opinion...

On my checkout dive off Catalina Island in 1971 a huge spider crab was the first significant creature I saw. So what did I do after sucking down 80% of my tank,,, I speared him and took him to the surface.

The diivemaster called me all sorts of names, told me to shake it loose and thats the last time I ever considered them anything other than a sea tick..

Rich