5/18 HMB crabbing

On vacation and threw caution to the wind and headed out to Half Moon Bay targeting dungeness this morning.  Arrived at about 5:30am and since it was low tide, a few folks were catching rock crabs w/ nets near the South jetty.  They did well, but nothing BIG or worth writing home about.  I landed on my waypoints around 6am and wished I was fishing.  Water was calm and the sun almost broke through the clouds.  Short lived tho...  the wind that was supposed to be around 7mph at 9am was more like 12-14 mph with white caps starting to boil all around.  Called it at 8:45am when waves started lapping over the side of the kayak.  Pulled up about 15 crabs and ended the short trip out with 4 keepers. 

Sadly, weather looks snotty for days to come 

Thanks for the report.

Nice work getting out there.

Sounds like a successful day to me, got crabs and off the water early. Nice man!!

Sounds like a successful day to me, got crabs and off the water early. Nice man!!

+1

Great job Aaron!

quick question, when you measure you crabs how do you usually hold the crab--- pressing and holding the claws in and then measuring or holding the bottom two legs and then measure?  I noticed if i do the latter sometimes the crab becomes a keeper, but if i press in the claws its short by like a thin hair...either way i just toss it to be safe when its that close

Interesting question...  I usually keep my fingers away from the claws as I've had them pinched a few times in the past.    So I grab the crab from the back or the bottom two legs and do the measure.  When the crab is close in measurement... I'll set it down in the kayak upside down so it stays put and deal with the rest of the crabs and toss the net/trap back in.  Then I'll do another measure and maybe a couple more when the crab has relaxed its' front claws, etc.  Like you said, if there's a fraction of space I'll toss it back.  A friend of mine who comes with me from time to time has an uncle who is a Fish and Game officer.  He told his nephew if it's close... toss it back... don't risk it... $1,000 fine per crab undersized... Just not worth the risk! 

All said and done, measure, measure again, and maybe one more time if you're not 100% sure.

When I'm checking the size of my crabs I like to press them face down towards a flat surface, it usually gets them to push against it with their claws, giving you a better window to measure between their 'shoulders'.

Anything a hair +/- gets tossed back.  a 5 3/4 Male usually has some good meat on them, but I like to just keep 6" and above males, makes measuring fast and it's the right amount of meat vs. struggle.

Speaking of 1000 dollar fines per crab, make sure your gauge is accurate, I've seen some metal ones that are actually short on their measurements.