Midnight Crab Opener

Domenic and I had a ball tonight down at Crab Park.  On the drive down there around 10:20 it poured, and we were ready to be wet for the duration.  Luckily it cleared up for us with the moon and stars casting a glow over storm clouds as they passed to the east.  The huge swells arrived this afternoon and washed all the way over the spit between the ocean and the estuary, but we managed to get a fire going and got our gear set at midnight.  By just after 1AM we were enjoying success as we pulled rings and traps and each scored half a limit of legal Dungeness over the course of a couple hours of working the gear.  We cooked up a couple of our catch and were treated to what seemed like a delicacy out there under the stars.  What a blast!  Thanks again, Dom, for joining me for another adventure.  Home and in the hot tub by 3:20, and now it's time for pillow smiles.   

...

looks like a seriouse good time, congrats on the crabs

Great job guys! Looks like it was a great success. Takes a dedicated NCKA type of person to put up with the conditions you both did in pursuit of the bounty of the ocean.

WTG on the dungies Coastal Dudes! 
Looks like you had a great time 
Thanks for the report.

Tad 

Looking Good,,,,,

Nice report Abking. 

thanks for the report king. how big were the swells up there?

Thats the way to do it!

The swells hit 23 yesterday afternoon around high tide, KJ, and that's when the water washed all the way over the spit.  Picture a 300 yard wide driftwood covered beach separating the open coastline from the estuary of the river where it joins with a slough.  The area we crab is out of the main river current and far enough away from the actual mouth that we usually experience no swell action at all.  Last night, with the big swells and the incoming tide, there were little surges of the incoming water that would disrupt that usually calm water.  We never had to deal with anything other than a mild bump (like a 6" lift), but adjacent to us over a sandy shoal that is exposed at minus tide the incoming surge would break every 10 minutes or so over an area of a few acres.  It was kind of ominous in the dark - we could vaguely see a line of white and hear the little breaker, but we knew it was over the very shallow shoal and it would only amount to the little bump by the time it got to us.  We were crabbing water that was 8 to 12 feet deep and right along the sandy spit.  Since the high tide had allowed the big swells to earlier wash over the spit all the driftwood was not only wet from the rain but also water-logged from the ocean washing over it.  We searched around and found a pretty big redwood log that, although it had been soaked like everything else, had some measure of dryness underneath where the middle of it was suspended because the ends were resting on the wet sand.  We chipped away at the redwood until we had enough little, wet pieces of wood to try to build the fire.  We wouldn't have gotten it going without some artificial help - I had some lighter fluid and Dom had some kind of corn alcohol mix.  It didn't take long though and we had the underside of the log going and we propped up some bigger soaked logs that dried out while we crabbed and eventually turned into the base for the boiling pot.  It was a trip without beer because we're both ridin' the wagon.  The combination of the weather, the moon and stars, the water conditions, the crab action, and hanging out with someone else who enjoys all that stuff so much was the best buzz I've had in a long time.   

Can't beat fresh boiled Dungie!   Thanks for the report and cool campfire pictures Eric.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like a great adventure, and one that got you some amazing food as well!!!

My wife and I love eating crabs, but I have never been crabbing out here (just back in new orleans)...

Think I will definitely have to invest in a ring or two to give me an excuse to keep getting out OTW over the winter!!!

Thanks for sharing the great report and pics Eric.

Sincerely,

Jim

Living the lifestyle 'king   

awesome late night adventure, eric and dom, looks like you guys had a wonderful night of crabs and fire, even without the beer, cameron

Super report Eric!  Midnight snack looks yummy.

Based on the time between posts, you sure didn't get many "pillow smiles."

Michael