HMB - Saturday - 12/19 - Farewell to 2009

Hooked up with Sandman, Eye-at Bay and Jaywo at 645AM at a surf launch on the San Mateo coast for some crabbing. Surf looked doable but it was blowin like a mo-fo so we headed to plan B, HMB. Things were much better and launched around 8 AM. Things got snotty around 10 AM and Gary suggested we head home and I agreed.    Ended up with 1 dungie and 6 reds. Cooked the reds in garlic and they were excellent. Phil was right about the reds. Last fishing for 2009 for me. This was a hard year for many people including my family. I would like to thank my kayak fishing friends who helped me get through some hard times. God bless you and have a happy New Year!!!

Scott

Awesome looking dish there Scott. Glad to see you brought home some dinner
anyhow. Great call too BTW. I've done that a lot. If I feel the water condition is
beyond my limitation, I'll start paddling back.

Jedmo

WTG on making the best of a less-than-ideal last day, Scott. Nice report and I can almost smell that garlic - looks deelish. 

Thanks for the post and delicious dish!  Care to share the recipe Scott?

I hope the year-end report on the family front is a positive one. Merry Christmas to all.

Mmmmmmm...

That plate looks really tasty!

Although I only got to fish with you once this year it was a great day wasnt it? Very good looking food there. Happy Holidays and hope to see you on the water in 10'

Nice report, Scott.  Best wishes to you and yours.   

Thanks for the post and delicious dish!  Care to share the recipe Scott?

I use Michael Chiarello's recipe but use less olive oil. Really pretty easy and good for parties. I think the rock crab is better steamed rather than boiled. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/famous-roast-garlic-crab-recipe/index.html

Forgot to mention that Eric bagged 4 dungies and Jay also bagged a few dungies. Both were crabbing for the first time. Gary and I bought some dungies from a local fisherman since we were short.

Craig - Adam's "giving back" party was fun. May have to organize one for next year.

Eric - can't wait for GS4

Good to be OTW after waiting out the bad weather and finding the time to get out.  Good to see everyone (Scott, Eric, Jay, Andrew (and friend) and Brian).  We stopped at LM for a looksee and it was blowing good and waves were breaking pretty far out.  We could have handled the surf but the wind was blowing good.  So it was south to HMB and the conditions were so much better.

Crabbing was busy if you like tossing everything back.  I only ended up with one big rock crag and threw back at least 10 under-dungies and 5 - 6 rock crab.  I only had one trap so I plan to get some more for the next trip.  Later in the day a commercial boat came in and picked up his traps right in the area where we were so it makes sense that most of the legal dungies were gone.  Eric made the move out to deeper water and started picking up keeper crab...thanks for the assist Eric.  However, it was late in the AM and the chop / wind had picked up so after a few more soaks we got off the water.

I hope every one has a good holiday season and that Santa brings you the fishing gear that you've hinted for.

Gary

Nice seeing you guys out there. I ended up with one dungie and 2 rocks, and a bunch of small throwbacks. Next time, I'm making a beeline for 50 - 60 feet of water. Any idea if fishing for sanddabs out there would be a good way to kill time between pulls?

Thanks for the post and delicious dish!  Care to share the recipe Scott?

I use Michael Chiarello's recipe but use less olive oil. Really pretty easy and good for parties. I think the rock crab is better steamed rather than boiled. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/famous-roast-garlic-crab-recipe/index.html

Thanks for the link.  I definitely will try this recipe next time!

Thanks for the invite Scott. My story was much of the same. 6 dungies, only 1 legal. 7 rocks, only kept 4. I ended up getting home an hour after our company arrived, but you guys were right, bring home crab and all is forgiven. Cleaned and cooked within an hour of getting home and everyone had a few bites. Not a bad Saturday.

Malibu Two-  a friend of mine made a crab snare for me. He said he has pinned a squid about a foot or so above and brought up sand dabs and sand sole that way. I didn't get a chance to try out the snare as I was short on bait.

Gary and Eric it was nice meeting you both. Happy Holidays.

M2 - I pulled a Promar 102 from 45 FOW and had a sand dab in it. Never seen them that shallow but I guess there are a few around. Last month there were still sardines around so a sabiki or crab snare would be reasonable. If you have 4 traps there is almost no down time with 30-45 minute soaks.

Jay - glad you didn't burn too much WAF. Will call you in January for the next crab trip.

Scott