Crabbing at Doran State Park 1/10/11

We arrived at the park around 9am.  It's cold this morning and windy but the wind died down in the afternoon and condition was much nicer.  Lots of under size Dungies but we managed 21 keepers for the 4 of us (Dave, Martin, Vallejo Dave, and me).  I enjoyed the companies and this place.  Some pictures of the day...

Tried to talk him out since he failed to launch his kayak the first time due to choppy waves.  He got no body protection, no PFD, no radio, and no shoes!  Had to land him a hand pushing his yak so he can get pass the surf to launch...

Thanks for the report and pictures Sonny. I'm glad that you old gizzard still knows how to roll in style.

Freddy (IslandYak)

Thanks HobieDave and others for sharing some crabs with me. We will be having it for dinner tonight. So true when you show up to a hookup
from the Carquinez Crew, you don't ever go hungry. Plus some
home made brew.

Jedmo

Thanks for another great hookup and thanks to Sonny and Dave for providing another incredible lunch.  The guy in Sonny's picture who went out without a PFD was using a plastic garbage bag with holes for his legs for "protection".  He was just arriving back at the park as we were leaving.  I guess he was going to add a little darkness to his list of unsafe behaviors while retrieving his pots.  He was in a small Ocean Kayak with no seat, no PFD, no radio or any other safety gear.  Since he didn't make the news, I guess he made it back to the beach.  Amazing!!!!  Stupid!!!!

The unprepared kayaker I am guessing is from SoCal  

The hot sauce during lunch I am sure helps warm the body up!
Thanks for sharing your report, I've been stuck at my work computer the last few weeks!

The unprepared kayaker I am guessing is from SoCal  

The hot sauce during lunch I am sure helps warm the body up!
Thanks for sharing your report, I am stuck at my work computer the last few weeks!

I also brought some home made "spicy" cookies that help them cope with the chilly condition 

Good trip, thanks for sharing

"Team of the Year" - nice one, Guys!   

That psycho yakker sounds like a statistic in the making...   

Nice report Sonny and crew.   

Nice going guys. Love the Siracha shot. I crabbed there on 1/9 and had similar results. I am going to have to hookup with you guys but I don't own a hobie or have a dry suit.  The food looks good. 

Scott,
You are welcome to join us anytime.  I think I may have to get a dry suit too if this weather continues.  I'm not sure the group needs any more matching attire.


Martin

This crew eats and I mean eats good. We were met with significant wind from the East at the start of the day. As I dropped my traps my mind wondered if we would be able to harvest and retrieve them later' but other than the persistent cold, the wind died and were treated to calm water and weather. Our tally would have been somewhat better if my homemade gauge wasn't for commercial size. Some bad information I shared with Daviator which wasn't discovered until the lunch break. We found that keepers were easier to come by when using Dave's extra gauge. That homemade gauge wasn't a problem during our prior (early season) crab trip.
I didn't just recently become stupid I've been using that same gauge for twenty something years.
dave...

Alright...sorry for the late post...plus no pics from the field since I was an idiot and brought an uncharged camera otw..


what a great start to the 2011 season...So relieved to have the holiday madness behind us.. December precluded any sort of otw time so launching yesterday had that aaaaaw sensation...

brought out my OK tandem which fit the bill perfectly yesterday hauling carb pots to/from beach.. The Hobie Mirage Drive would have been a pain with so frequent beach landings....

First time at Doran and was happy when the water / wind calmed down...
although it remained pretty damned cold which is why I am grateful for the dry suit.
I brought a simple rod for perch fishing but that was a bust...should have remembered to bring the sabiki as sardines were reported in the area a week ago. They would have been nice to replenish the bait traps.

Getting together with the gang is always a pleasure..
My wife refers to us as the "Rookies" gang but these guys...especially HobieDave are anything but.. He has his crabbing down...
He brought 5 Danielson Traps plus 2 loner Promars from Jedmo. He had the bait cages ready to go with frozen chicken and frozen anchovies in sealed bags, homemade floats with rope attached all incased in  plastic shopping bags for ease-of- deployment...I always pick up tips from the guys..

So in betwn soakings we kept our stomachs full with the good eats...Sonny really put up a good spread by bringing the Vietnamese rice paper, mint/basil leaves, bbq chicken strips, along with brown bean paste and hot sauce..
I brought along some of my wifes Oni Giri rice balls wrapped with Nori and of course Martin covered the brews..
Martin schooled me on the "cameron concept" of downing a brew btwn trap soakings...

Still working on refining the cooking techniques. tried frying them up with the Vietnamese spice/ flour packet that Nudling posted a while back  but I most have bought the wrong packet...plus I didn't get my oil hot enough with my outside propane burner so my crab got a bit oily...
so need to get back out there and try again...

I brought my Promar traps which worked well enough... but got one damaged by a pesky sea lion. a pack of 3 fur bags stole our bait from the ring traps we deployed.  robbed us in plain sight  and we couldn't do a damn thing abt it.

On a final note...thanks to Martin for suggesting that I buy my DFG license online on their website.. It was easy and I could print out my temporary license (15days until real one arrives in mail) with a credit card..
One added benefit is that in case I ever forget my license....the officer can check my records in their system.. ( I learned this 2 seasons ago when i forgot my license and got carded)

Very gratified to experience the great outdoors with such a fine group of guys.
Thanks,

Daviator  (had to drop the screen name "FlyingFish Row" as HobieDave won't let the original name go)

I don't see any thing wrong (too oily) in the last picture    It makes me hungry    Please tell your wife we love her rice balls and thanks her for us.