Bodega, 1-16-13, Non Yak

My buddy Rattle trap joined me for a trip to pull my Crab string. My crab string hasn't been touched in four weeks due to weather, work and some health issues. I didn't know if I would find all them or none. I ended up finding 2 out of my four pots and Salmotrutta had 2 pot out there also that are MIA. I got lucky as to find the two because the buoy was covered in green slime. Pulled the two to find 2 keepers. We rebaited and gave them a two hour soak while we looked for the other MIA pots. For the day we came home with a half limit. The weather was just Beautifull. Sunny and the Ocean was FAC.

Stats- Air Temp- L-40* H- 56*, water temp 52.9*, Seas 4.5 ft @ 14 seconds, clarity 15ft, skies sunny, Wind - 0-5 mph, Tides for Bodega Head- H-1:43 am L-7:36 am H- 1:14 pm and L- 7:45 pm

Can't get much better

 



Our take home crabs

 



Nice ride in

 



Sauna is ready!

 

 

Sorry to hear about your MIA crab pots.  Hope you'll recover them next time.  Thanks for the report and pictures fish junky.

Glad you pulled some crabs!

Not-so-glad to read all these nonchalant posts about "lost" pots. They aren't "lost", they've just joined the trash pile on the ocean floor. 4 weeks unattended? Hell, if you leave your flip flops unattended for 5 minutes the ocean will try to take them from you...

Let's not do that again, hokay?

Ok... I'll step down off the soap box now.

I agree, a lost trap can become a self baiting killing machine, until it washes ashore, or get buried on the bottom.  I'm going to be out along the coast off Americano Estero tomorrow with a group of sea kayakers.  I will check the beaches for lost pots - not a bad chance that these heavy waves have washed things ashore.

Yo Fish Junky
So I did paddle the 5.5 miles from the estero road bridge to the mouth of Americano Estero with some friends today.  First thing I saw on the birm beach was a beat up crab trap.  Later, I saw another that was its twin, on the ocean side of the beach, south of the estero.  Both were really beat, but the stainless steel parts are still good - mostly the chicken wire is smashed out and the rubber wrapped frame had been bent, but they could be salvaged.  Getting them might be a problem though.  Here are some pictures - it would be ironic if both your lost traps landed on this beach.  Would love to hear if you think they might be yours -- pictures attached

2nd pic , same trap

Sorry to hear about you lost gear! hopefully they'll turn up...

There's still a good chance they are still out there... if there was a fast drift and it was high tide, in addition to the lines being weighted down with growth & current, it may have just been dragged under the surface.

Trying going out on a low tide to do a search and recover; I thought I had lost 5 of my 12 pots that had been out there for over 2 months, but went back the following week and found 4 of the missing 5....