We got crabs at Muir beach

Just cooked and picked all the crab and man is there a big pile of meat! And Im stuffed. Im thinking crab chowder.
I did it just like Chuck Es recipie, with sprite, and damn its good! The only change I made was that I put 'em in after the water started to boil.
Q- Why do you put crabs in the pot ass-end first?
A- So you can catch there expresion on there face.

                                                                       ><((((*>

Craig,

I consider one crab a victory for the first trip, not to mention the distance you paddled.  I only hope to get at least one considering this will be my first trip and not knowing the area with respect to crabbing etc.  Good job.  I am planning on a learning experience plus some meat fish or crab if I am lucky.  I hope scubamike1974 replies soon or I will be heading out alone.

S.Marmot, NW swell, 5-7 ft said the prediction last night.  It was more like 4-6, with scattered 7's maybe.  Muir Beach cove is quite protected from NW weather and has a very very gradual bottom slope out.  Winds were SE 5-10 until about 11am or so, then they dropped to W at 5 or less.

Etienne, thanks!  My takeway from today: 

- when you get the hang of it, hoop nets can be just as effective as pots - just takes getting the knack, baiting right, and pulling more often. 
- deeper is not necessarily better.  Take a look at a topo map of bottom beforehand if possible, and look for a flat bottom (wide curves) after a dropoff and give it a try.  It may be better than paddling perhaps uselessly for another hour like I did - time burned not fishing.
- bait for the soak time - fine metal mesh cages for half day soaks would be smarter than jars (but overnight crab can chip holes even in fine metal mesh - I saw examples from the PBs I met today).

Also, I weighted my pots for overnight soaking and rough weather.  So due to the bulk and weight, that is what I am getting, like it or not.  17 lbs empty when folded out and then baiting/dropping from a yak is not practical for launching and landing often.  Maybe just as well dropping them unweighted and shallower on a calm day and using loose or caged bait, and planning on a single 3-4 hour soak, or pulling halfway through and dropping down again.

My pots may have just found semi-permanent homes out there until January, due to the PITA factor.  Oh well, it will be good exercise paddling out to harvest every 3 or 4 days....  I just hope the poachers lay off!

There's an article in the SF Chronicle today where the author, Paul McHugh, went out on a yak in HMB and hauled in some large Dungees using a hoop trap.  He named off a bunch of other crabby places so they may be crowded this coming weekend.  The article is pretty good and there's some info that I didn't know.  The commercial folks have to throw back anything less than 6" and the sport fishermen can take anything larger than 5 3/4".  Oh yeah, if you don't want to buy the newspaper use this link:  www.sfgate.com

When I cooked up my crab for dinner last night I got lazy and didn't wash down my the crab.  There was some leftover sand from the carnage picture that I thought would fall off but it got into some of the meat.  Lesson learned, give the Dungees a scrub down before placing them in the pot.  If you put them in ass first, per Ben's method, they'll be clean and smiling before they become dinner.

It turns out that we were in the water the same time a Tsunami hit up north.  I suspect that if it did roll into our area it wouldn't be much different from a big swell...unless you were launching or landing.

I'm kind of wondering if Ben's bait (fish parts, striper skin) was more attractive than the squid I was using.  Now I'm thinking of all the fish carcasses that I threw away and should have saved. 

To tell you the truth I was surprised that in the middle of the cove, straight out from the beach, with no structure around that there are so many crab in the area.  Of course the commercial guys don't come in that close so we (yakkers) still have a decent chance.

For the guys that have the Danielson box trap...it works, isn't that heavy, I didn't attach any weights to it and I assembled it before I went out.  I bungied it down directly behind my seat and in front of my milk crate.  I have a Tarpon 160i and that configuration worked out fairly well.  I'm now thinking I can bungie a hoop trap up front to increase my chances.  Fishing is still more fun but when you haul up that trap full of crab, it makes it all worth it.

Gary

good job, I can't wait  to get time to get some crab.

Jason

My buddy Russ used to drop traps off HMB (on his 16-ft aluminum boat) and he swore that using using the carcass of vermilions was DA BEST....his reason was that the crabs are attracted to the bright red color of the verms. I believe him - cause I was the guy pulling the traps - which were all full - we even saw several bigger dungies that were hanging on the outside cause they were to big to fit in the entrance 

But then again, he soaked his traps over night....and the theivery was not bad back then

anyway, great score guys!

Joel, So why do you dislike crabbing so much. Don't you want crabs?

Crabs are OK.....IMO: it's too much work for so little meat....wish we had lobsters here in Norcal 

I was invited to a crab feed (all you can eat) by my buddy Lee last year. They were serving buckets full of crabs (already cracked open) and ready to eat - I must have had 2 1/2 buckets before I called it quits = GOOD STUFF RIGHT THERE

wish we had lobsters here in Norcal 

Word.

MolBasser

Mooch
that,s why i ,m not big on crawfish to much work
when i was a kid in new orleans that,s all i did was crayfish with string & chicken

Crabs kindof make the kitchen stink too. Fish are a hell of a lot easier to deal with and are a lot more fun to fight. Crabs make good gifts.

Crabs make good gifts.

good point Ben....but better yet, maybe I can trap crabs and barter them at the local Kentucky Fried Chicken (that's good stuff right there ) And then I can invite my bro  Troy (gotbaitgofish) over and watch some good 'ol Hank Parker and Roland Martin fishing videos 

I have some for gifts (coworkers, gotta keep on their good sides, or get back on good sides anyway).

Went to pull my pots this AM.  At Muir 7.15 and launched at 7.40.   Launch was an adventure, caught air twice plowing through breakers, yak slammed down but my feet stayed in the footwells and my butt slammed down on the seat, whew.

2.5 miles offshore, got to pots at 8.30, pulled the first, damn, just 2 and that's it.  I am thinkin', poached!  Tossed them into onion bag and back into tankwell to paddle to the other pot.

Man, maybe I was tired from the first one, but this seems heavy.  Pull, pull pull...  Pull pull...  Gah...  Finally, got it up to the side, dang, at least 8 or 9 in there!  And they are all big...  Plus the 11 lbs of lead bars...   Now how to lift this thing on deck?  Heeeaaaavvve...  Heeeaaavvve...  Damn, it's too heavy.... One more time... Whoooooaaaaaaa... Splash!  CAPSIZED!   Crap.  Lost the 2 I had in the tankwell, the pot I am pullin' drops back down, oh hell, where are my glasses?  Self-rescue, hey at least the water felt good.

Pulled it up again... omg I am gonna die I swear...  Got it up to the side, had to grab it better, oh....  lost the rope...  Caught it halfway down and pulled it up again, pull, pull, pull, pull, ah...  still crab inside...  Oh hell no, one undid the latch!  One jumped out, crap, this ain't gonna do.. Heeaaavvvve, Yeah!!  Got it up onto my lap!  Still 7 left in there, whew...... Bagged and stowed, oh crap, where did the coast go?

Paddled east and almost found the cliffs - paged through my GPS, wow, I am too far south.  Paddled up and finally landed at 11.  Did my first brace successfully and rode a wave in sideways, good times.

I did lose my limit (had at least 10 trapped) but at least I got 7 home.  Next time I am gonna nix 1 of the lead bars, don't need so much weight.  Pain in the butt.  I do think the bigger crab are farther out.  It's what I heard on the street and all the ones I got today were big....

(2) 6.5"
(3) 6.75"
(2) 7"

Not gonna sell my 2nd trap anymore, keepin em both.  They are sweet.  Hoping to try LM this weekend, Sunday is it?

Nice ones Craig.  I think I just need to find the right spot.  I will try deeper water next time.

It sounds like you had a real adventure out there today.  That low fog can really disorient you.  Glad you made it back safely and with most of your limit.

Nice work there, Craig!  Those are big dungees; bigger than the ones I got at LM last year.  Sorry to hear your capsized incident. Good thing you have a reliable fishfinder to get you back.  My ff failed on me when the fog rolled in and shot my viz to 10 yards at Salt Point this year.   I was surrounded by fog and could not see the land; I immediately turned back and follow the direction of the swell and paddled 1 hour in oblivion.  I installed a compass on my deck after that experience.  Can't rely on battery operated device, you know.  Even the Coast Guard can not help me in that fog situation.

Thanks for sharing your pics and success story.
-Ron