Slow crab... or environmental factors?

There's been a lot of chatter on the radio yesterday and today and on social media about this season kicking off to a very slow start.  While that's true, I started to question the negative (and downright ominous) outlook for the rest of the season.  Just like with fishing, I like to think of the behavior in the environmental conditions when I start thinking about whether things should be slow or not.  That said... some observations and anecdotes comparing last year's experience.  Normal poor data quality, anecdotal evidence, non-scientific experiment disclaimers apply.  The purpose is to get thinking rather than complaining.

A few assumptions that I'm working with:

• Dungeness are moving into shallower waters from deeper waters in the early season
• Dungeness hunker down in the sand when water movement is strong -- conserving energy.

(All observations are at Half Moon Bay as that's where I've done most of my kayak crabbing)

Yesterday's tidal swing was fairly strong -- 5.3' swing.  On top of that, slack tide was just after day break.  The next slack tide wasn't until after 3 pm.  Therefore, the majority of the time the fleet spent crabbing was with a lot of water on the move.

Compare that to last year's opener... on the water at 7 am and the tide was just under +3' and the tide was slack.  Off the water around 2pm and the outgoing was only down to +5' from a +6.7' high.  Therefore, a slack tide covered the majority of the crabbing window.

Spot checking my other limit days last year in the same spots... they all correlate to similar low tidal swing windows.

Since the crab are moving in from deeper water, it makes more sense to me to drop in deeper water at the opening, finding choke points in the structure that offers a sandy thoroughfare to the shallows.  If late last season, you were hunting in 30' of water, you can save that spot for late this season... get out in the deeper water early in the season.  You don't need to necessarily get out in 100s of feet... I heard a large difference in success between 30 and 60' yesterday.  Study those charts, find the sand, stay away from the gravel.

So, ask yourself... is it a bad season or did we have a poor crabbing tide for the opener?  Chins up... put in the work... keep logs and draw correlations to drive your decision making.

I like your method

I honestly think it was just the weather. We lucked out and got a limit for 4 we tossed borderline legal and kept only 6"+. It was definitely spotty some areas produced well and in some, we pulled empty pots.

MY brother pulled 28 nice crabs up by Muir beach in a half day outing. THey ran 4 promars

Thanks for posting this.  I know nothing but agree with your solid theory.

I think weather, and time of year too...didn't we get delayed until December last year?

I like the way you think 🧐🤙.  Lotta factors no doubt.  Gotta find the X.

I think weather, and time of year too...didn't we get delayed until December last year?

No delay for hoops last year. What about the weather? I looked back and can't find any correlation. Tides have a strong correlation, though.

I had 28 keepers by my 6th hoop

I had 28 keepers by my 6th hoop

dang! nice! I need to follow you next time!

I had 28 keepers by my 6th hoop

dang! nice! I need to follow you next time!

better get a power boat 

I had 28 keepers by my 6th hoop

dang! nice! I need to follow you next time!

better get a power boat 

Deffo more convenient but fishing the same spots I kayak fish salmon. 30fow is way too shallow imo. Try 70+

I had 28 keepers by my 6th hoop

dang! nice! I need to follow you next time!

better get a power boat 

Deffo more convenient but fishing the same spots I kayak fish salmon. 30fow is way too shallow imo. Try 70+

Agree with convenience. Likewise, also fish, crabs within Kayak reach.