CATCHING CRABS

It's a nine-hour drive from our home in Idaho to Newport, Oregon, our favorite coastal destination. But we do it fairly often so we can crab, clam and enjoy saltwater fishing action. Crabbing gets our attention as we rarely get decently fresh Dungeness crabs in Idaho, and when we do they're usual $6 a pound or more. Picked crabmeat tops $20. So if you consider the frugal nature of my wife, Annette, it should be no surprise that she finds the Newport Crab Barge a big treat on special days. Otherwise, it's nets off the pier. Even better, crabs seem active on incoming tides so, with good management, you can dig for crabs on the last of the outgoing tide and low water before you switch to crabbing on the incoming.

The crab barge, a pedestrian pontoon craft sets forth from the neat little waterfront that's about half way in the usual evolution from tacky working docks to typical tourists. It's definitely the best place to learn to catch and handle crabs. The decks are stacked with baited crab traps and four to six or so crabbers chatter out the short trip past the Highway 1 Bridge to the rocky harbor mouth where the traps are set. You drop nets in a long line and then rerun the line until it is time to head back to the dock and cook the catch. crab

You can either take your chances on our luck on each pull in a round robin or pool all the legal crabs - males only with a size limit - to be split up back at the dock where they're cooked. We generally do the later and our average is four crabs each for the approximately $30 fee for the half-day trip. That seems very reasonable when you add in the pleasures of the day of brisk sea air, moderate exercise and close up views of seals, birds and more.

Of course, you can simply buy or rent a net or nets and try you luck in the bay from your own boat or from the dock that's across the harbor from the waterfront. Any old dead fish bait works some of the time, and we favor this approach when fishing for jack smelt, perch and other panfish from the harbor mouth or from the many piers that provide angling access. We've learned to sex crabs by looking at the bottom of their shells, and sizing is easy with the standard gauges most tackle shops sell.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic