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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Well, we didn't get skunked...

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/02/2012 : 10:37:11

Rita & I went crabbing by ourselves for the first time ever today. Lots of prep work, and some lessons learned after the attempt, but we had a good time. We motored over to Magnolia bluff on the north end of Elliott Bay and dropped our anchor in about 25' of water. We had to set up our traps, they're both made by FlexFold and take a bit of fiddling to put together. Crack open a can of cheap cat food each & shove it into the bait bag, and hang a chicken leg from the center of each, and drop them in the water off the stern of the boat. This worked OK, but they kept getting caught in the rudder as the boat swung around the anchor rode. Next time I think I'll drop the anchor, let out all my rode, then drop one pot, pull in about 20' or more feet of rode, drop the next, then pull back to a 2:1 scope or so. That'd keep the floats astern of the boat.

Here's the intrepid crab fisherwoman with one of our buoys in the background:

As you can see, it was cool enough out to require jackets, and I finally gave up and put jeans on instead of my shorts.

The day's catch:

Unfortunately only two were keepers. Rita beat the crap out of me though, she pulled up (well, I pulled) a total of five Dungeness (with one keeper, and one so close we contemplated keeping him), and I only got a single Red Rock Crab, but he was a fighter! He was the only one that got a good pinch on me, but through leather gloves, it wasn't very painful. The Red Rock is the um..redder one in the top left of the bucket with the black tipped claws, and the Dungeness are the creamy colored claws and tend to be a little bigger (well, some of them).

The keeper Dungeness:

Dramatic cloud cover for the day looking south-ish toward Alki:

If you look just to the right of center at the water line in the picture, you can see the Duwamish Head marker...which I'm now Mayor of in FourSquare...

And looking east at the Seattle skyline. If you look carefully, you can see the brand new "Seattle Eye" (that's not it's real name, but don't remember what it's really called). Another giant Ferris Wheel like the London Eye. It's almost edge-on, so it's hard to see. It's sitting at the base of the second tallest building from the right. Sort of a whitish blob.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - delliottg on 07/02/2012 10:38:13

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 12:38:05

Looks like fun and good eating!

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DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 13:56:59

LOVE Dungeness

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 14:44:33

"Rocky & Don" (Rita's names for them) are on the menu tonight. We were too pooped last night to cook & clean them, so it was a Ramen & early to bed kind of night. I can hear them occasionally rattling around the cooler we've got them in, so I know they're still alive. I thought they were dead last night when I went to transfer them from the bucket they were in to the cooler, but Don very nearly got me with his main claws when I did. Rocky was less enthusiastic, but he was sitting in deeper ice water than Don, so more lethargic I guess. Still tried to get me when I picked him up, so still kicking.

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zeil
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
1314 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 17:27:41

Thanks for sharing your pictures... Seattle is very special to us

Bon Appetit, eet smakelijk, may it taste well with good appetite and in great company...

Am anxious to catch a few myself... August is set aside to explore British Columbia's coast and in particular Princess Louisa Inlet north of Vancouver as part of the Valley's Squadron. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and is keeping the best for us... it has been dismal so-far

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redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3476 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 18:12:23

Thank you for sharing... just beautiful.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 18:35:02

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Hopefully the weather will cooperate and is keeping the best for us... it has been dismal so-far<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Man, I hope so. They're predicting snow in the mountains tonight, snow level dropping to 5000 feet. Pretty amazing for July. We're at about 500 feet, so it's not like we're going to be getting any snow, but it's definitely not summer here yet. Like I said earlier in the thread, I ended up in a fleece jacket & jeans instead of the beat up "Sunday shirt" polo (because it's holy) and shorts I'd been wearing. I didn't have any socks to put on my feet, but I would have considered it if I had. The run back to the marina was, um, cool.

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redviking
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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 21:59:55

The drop back while on the hook and drop the pot method works, but you may wind up draging the pot if the tide or wind changes. I once wrapped my rudder so badly that I thought I was going to have to dive down a cut it free from the rudder post. A fender attached to the pot and some light floating line attached to the fender and the bow cleat is pretty reliable...

sten

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2012 : 22:36:34

We had close to 3:1 scope on the pots, way too much, and we kept running past the pot while trying to pick it up. We learned to back down a bit (while very carefully watching the sinking line) so we'd get a more vertical pull. That only worked so well, because the line ran under the boat. Next time I'm going to go with the boom & snatch block idea. We'll also probably rig our Magma Rock-n-Roll plate, it got pretty bouncy from the wakes of the various cruise liners, freighters, tow barges and ferries that were going by constantly. It was bad enough for a while to make Rita a bit pukey, but some ginger gum and watching the shore line quieted down her stomach. A couple of times I could feel the nausea creeping up, but a minute or two of staring at the horizon worked. I figure I can rig the plate from our spinnaker pole to starboard, and pull pots with the boom swung out to the port side.

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