Hi, This is my first time posting on this site, thanks everyone for the info I've garnered from reading through the archives. Now on to the question. This summer I'm taking my c-dory to Haines and travel down into the country around juneau. Can anyone give me any info on finding and catching king crab? What depths, what time of year is best, are they scattered all over or are there specific areas they are concentrated? I'll be bringing a dungenus pot also but I really want to catch a few king crab. Thanks
King Crab
- Thread starter Bearbait
- Start date
Hello Bearbait!
Not sure on the exact location for your King Crab, but the fisherfolk around here tell me that the pickings around Juneau are pretty slim. People are spending hours in that neck of the woods to catch what takes minutes in the Sitka area. You might want to adjust your travel plans accordingly. If you do make it to Sitka, look me up. I can get you a few suggestions!
"Chivita" Dave
Not sure on the exact location for your King Crab, but the fisherfolk around here tell me that the pickings around Juneau are pretty slim. People are spending hours in that neck of the woods to catch what takes minutes in the Sitka area. You might want to adjust your travel plans accordingly. If you do make it to Sitka, look me up. I can get you a few suggestions!
"Chivita" Dave
Right on the historic waterfront portion near the Pioneers Home and next to ANB harbor. Closest boat to the hotel moored in ANB is of course a C-Dory. Can be rather hard to focus on business when the commercial fleet is right outside your window.
There is a Bald Eagle that hangs out on one of the seiners in front of the hotel, and if you think seagull poop is hard to clean up, well it's nothing compared to that mess.
Went out as a licensed deckhand with the commercial Herring fleet this past week, and what an experience. 14 planes zipping around each other trying to locate the largest schools while the snow came falling down, what looked like at least 50 seiners, tenders and processors mixed in with a bunch of corker skiffs within less than one square mile all after a couple hundred tons of Herring that has to be harvested within a fifteen minute closely regulated span of time. Probably the most interesting fishing I've ever done! Watched a 70 foot seiner doing 12 knots come within 1 foot of a net skiff attempting to do 0 to 50 knots in a split second. The guy driving the skiff was still jittery an hour later, smiling and laughing like mad but watching his stern even five seconds!
First time I ever seen a 60 foot boat catch an 80 foot boat in it's net, you kinda don't believe what you are seeing but then it happens again and again. Absolutely wild! One boat would be laying out there nets and another boat would power around him dropping his net right inside the other's to steal his set. This is know as "getting corked" and is accompanied by much cussing and horn blowing!
There is a whole hierarchy out there as well with steel boats on the top rung and fiberglass and wood towards the bottom. This comes from the fact that it really doesn't matter if the steel boat hits the fiberglass boat or the fiberglass hits the steel, it's going to to bad for the fiberglass boat! Of course us corker skiffs get the hell out of everybody's way since we'll get mowed over no matter what that seiner is made of.
My job as a corker was to assit the seiner with the nets, they get so full of fish that the nets get pulled underwater, despite the net being rimmed with hundreds of floats. Herring so thick the water boils and you have to bang the surface around the fish to keep all the Herring from taking flight over the nets. More fun than any guy deserves to have topped off by the occasional moment of pure blissful panic when you almost get beaned by a rock dropping out of a raised net, a near miss from a captain intent on encircling a huge Herring bait ball or the mad dash to help the next seiner in your co-op with net issues. Once you get the net under control you have to capture three 5 gallon buckets of Herring
(full to the brim and no water dam it) and rush it over to one of the support boats where the people buying the fish are waiting to cut these samples up and determine if this catch is worth anything. All of this is happening on bouncing boats flung about by rough open water and crazy wakes from every direction while snow flakes the size of silver dollars come wafting by!
Then there is are the Herring scales covering every square inch of the deck, don't even get me started on Herring scales, suffice it to say that I'll take Bald Eagle poop over 2.3 million Herring scales!
Although I hear that boating in the Sitka area is paradise in summer, working the Herring catch is an experience on a level all to its own.
Next year I'm selling tickets to this show, that's when you REALLY want to visit Sitka so come on up!
Just bring a survival suit in case I can't do 0-50 knots in one split second!
"Chivita" Dave, corker apprentice and Herring scale swab
There is a Bald Eagle that hangs out on one of the seiners in front of the hotel, and if you think seagull poop is hard to clean up, well it's nothing compared to that mess.
Went out as a licensed deckhand with the commercial Herring fleet this past week, and what an experience. 14 planes zipping around each other trying to locate the largest schools while the snow came falling down, what looked like at least 50 seiners, tenders and processors mixed in with a bunch of corker skiffs within less than one square mile all after a couple hundred tons of Herring that has to be harvested within a fifteen minute closely regulated span of time. Probably the most interesting fishing I've ever done! Watched a 70 foot seiner doing 12 knots come within 1 foot of a net skiff attempting to do 0 to 50 knots in a split second. The guy driving the skiff was still jittery an hour later, smiling and laughing like mad but watching his stern even five seconds!
First time I ever seen a 60 foot boat catch an 80 foot boat in it's net, you kinda don't believe what you are seeing but then it happens again and again. Absolutely wild! One boat would be laying out there nets and another boat would power around him dropping his net right inside the other's to steal his set. This is know as "getting corked" and is accompanied by much cussing and horn blowing!
There is a whole hierarchy out there as well with steel boats on the top rung and fiberglass and wood towards the bottom. This comes from the fact that it really doesn't matter if the steel boat hits the fiberglass boat or the fiberglass hits the steel, it's going to to bad for the fiberglass boat! Of course us corker skiffs get the hell out of everybody's way since we'll get mowed over no matter what that seiner is made of.
My job as a corker was to assit the seiner with the nets, they get so full of fish that the nets get pulled underwater, despite the net being rimmed with hundreds of floats. Herring so thick the water boils and you have to bang the surface around the fish to keep all the Herring from taking flight over the nets. More fun than any guy deserves to have topped off by the occasional moment of pure blissful panic when you almost get beaned by a rock dropping out of a raised net, a near miss from a captain intent on encircling a huge Herring bait ball or the mad dash to help the next seiner in your co-op with net issues. Once you get the net under control you have to capture three 5 gallon buckets of Herring
(full to the brim and no water dam it) and rush it over to one of the support boats where the people buying the fish are waiting to cut these samples up and determine if this catch is worth anything. All of this is happening on bouncing boats flung about by rough open water and crazy wakes from every direction while snow flakes the size of silver dollars come wafting by!
Then there is are the Herring scales covering every square inch of the deck, don't even get me started on Herring scales, suffice it to say that I'll take Bald Eagle poop over 2.3 million Herring scales!
Although I hear that boating in the Sitka area is paradise in summer, working the Herring catch is an experience on a level all to its own.
Next year I'm selling tickets to this show, that's when you REALLY want to visit Sitka so come on up!
Just bring a survival suit in case I can't do 0-50 knots in one split second!
"Chivita" Dave, corker apprentice and Herring scale swab
Jeff and Julie
New member
Dave, your story brought a smile to my face and surfaced many memories I have of watching this when I grew up in Sitka!! See you in August when we come up.
Julie
Julie
A
Anonymous
Guest
You crazy ... Americans :!: :x ... :lol: Dave, thnx, (great story!) and don't worry about my sister now :shock: she is being trained to work on a "tour boat". She's excited :thup :moon
Hey there was a fella on this site, (this is related to the original post) was askin me last season if I wanted to head out of Haines this summer :idea: Of course I am up to that :thup If were not in the moving to the Southeast stage. Hell I'd rather live there than just visit.
Hey there was a fella on this site, (this is related to the original post) was askin me last season if I wanted to head out of Haines this summer :idea: Of course I am up to that :thup If were not in the moving to the Southeast stage. Hell I'd rather live there than just visit.
Hello,
Just outside of Auke Bay, there is a productive shelf. No secret here and you'll see lots of traps and Buoys. I saw a trap of 12 come up but its competitive among the locals. Hoohan and the sound beyond the town. Teenakee Inlet, deep during the summer but there are king crabs in both of these inlets. Traps are sold in Hoohan and Juneau. Good Luck! Perhaps we'll see you (with the crabs I hope).
Shawn
Just outside of Auke Bay, there is a productive shelf. No secret here and you'll see lots of traps and Buoys. I saw a trap of 12 come up but its competitive among the locals. Hoohan and the sound beyond the town. Teenakee Inlet, deep during the summer but there are king crabs in both of these inlets. Traps are sold in Hoohan and Juneau. Good Luck! Perhaps we'll see you (with the crabs I hope).
Shawn
Jeff and Julie
New member
Shawn,
I have read your stories on your web page of the trips that you and Toni have taken to Alaska. Are you getting ready for another one this year? If so, are you planning on any new stops? Just trying to live this journey vicariously through you!!
Julie
I have read your stories on your web page of the trips that you and Toni have taken to Alaska. Are you getting ready for another one this year? If so, are you planning on any new stops? Just trying to live this journey vicariously through you!!
Julie
Hello J&J - Rock C,
I'll tell Tonie that you liked her web work, she sometimes wonders if it is worth her while. Inside Passage 4 is on the slate for this summer. Tonie says its time to go around Prince of Whales Island and I think that we can make a summer out of it. If the stars and moons line up, we'll leave Port Hardy around the solstice.
Anyone have shrimping spots on the west side of PW?
Shawn
I'll tell Tonie that you liked her web work, she sometimes wonders if it is worth her while. Inside Passage 4 is on the slate for this summer. Tonie says its time to go around Prince of Whales Island and I think that we can make a summer out of it. If the stars and moons line up, we'll leave Port Hardy around the solstice.
Anyone have shrimping spots on the west side of PW?
Shawn
Jeff and Julie
New member
Yes!! Please tell Tonie that I have loved reading your stories. Do you usually update along the way, or wait until your return to post your adventures?
Jeff and Julie
Jeff and Julie
You can do OK in Juneau on King Crab. A good place is North of Portland Island in 300 feet or greater. Stay out of Barlow Cove as I filled a pot with greater than 50 Kings last year and everyone was female or under sized. Juneau area is specially managed so Alaska residents need a special use permit for area 11A....the permit is free but you still need to get one.
Hello,
I get to the web site by typing "Tonie O" into Google. It is on AOL so sometimes they change the URL but Tonie has it linked so that the site comes up first using google. We tried updating as we go but often are out of computer range so we keep our log and do most of the update upon return.
Nancy H, Rocky Pass is just plain wonderful! It took me our third trip before I was willing to brave it. Once we passed through, I'd have a hard time going any other way. Like you, I was concerned. I used chart 17372, Keku Strait, Monte Carlo Island to Entrance Island. Once in the pass, I dropped the chart and followed the very well placed and numbered markers that makes it easy. Larger boats must time this well and not error, however our shallow draft and ability to maneuver makes it safe and fun. It is expansive and fairly flat, well protected and you can pull off most anywhere. Lots of wildlfe and full of dungees and clams. We transited north and south and spent a night. I saw one boat and one kayak the entire time. I really can't say enough. The chart is most useful when approaching from the south but once your in the pass, the markers are well placed and you have to just believe. Several areas are 5-7 feet deep
and you make some hairpin turns, however, Wrangell narrows is probably more hazardous due to traffic. It can be safely run at high or low in a C-Dory. I'm going back!
OK, now that I looked over the charts. Port Frederick and Neka Bay has King crabs. I have also heard but not seen or tasted the results from Glacier Bay but supposed to be excellent.
Shawn
I get to the web site by typing "Tonie O" into Google. It is on AOL so sometimes they change the URL but Tonie has it linked so that the site comes up first using google. We tried updating as we go but often are out of computer range so we keep our log and do most of the update upon return.
Nancy H, Rocky Pass is just plain wonderful! It took me our third trip before I was willing to brave it. Once we passed through, I'd have a hard time going any other way. Like you, I was concerned. I used chart 17372, Keku Strait, Monte Carlo Island to Entrance Island. Once in the pass, I dropped the chart and followed the very well placed and numbered markers that makes it easy. Larger boats must time this well and not error, however our shallow draft and ability to maneuver makes it safe and fun. It is expansive and fairly flat, well protected and you can pull off most anywhere. Lots of wildlfe and full of dungees and clams. We transited north and south and spent a night. I saw one boat and one kayak the entire time. I really can't say enough. The chart is most useful when approaching from the south but once your in the pass, the markers are well placed and you have to just believe. Several areas are 5-7 feet deep
and you make some hairpin turns, however, Wrangell narrows is probably more hazardous due to traffic. It can be safely run at high or low in a C-Dory. I'm going back!
OK, now that I looked over the charts. Port Frederick and Neka Bay has King crabs. I have also heard but not seen or tasted the results from Glacier Bay but supposed to be excellent.
Shawn
Shawn,
Thanks for the chart reference on Rocky Pass!!
When I was in that area in 1992, the US Coast Guard has just removed all buoys and markers in Rocky Pass to discourage tourists.
Who places and maintains the markers that you followed? Are they on the chart?
I want to try this route next year.
Thanks for the chart reference on Rocky Pass!!
When I was in that area in 1992, the US Coast Guard has just removed all buoys and markers in Rocky Pass to discourage tourists.
Who places and maintains the markers that you followed? Are they on the chart?
I want to try this route next year.