Oh Boy! Going Crabbing in the South Sound Today!

P

Pat Anderson

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C Dory Year
2005
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Daydream
South Puget Sound opened for crabbing June 18th and will stay open seven days a week through the end of the year. So we are headed down to Zittel's Marina at Johnson Point with Crabby Lou to have a go (and get in a little boating fix!). We'll probably spend the night at Jarrell's Cove, but we still haven't solved the problem of the double airbed going flat. My solution is to go to REI for a couple of wide ThermaRests, but for some idea, Patty is stuck on the idea of these cheap plastic crap airbeds from China! Tried soapy water, couldn't find any leak. Oh, well. So, any advice about favorite South Sound crabbing spots?
 
Pat,

No recommendations for a crabbing spot, but I heartily agree with you about the Thermarest, and wide ones at that. I was up on the headwaters of the Williamson river and spent a night trying to remember not to roll off of mine.

Steve
 
Pat, I would highly recommend the Dreamtime by Thermorest. Brock turned me on to it and it's great.

Fred
 
Pat,

Hopefully you'll see this before heading home. I've been told by a coworker that the area south of Ketron Island is pretty good. Also along the edge just out from Dupont wharf area, that's just north of the Nisqually. I haven't had a chance yet to try either area, but will probably next weekend.
 
Look at "Paco pads" by Jack's Plastic Welding. They are nearly indestructible, waterproof and the favorite of river runners everywhere. They come in different sizes and thicknesses. I've had mine for over ten years- through some very rugged use - and it's still like new.
 
Pat,
I happened to mention to my Pat that a double air matress would just fit the cockpit of Pocket Yacht and all I got was one of those.."Has he lost it Completely" looks. I think I may have spoiled her. :wink
:smiled Jack
 
crabby_lou.jpg
 
We got out on the water quite a bit later than planned on Saturday, so we didn't get much crabbing in. Zittel's was pretty busy, had to park way up at the top of the hill. In the short bit of crabbing we got in Saturday, we got one big red rocker, he was tasty in the soup we had for dinner! We did stay Saturday night at Jarrell's Cove, and amazingly, when we pulled in at 8:00 p.m. after getting our fillings knocked loose coming down the channel around the north end of Harstine, there were only three boats there, lots of room on the dock. We really have this overnighting on the 16 thing down pat now, it is great! We had an old twin airbed that holds air, and it turned out to be cozy but adequate. Still needed Mr Heater Buddy Sunday morning! Sunday we tried crabbing first just off Joemma State Park, nada. Then near Boston Harbor, there were dozens people crabbing there, but all we got were three more red rockers. We are starting to doubt that there ARE any dungies in the South Sound. We didn't see any dungies being hauled in by anybody, or talk to anybody who was doing any good, except one guy who said he got six dungies soaking his pots overnight. Oldgrowth stopped by in the amazing C-Voyager, nice to say hello. Thanks for the great shot, Dave! We also saw three C-Dorys running in Dana Passage but no contact. Except for the short patch of rough water Saturday evening, an awesome weekend!
 
Hey, Oldgrowth, nice photo of that cute young couple in the handsome little boat!

And I'm delighted to hear that P&P have the 16 sleeping-thing all figured out and fixed up right.
 
Pat, we were out of town on Sat but went out from Zittles on Sunday and tried the bay just East of Boston Harbor and then later the bay on the East side of Anderson. We relied on what worked last year which was between 80' and 95' but only pulled one undersized DC along with many red rocks and a bunch of flounder. Last year near Boston Harbor we limited every time we tried with little effort.
Others who were out said that DC's were being pulled mostly from 30'to 50' in both of those places. We saw no great results though and hope that we are going to see things pick up as the "summer" gets into gear.
Next time you are down abute these parts drop us a note we have a trusty bouy around the point from Zittles where a shore feast might be worked into your day.

As for crabbing, we will go out again this weekend and try clam as bait with pots in shallow water. A report will follow.
 
Thanks, Steve, we'll definitely do that! Look forward to future crabbing reports too.

Capital Sea":3b40j0aq said:
Next time you are down abute these parts drop us a note we have a trusty bouy around the point from Zittles where a shore feast might be worked into your day.
Click to expand...
 
Catman":vue3sgn5 said:
Hey, Oldgrowth, nice photo of that cute young couple in the handsome little boat!
Click to expand...
Thank you Catman.

When I saw them, I knew I would find a happy couple having the time of their life.
Cute boat, nice weather, good sea conditions and catching lots of crabs.
Figured they would have a grin on their face from ear to ear.
This is what boating is all about.

pat_patty.jpg

I hope I don't get shot.
_______
Dave dlt.gif
 
thanks funny , I dont care who you are. :cry
 
Patty here. I WOULD SHOOT IF I COULD!!! And your 30 minutes of editing are gone!!!
 
Good Grief! Old Growth, you'd better keep a good watch on your 6.
 
Hey all! Just stumbled on a few days off and with great weather in hand, the admiral has given permission to take off in R'Dragon, "If I want" so I was thinking of gunkholing south puget, but I figure if I can come home with a little bounty of the sea, my sins will be more readily forgiven!

Not asking for anyones honeyhole or anything like that, but suggestions for a good place or places to try my hand at getting some dungies???? Bear in mind, I am a novice and probably would mess things up like a soup sandwich, but would love some advice/pointers or just general direction. Yes, I have one trap and thought I would augment with a ring...after that, I'm stumped :crook
 
Went back out crabbing Sunday 6/29 after digging horse clams (bait) at low tide. This time we focused on 50'-70' of water and we got 4 nice Dungies in a few hours. We are still looking for those three and four keeper pulls that made last season so fun but this outing was a vast improvement over last weekend.
 
Maybe a dumb question, but when you use clams as crab bait (an appealing idea to us, since we can get an essentially unlimited supply at Birch Bay), do you put them in the bait box in their shells?

Capital Sea":1n5tb06t said:
Went back out crabbing Sunday 6/29 after digging horse clams (bait) at low tide. This time we focused on 50'-70' of water and we got 4 nice Dungies in a few hours. We are still looking for those three and four keeper pulls that made last season so fun but this outing was a vast improvement over last weekend.
Click to expand...
 
We split the clam open and use a knife to free the clam from one side while leaving it attached to the other. Then we break the empty side off and throw it overboard. The half with the meat and guts gets sliced and stabbed so the sent gets carried along by the tide. If you detach the meat the little buggers walk off with it. One other recommendation is that you do not freeze them ahead of time. They will keep on ice for several days. The clams we use are between 5" and 6" end to end and though they attract the crabs, they have a tough time cleaning out the bait cage.
Soft shell crab also work and when we dig steamers we hold onto these as bait, but the big clams have more stink to them and we get better results with them.
 
Soft shell clams (not crab)
 
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