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12/6/03
Dungeness crabbing is in full swing, commercial and recreational. Between ocean storms and rising swells, private boaters are enjoying the last few days of the "crab and rockcod combos" - along with the charter boats like the Rumblefish, the Telstar, the Seahawk and the Trek II. The basic drill is to run out an set the baited crab traps first thing in the morning, then head off for some rockfishing while the crab pots soak. The male lingcod are now guarding their nests full of fertilized eggs and the rockfish are nervous because the lings aggressively attack anything that comes near their nests. Lingcod eggs are deposited on the top of rocks. They are easy to catch this time of year because of this behavior. People were limiting out on lingcod without catching a single rockfish in the nearshore last week. There are lots of lings out there. They eat a lot of rockfish, and the general feeling among fishermen is that if there is a problem with rockfish populations, we are happy to thin out the predators. Recreational fishermen prize lingcod above all bottom-dwelling fishes in the sea. They put up a hell of a fight, they're easy to clean and they yield a sizeable set of fillets. Rockfishing will be closed in California on December 8th. Living on the Mendocino coast, I never felt the need to spend all the money on crab pots. They cost $50 - $100 apiece, and with crab prices so low $6 each retail in supermarkets, why bother? How many crabs can you eat? I broke down and bought a couple crab pots this year, mostly because of the reduced rockfishing opportunities. Don Akin at Northcoast Fishing Center advised me to get the stainless steel crab pots, because they're lighter and easier to pull by hand and don't put out any electrical charges, as do the typical rebar-and-rubber crab pots used by commercials. I tried them down by Caspar Beach the first time, with no crabs after three hours. Next time, the Dirty Rat took me up to Pudding Creek, where we set the two stainless pots in 40 feet of water. Bingo. Three hours later, you could not have stuck another Dungeness crab in either pot. We had thirty legal crab for three guys. So it seems that trap placement is key to crabbing. All our crabs were full of meat, and good quality. The weather report was correct for this weekend, there are large, westerly swells coming in, at this writing. The rockfishing regulations for 2004 are set: (DFG will post any updated information on next year's fishing season on its Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/.) For California's recreational anglers, the following proposed rules include depth regulations and season dates, which are tentatively scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2004: Northern Rockfish and Lingcod Management Area - Oregon border
to just south of Cape Mendocino Central Rockfish and Lingcod Management Area - just south
of Cape Mendocino south to Pt. Conception The open seasons apply to California's sport fisheries for rockfish, cabezon, greenlings, scorpionfish (sculpin), and lingcod in nearshore waters statewide.
Got a fishing report, story, recipe, or a comment? Email me at jim@noyoharborconfidential.com or call 707-964-8326. |