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Crabbing in Ilwaco

8K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  Fair Catch 
#1 ·
Dropped my pots Saturday over by Cape D light house. In the same spot marked on my GPS. I put them in a line about 50 yd.s apart. I then went salmon fishing, when I went back to pick the pots they were not where I left them. I have had not problem in the past with these pots moving during a flood tide. Started looking and found them about 500 yds. east. They were 15 yds. apart in a line. When I pulled them the only had females and small males. I'm thinking that someone else was having crab salad at my expense. These were soaking about 5-6 hours and NO keepers. Anyone else had this problem ?
 
#2 ·
Are your pots weighted? Our pots weigh 20-25lbs empty. It's possible someone did a 'bait check' for ya but probably not. One way to know for sure is zip tie your pots closed. Crabbing sucked under the light house and in front of Seaview this past week for us. 5 pots yielded 2, 3, and 5 crab. Very poor so far as expected, only bothered for camp crab to crack around the fire. Lots of females and small males.
Did hear a positive report from 2-3 miles south of the SJ and deeper. Gotta get away from the commercial pots and bulk of sporties!
BTW, saw you running around down there, I was on the Black Pearl, 24' NR Offshore with twin 115s.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I guess it is possible that they moved by the tide but I don't think they would have ended up in a perfect line. The big tide was early, these pots have stayed in place on much bigger swings that on Saturday. Anything is possible though.
Chris saw your boat tied at the dock and a couple times out fishing. Give a shout on the radio next time.
Bill
 
#7 ·
sounds like someone checked them for you Bill. Ocean crabbing sucks too. 2 crabs for 4 pots. Need to get away from the river.
 
#9 ·
We did the same thing on Saturday with Danielsons. Some of mine have 5# dumbells in them and some don't. The ones that didn't have weight had moved and very little crab.
Even though that was my first time crabing north of the jetty, I noticed the same thing at Tillamook. I think there is more current out there this year. Oh, and we got limits in every pot at Tillamook. Totally different crab down there though. Clean and a little light. The ones we got in front of the lighthouse were hard and dirty, but really delicious too.
 
#10 ·
Billy
I don't know if there was a net season while you were fishing. I had a gill netter move my pots while he fished the inside of "A" Jetty. It was no big deal to me since they were full of crab.

Bob
 
#11 ·
Namu Mac, I am the sea sport next to you at ilwaco. I have missed you these past few weeks. Hope to see you soon. Just thought i would weigh in on the crabbing. You have seen the size of my pots on my boat, they don't move, last week I was over in the bay and i left my pots out over night which i have done for the past 20 years. I went back the next morning and not only were my pots not in the same spot, everyone of my pots (4) had the lids left open , a can in one of them and you guess it NO CRAB. I have been using zip ties and that has worked in the past but, there are people that dont need crab gear when they can use others. i am sure i had my pots pulled twice last year, the zip ties were cut. I have never ever pulled someones pots. it is just not the way i was rasied. so anyone that is reading this and has pulled others pots GET YOUR OWN. to all of the fellow crabbers good luck and have a great season. Trafficjamb
 
#13 ·
We've been crabbing in the same area around the lighthouse and have been doing pretty good. Like everyone else if we left our pots out too long, we would get skunked as well. What we have been doing is baiting our pots and at the end of baiting all 6 traps we go back and check the first one and TADA! lots of crabs. Then it's off to the CR buoy to get our limit of Salmon. Oh, one more thing, use Shad for bait.
 
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