Crabbing at Tillamook or Netarts

[SteelieSlammer]

I am going to be taking the boat out this weekend for a crabbing trip. I have usually gone to Tillamook but with all the rain I think i should probably go to netarts.

1. I have never been there before, is there anything i need to watch out for in this bay?

2. How deep is the crabbing areas? I want to make sure I have enough rope for all my pots.

3. How has the crabbing been lately? Specifically at Netarts.

SteelieSlammer

[Sore Back]

Netarts bay is only fed by a couple of fresh water creeks. This makes it a very salty estuary. As the salinity is always very high, you will find crab from one end of the bay to the other.

Depth, just find a 7 to 20ft bottom which shows as smooth on your video machine. With no machine, if you are unfamiliar with the bay, watch where others have dropped pots. Try to crab the slack tide periods or periods of minimum run-off. If you are serious about this weekend, stay out of the main channel and drop your pots an hour or so before noon then pick them up about 2:00PM or so.

On an outgiong tide, like afternoons this weekend, please stay away from the Happy Camp area which is close to the mouth. Not a safe place to be douring an ebb. Saturday afternoon will have roughly 8.5' of tidal run-off between 12:30 and 7:30PM. Thats a lot of water to drain out of the bay.

Good crabbing

Sore Back

[SteelieSlammer]

Thanks for the tips. I am going to be heading out to Netarts this saturday. Probably hit the water around 10:00 or so. I usually don't crab to much after the tide starts to change and go out. I don't have a kicker on my boat and if i ever had motor problems on an outgoing tide that could be really bad.

[trouttroller]

Watch south of Rocks. If a seagull is standing in the water, head the other way. I've seen several boats beach it there. Watch your finder and go slow. Getting the itch myself. Anyone ever crab Siletz bay? Never tried and thinking maybe soon. Thanks.

[Grits]

trouttroller- I crab Siletz often. The run out can be pretty tight so I would suggest hitting it at low tide your first time. The launch under the 101 bridge closes for a while in the winter but I don't know the specific date range so you may have to launch at Coyote Rock.

Basically when you head out you will be heading towards houses and about 10-15 houses back there is a small private concrete slab boat launch. As you approach this boat launch you will pick up deaper water and can head north. I either crab from the concrete slab to the last house, setting up inside the point for a current break. Otherwise head past the point, (not a big point but pretty obvious) and start dropping 20 feet north of the point. Be careful of sandbars on the east side of you. The crabbing is usually either great or nothing. I have crabbed it a lot and never figured out what makes the difference but it is a fun bay to crab and stays fairly calm on windy days.

Dont ask me how I know this but if the fog rolls in on you and you don't have tried and true GPS points, anchor up and wait it out or the sandbars are hard to miss no matter how many times you have run the bay.

[trouttroller]

Thanks Grits i will give it a try. I'll let you know how we did. Taking my boys they love to crab and like to eat it even more.

[Captain and Marie]

And we just got our CRAB BAIT in today! YEA!

Marie [img]graemlins/hearton.gif[/img]
www.Tillamookbait.com

[Jimmy Carl Black]

The one time I crabbed Netarts, it seemed that we would get our crabs in little pockets. The floor of that bay is highly dissected with a delta-like topography and it seems the crabs hole up in between the little rises. That was what we found anyway. If you find a hot spot, guard it doesn't produce and then move on. Fun, mellow bay. Watch out for the shallows! :shocked: My 2-cents.