Crabbing Hammond

Sling Blade · 10-28-2007, 07:47 PM

My Buddy, NetOne called me up earlier this week and said that I needed to take my boat to Hammond and do some crabbing. So I put in for a one day kitchen pass and got it approved. I then called my uncle and my other buddy and we set up for crabbing and bottom fish on Saturday.

Saturday morning 0300 wake up came early. We arrived about 0700 and made sure that all was ready. NetOne arrived with his boat and crew (His lovely bride) and we put our boats in the water.

The Hammond boat launch was almost vacant with only a couple of other people putting in their boats.

We made our way out, turned west and headed for an area on the Oregon side not too far out. We were past the rock wall and pilings. We laid our pots in about 25' of water and let them soak. We used pellets, smelly jelly, shad, and chicken. The chicken out did all the others. Even the shad took a back seat. After making our third sweep, and only getting 1 or two here and there, we moved in to about 7' - 16' water just off the pilings and rock wall. There was only one other person over there and my buddy said that is where he caught his the last time he was up there. NetOne was doing no better.

After moving, things improved. Chicken still out crabbed all others. NetOne stayed in place and did end up with 16 for the two of them and we ended with 19. All were large and you tell they were keepers before you measured them.

By now it was about 1:00 PM and we still wanted to do some bottom fishing. So we called NetOne and told him we were headed out to check the bar conditions and if all was well, we would drop our lines and see if we could get into some bottom fish. We made our way out to the tip of the South jetty and conditions were very good. We informed NetOne of the conditions and he said that he would join us.

After we did a quick recon of the south jetty, we picked our spot and dropped the tackle. It took us a couple of drifts before we found them. We used pearl white 3� worms, black and green Storm 4� swim baits and herring. The herring on a mooching rig turned out to be a hit.

We ended the day with 14 Rock fish and 19 crabs. NetOne ended the day with 16 crabs and a few rock fish as well.

All in all, it was a great day with great friends. Thanks NetOne for the suggestion.

We had crab bisque for dinner tonight.

MattPark · 10-28-2007, 08:01 PM

Nice work. I was down there with a few buddies, didn't get time to bottomfish, but we did manage to boil 180ish nice keeper crab and a truckload of razors. We crabbed out near the mouth, and today it was pretty darn rough (had a couple pukers), but saturday it was like a lake out there. If you have been waiting to crab, now is the time.

HOGGEMIN · 10-28-2007, 08:04 PM

Sounds like a great trip John can't beat a combo trip like that this time of year........

1pump · 10-29-2007, 08:18 AM

We hit Hammond on Sunday at the crack of 1130, about 2 hours before high slack. I was a little concerned about the big tide swing over the weekend, but after pulling up 8 fat, hard keepers on the first pull, so much for that. We had six pots out, pulled them all once, and a couple more twice, and we were done. By the time we got all the pots back in the boat we were tossing out anything under 6-1/2 or missing legs. Didn't have a single soft shell in the bunch.

It was rough until about 1230, but then the wind died off a bit and the water calmed down. By then we were pulling out, but at least the ride back to the basin was more pleasant.

My girlfriend picked up these funky little mini-chickens at Albertson's that were on sale. They're a little bit bigger than a Cornish game hen, and great for crab pots. Usually I have to cut up big fryers to fit in the bait boxes, but these fit perfectly as a whole. Much better than cutting up fryers, especially if you forget to thaw them out first.

Sling Blade · 10-30-2007, 08:49 AM

Definitely worth the trip. Next time I will use chicken across the board and I will spend the night nearby. The four hour drive each way was a killer. Staying over will also make it more feasible and will justify the drive. Such is the sacrifice for living in the valley.

Longfin · 10-31-2007, 12:39 PM

Fished yesterday in crab alley. Three hours three limits. Had tuna, shad and chicken. Chicken outfished everything. Probably six other boats working the area. Beautiful day - no wind, blue skies. Why can't it be that way all the time.

Dinikin · 10-31-2007, 03:04 PM

Never crabbed up there, where is it considered to be a crab alley?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longfin

Fished yesterday in crab alley. Three hours three limits. Had tuna, shad and chicken. Chicken outfished everything. Probably six other boats working the area. Beautiful day - no wind, blue skies. Why can't it be that way all the time.

sakana49 · 10-31-2007, 03:58 PM

Where might crab alley be located?

KeyWest · 10-31-2007, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakana49

Where might crab alley be located?

Buoy 22 to buoy 14 - south of the red line.