Crabbing help

[Rimshot]

Hello all. I need a little help here. My father-in-law is in town for a week and he has never been crabbing. He has been talking about it for months. The whole time I'm thinking, no problem, we'll go to Hammond and catch a bunch of crabs. Well, I see now that the commercial guys are in and people are saying don't waste your time. Ack, what do we do now? The only other place I have been is the Nehalem. I haven't heard any recent reports. Would this be a good alternative? Any advice would be much appreciated. I'll go wherever I need to. He is so excited he even bought me 2 new pots, ropes and bouys. I really want to get him into some crab. Thank for any help. PM me if you like.

[Rubber Robin]

If I were you I would still go to Hammond. We have crabbed in the middle of the commercial pots before. It will take longer to get your limits but it can still be done.

It is also still early. They have not swept it clean yet.

I wish they would ban the commercial guys from the mouth of the Columbia. Save it for the sportsmen! Especially since we will be paying for it starting January 1.

[fishbait]

I would either stick to the Hammond plan or go to Netarts. The Nehalem and Tilla bay will be indunated with fresh water. Good luck and have fun......

[The Bad Fish]

me and dan got 2 limits today and it took 2 hours. dont despair dude..go crabbing

[Born to be Wild]

Yep, exactly what Keith and Rubber Robin posted.
That pic was from about 6 hours ago.

If I were you I would still go to Hammond. We have crabbed in the middle of the commercial pots before. It will take longer to get your limits but it can still be done.

It is also still early. They have not swept it clean yet.

I wish they would ban the commercial guys from the mouth of the Columbia. Save it for the sportsmen! Especially since we will be paying for it starting January 1.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Being new to this area and crabbing here, do they allow commercial crabbing inside of the mouth? :whazzup:

Anyway, Rubber Robbin is right and the larger commercial size crab are being thinned out in a big hurry but it is still good.

Save it for the sportsmen?
I just moved from Depoe Bay and the commercials have been trying to get some of the sportsmen's crabbing taken away for a few years now figuring that this years sport crab are next years commercial $$$.
Sad but true.

If you have never seen what the commercial boys do to the crab populations in short order it is unbelievable.
They have them fished down so bad in 6-8 weeks that most of the big boys start pulling their pots.

$$$ and polotics!

Dano

[Steelhead Hound]

Getting ready to leave to go to Hammond. Hope I'm not wasting my time. :whazzup: :whazzup:

[Birdnest]

It could be worse, you could live in the San Juan's. I can't crab right now, but I sure have to be careful not to hit a commercial pot. [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]

Joe

[Steelhead Hound]

Hammond was a flop. It was very rough out there. We drove 35 min south to Nehalem and me and my buddy got 18. Not to bad