End of Summer Fishing and Crabbing

This was the first weekend of winter crabbing, although the weather was unseasonably warm for October. I needed a sweater for the morning crossing over to Whidbey Island, but the rest of the afternoon was blissfully summerlike. This could be the last weekend of shirtsleeve boating for this year, so we made sure to take advantage of it. Looking across the water it was noticeably hazy due to the still-burning Bolt Creek Fire, but out on Possession Sound we couldn’t really smell the smoke over the cool clean sea breeze.

As we prepared to get underway a curious seal swam up to the boat, so close we could have patted him on the head (though we knew better). During the long slow transit of the channel at no wake speed, we worked to bait the first two pots. This time we abandoned the traditional chicken drumstick bait in favor of some old twice-frozen salmon I got from my friend Misha. I decided to throw in several cans of tuna that were two years past their shelf life, and mix it with some fish oil a friend had given me. The tuna was a mistake, because so much of it leaked out of the bait bags and eventually into every nook and cranny of the boat.

Once round the big green day marker at the south end of the jetty, I hit the throttle and we headed west across the bay. When I got my boat a year ago I wasn’t sure I’d be able to safely cross such a large body of water in such a small boat, but over time I’ve gained confidence in my Whaler. It was built for this.

After the 45-minute crossing to our favorite crabbing spot, we dropped our pots and started fishing while they soaked. It’s the waning days of coho season, and even experienced fishermen are having to grind it out to get one or two fish for a day’s work. We decided to play it safe and just go for tried and true sand dabs. My girlfriend caught the first one within minutes, but strangely her luck ran out just as fast. The fish kept playing “dine and dash” with our bait, but not committing to the meal. She later caught one baby sand dab which she threw back, and a rockfish which we’re not allowed to keep. My luck improved, however. I caught one good sized fish, and a few minutes later got a double (two fish on one line). It was enough for dinner.

After an hour of fishing we stopped in Langley for a quick picnic lunch by the marina, then headed back out to pull our pots. On a long summer day we would set and retrieve all our pots at least twice, but today we would do it only once. You never know what you’re going to find in your crab pots – one guy this summer pulled up an octopus! Our first pull had one red rock crab which was too small to keep, one good sized male Dungeness which went into the cooler, and a beautiful pink sea star. I never knew that sea stars lived 60 feet down. We came home with a pretty good haul for a single pull, with six Dungeness and four red rocks. It was a day well lived.