Another Day, Another Dogfish

I had planned to launch at Edmonds on Saturday to try for resident coho. However, I attended a fishing seminar on Thursday, and a local guru there told me that counts have been very low and that I was unlikely to be successful. Since the whole point of going for resident coho instead of waiting for the big run was to boost my confidence, both Dave and I decided to go crabbing instead. The tides were very favorable, and I had learned about a new spot off Camano Island.

At the 10th Street Boat Launch, Everett PD Marine Unit was walking the docks doing random safety inspections on all the boats. I’m not afraid of these inspections since I pride myself on being prepared. The officer inspected my fire extinguisher and checked the date on my flares. He checked my Boater ID card, my registration, and made sure I had enough PFDs including a throwable. They told me that my boat was stellar and awarded me the prize of a decal which theoretically gives me a pass on further inspections for the rest of this year.

It was the farthest away that I had ever gone crabbing; it took us more than 45 minutes to get there from Everett. Our pots were well-baited with chicken and fish parts this time. After our first drop we had time to kill, so we figured we might as well bottom fish. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful place, and very relaxing. This time it was Dave’s turn to snag a dogfish shark, which he released. We were initially hopeful when our first pot yielded a very large male. However, it turned out to be a soft shell and we had to throw him back.

It’s common for us to find sea stars clinging to our crab pots when we hoist them onto the boat. They are usually the ordinary purple stars. However, two of our pots that day contained a sunflower star, the kind with up to two dozen arms. When I was a Seattle Aquarium beach naturalist in 2011, they were a common sight on Seattle beaches. However, from 2013-2017 they almost got wiped out by a sea star wasting disease. I took their unexpected presence as a hopeful sign of their possible recovery. We also picked up some kind of really long red sea worm that I haven’t identified yet.

After our third drop we pulled into Langley for a lunch break. The little park by the marina there has a pretty nice view. The harbormasters there are starting to remember my name, since I’m there so often. We made four drops of each pot and fished until 4:00, getting back to the boat launch around 5:00. I would rate this new crabbing spot as average. We came home with four keepers, which was good enough for us, but not spectacular. I had decided to promote David from deckhand to First Mate, so I spent the day training him on all aspects of handling a boat. I let him drive the entire day, including launching, docking, and retrieving the pots. Another fun adventure is in the books.