Autumn Crabbing off Camano Head

Although we’re all thirsty for rain by now, for some outdoorsmen this October has been an unexpected blessing. As long as autumn keeps bringing us comfortable weather, we’re going to continue to go out in it. Yesterday’s adventure got off to an awkward start, because I stupidly lost the tackle box and had to go home to look for it. Just as we were finally ready to launch, a thick fog descended on the boat launch. We could hardly see the end of the dock, much less across the channel to Jetty Island. We decided it was unsafe to go out until visibility improved a little. The frustrating delay had worked to our advantage – if we had left on time we would have got stuck in that soup without radar. We took a relaxing walk and watched the seals resting on the dock, until we started to see a couple of boats go out. We judged their distance until they disappeared. When the visibility lifted to about a half mile, we put the boat in and got on our way.

Wanting to try some new crabbing and fishing grounds, our destination that day was the east side of Camano Head. We had crabbed off the point before without much luck, but not on the east side. It was marked as a known crabbing spot on the John’s Sporting Goods maps. By the time we got to the Navy Base, the fog had cleared and it had become a beautiful autumn day despite a bit of forest fire smoke. It was a good 45-minute journey across very open water. The sea was remarkably smooth all day except for the area north of Hat Island, where it had gotten a bit rough on the outbound leg. I’m always amazed how abruptly the sea state can change in such a short distance, or in such a short amount of time. The squeaking sound I listened to all summer was now gone after this last service, and my 60-horse Mercury ran smooth and sure all afternoon.

When we finally got there, we dropped our four pots and started fishing. Within a few minutes, I got a good hard bite and pulled up a large, beautiful sand dab. A little later I pulled up a rather small and unfamiliar fish I identified as a Pacific Staghorn Sculpin, which we threw back in. It would be our last fish of the day. The sand dabs which had been so plentiful in summer seemed to be scarce now; we had heard that they go deeper in winter. We don’t want to fish more than about 80-100 feet looking for them though, because of the risk of unintentionally catching protected rockfish. No matter; it was a beautiful spot to fish. There were no visible settlements, just pristine forested beach under a steep hill. There were almost no boats either. The water was deep, so we had to fish close to shore, which gave us a good view of the land.

Since we had relatively little time before dark, we gave up early and headed across Saratoga Passage to Langley for the obligatory lunch break. Most of our fishing activities are within a 20-minute radius of Langley for this reason. It’s far enough from Everett to get away from the crowds, yet it makes a very convenient base for our adventures. We’ve been there many times this year. Even without fishing, it was just so much fun just zipping around between islands in my Whaler on such a calm afternoon. When we got back to Camano Head we pulled our first pot to reap our bounty. It was pretty full and yielded two keepers, so we were hopeful of the others. Another one was similarly full, but with only one keeper with a missing claw. We found one enormous male, but it was a soft shell (meaning he had just molted and was still growing into his new shell). “See you next summer, I hope we meet again!” we said as we tossed him back in to live another day. Unfortunately, the other two pots had only one small crab each. It was a so-so fishing spot which yielded just three crabs and one fish, but we were still glad we explored it.

One thing I love about boating, fishing, and crabbing is that we get to learn so much about nature. We intimately experience the tides and currents, learn all about the various types of saltwater animals and how they live, including more than we ever thought we’d ever know about the sex life of crabs. The sea remained smooth on the long trip home, so I insisted that my girlfriend use the opportunity to practice driving. She did a great job dodging the crab pots along the way; it was a good experience for her. For my part, after the long process of fueling and washing the boat and cleaning all the gear, I was able to park the boat perfectly in the middle of the garage in only about five minutes. When I first got the boat, it took me about 45 minutes of trying. I’ve now logged 35 trips in my boat since new, with an average length of 1.9 hours on the engine. It’s no longer a hobby; it’s now a lifestyle.