My concern is that I don't know the commercials and native americans schedules. Sounds like they are hitting the Sound pretty hard. Are there many crab left?

I was thinking about driving from Oregon City, OR to Everett to visit a friend and go crabbing in the southern part of 8-2 this Saturday (Port Gardner). Will there be any crab around? What about Deception Pass? That area looks like that water could be too big for my little 14 footer. I've only been once in Hoods Canal so I'm definately a beginner.

Thanks for any advice.

Wade

Stay in Port G. Deception Pass is no place to take a 14 footer. Try Mission Bar just out of the Everett Marina. Good Grabbin`

There are whirlpools plenty big enough to eat a 14 foot boat in Deception pass. Don't go there. You could end up being "Crab Bait".

Area 8-2 has been good for me so far this year. With the wife and kids we have taken 50 so far. She doesn't complain about the bag of humpy heads in the freezer anymore! I use a 14' Lund and have no problem, but have seen days when I wouldn't want to be on the water(wind).

Good luck.

You may consider launching at Mukilteo, by the ferry dock, and motoring across to Whidbey and crab that area. You could also head up past the ferry dock in Clinton and crab there.

Be cautious of the wind like others have mentioned.

Good Luck!

Wow. That's what I was afraid of. From the map it looks like a lot of water would be shooting through that gap during the tide changes. Let me know if you guys ever need any advice for my neck of the woods.

Tight lines!

Area 9 just north of the Hood Canal Bridge was clogged with commercial pots on June 7th for a three day season. Of course it was great before, but haven't been back since.

Snake says Now at the risk of taking many a verbal flogging here.... I must say I hope you eat a lot of crab.... How few weeks has it been open and you have already taken 50? I really do hope you are taking only what you can eat and not what you can eat, plus Uncle Joe, and Aunty May, and the neighbor down the street, and his brother....... You get my point. I think the days of fishing/hunting for everyone we know is outdated..... If everyone takes as much as they can, not as much as they can eat, we will surely see more and more closures. Then we will be wishing that we had let those to lazy to get it themselves go Seafood hungry...

MC

Mastercaster,

My family(myself, wife, and three teenage boys) didn't take complete limits when we could have. My boys can out eat most grown men, too. My wife makes crab chowder, crab cakes, crab enchiladas, etc. The crab fishery at 8-2 is open Fridays-Mondays with limits for size and retention. I NEVER violate the rules.

Yes, I did give a couple of crabs to our neighbor at Camano. He's 87, wheelchair bound and told me how much he used to love crabbing. Shame on me.

Coolness on getting some crabs and sharing them with others who are not as fortunate, Plisken.

I used to scuba dive for my limit of crabs. Could usually pick up 6 big males up in about 10 minutes. Take a couple of buddies along, and we'd have our 18 in no time! Sure beats hauling up a crab pot!

Haven't been out diving for crabs in 3 years or so.

I mostly gave those crabs away to my neighbors, Aunty Whomever, etc. Used to clean, cook them, and bring them over all prepared and ready to eat!

Oh, and I give away tons of fresh and smoked fish, too. The people who get the fish don't seem to complain too much.

Like you, I never violate the rules. If people don't like what I can and do keep, they should change the rules.....

I'm with you Snake. I do the same....crabs, fish, shrimp. No problems here.

If you want to complain about the crab numbers being depleted talk to the tribes. There is little or no control over what they are taking and selling to God knows who.

Hey guys. Thanks for the crabbing advice for this past weekend. I thought I owed you a report so here goes: The weather cooperated on Saturday afternoon and we were happy with the results. The final tally was 9 keeper dungenous, 3 Red Rock, 2 starfish, 1 jellyfish (caught on the way up), and several undersized crabs. We stayed close to the Mulkiteo launch ($10 launch fee, ouch!) and had to scout around, but finally got it going. We used a combination of chicken and shad for bait. We only pulled up one keeper-sized crab that was soft (threw back). We spent 6 hours at it, but we're rookies and we had a blast. Thanks again for the advice.

P.S. the game warden did check us, but we had our tags taged, our lines weighted, and our buoys marked, so we passed .