No one has been venturing out in recent days due to the wet and stormy weather. Here on Wednesday 1-9 afternoon we are seeing light winds of just ten knots but the swell heights are huge running at 17 feet with a 14 second period. Looking at the forecast it does not look like we will see a break until next week. At least two more fronts are forecasted for this Friday and again on Sunday with the outlook being questionable next week. We expect that once conditions do lay down that crabbing will continue to produce limits for private and party boats.

Crab only trips have been great on the New Sea Angler this past week. Captain Rick has been running light loads of 10 to 20 anglers and reporting easy limits. On Thursday 1-3 Rick reported 15 limits of crabs on a short two hour trip. This are being run on 'banking hours" with the boat leaving at 10:AM and usually last around two hours. The t ripfor this Saturday is canceled due to the high winds and wet weather forecasted for the weekend. Private boaters should hold back and wait for better weather as well.
 
Crab and rockfish counts remain solid. On Saturday 12-29 the weather held up and the fishing was good. Rick on the New Sea Angler reported 47 limits of both crabs and rockfish adding 9 lings to 13 pounds. There are just two days left to the rockfish season but Rick is leaving the crab gear in the water. With the North Coast and southern Oregon closed on the commercial side these sport trips are a great way to get your fill of crabs.

On Wednesday 12-26 Rick on the New Sea Angler was back out after taking Christmas off. He had a light load of 17 anglers take LIMITS of both rockfish and crabs adding two lings to 8 pounds. Rick is running combo crab / rockfish combo trips and with the big demand of fresh crabs will be running crab only trips after the New Year.

The weather has been beautiful the past two days and party boats are reporting great action. On Sunday 12-23 Rick on the New Sea Angler had a light load of 13 anglers. They took 13 limits of rockfish in the morning adding 9 lings to 13 pounds. They then hit the crab gear for 13 full limits or 130 crabs, many likely headed to the Holiday table. The weather was great with a light west winds over a 7 foot swell. Rick is taking a couple of days off but will be running crab combos through December 31st.

Some tips to avoid crab theft are:
Set in deeper waters away from the often used travel lanes.
With the commercial season still closed and little pressure north of Bodega Head set gear and read a book for a couple to four hours and pull it and return home leaving nothing for the lowlifes.
A strategy that my kayaking son uses is that he sets gear very late in the afternoon and is back the next morning at first light to pull it. If he needs a few more for limits he resets and watches his gear. He takes a lot of pride in catching limits from a kayak and doesn't mind outsmarting the thieves.
For those of you who are at the ramps look for boats that don't have bait or pots on board. Any legal crab angler has plenty of bait on board and only thieves go out empty. Also if you see a boat that has multiple different colored buoys on board returning from fishing they may be a pot thief. Take a picture and contact CDFW and don't confront them. Also if you see another camper or boat that is making multiple trips and coming in with limits more than once per day contact CDFW or call CALTIP. If you catch another boat pulling your gear take a picture and follow up with CDFW. Wardens will not write tickets unless they witness the illegal act BUT if you are willing to follow through and attend court for two or three days then they may bring charges.   

Rick on the New Sea Angler is running captain's choice crab/ rockfish/ lings combos. 707 875-3344

Jeff has room on the Samantha Irene for crab and rockfish trips. 707 245-1157