Elger Bay - Crab & Sand Dab

Greetings,
 
Another beautiful day in the Northwest!!

Today I fished and crabbed in home spot; Elger Bay.

I dropped the pots around 11:30 am and fished for sand dabs right after.  I started out in deeper water, 90 feet or so, catching dogfish after dogfish.  After loosing a few hooks I decided to move to shallower waters.  As I paddled toward shore, I came across a scum line at about 45' feet.  Stoked to find a scum line, I started fishing again.

I could 5 sand dabs in consecutive drops (4 quite nice w/ one really small one).  After these four I caught another dogfish, before catching another Sand Dab (I released this one, since it didn't look healthy; parasites and what looked like blood blisters.) 

After completing my drift, I paddled back to where I thought the scum line was located.   Not finding the scum line, I tried again.  I did catch another nice sand dab, but it took me much more time and I caught several dogfish.  It sure seemed like they were hanging out on the scum line. 

At sun set, I headed out again to check my pots.  After last weekend, I didn't have much expectations since most of the crabs  were too small or soft.  I was stoked to get my limit of 5 really nice crabs:  well over the limit and nice new clean HARD shells.

I'm just finishing processing the portion of my catch that I won't be eating in the next few days.

Merry fishing!!!
-Jesse

I'm looking forward to Salmon season opening up around here.  Does anybody have any suggestions for good spots from Camano Island?  If not, what are some other close spots? 

Good job on the crabs Espiga! I've been lagging w/ getting my traps ready but hope to have results like yours. What did you use for bait?

It seems like when you get into a bunch of undesirable fish (dogfish/ canary/ yellow eye etc.) the best thing to do is just get out of that area or start fishing shallower. I learned that when I hooked 5 Canaries in a row in Monterey. Luckily it was pretty shallow and they were all fine. Especially with larger fish like Dogfish that can ruin/break your tackle it can get really frustrating. Good job on getting out there and reporting! Any pics?

Z

Thanks, it is fun .  It seems like chicken works best.  I have been using chicken and canned cat food (holes punched in top and bottom and any fish scraps I have around.  I put some Greenling and the crabs didn't even touch it!!  It does seem like they like sand dabs, but not as much a chicken.

I didn't take any pictures of my catch, but FishDog posted some pics of a meal we put together over the weekend..including crab.

I am still hunting for a good deal on a waterproof camera, which will help get more photos of fish.  I clean the crabs right away, and the little sand dabs are not that impressive so,  no I don't have any pics of my catch.

True about moving when catching lots of undesirable fish.  I was almost out of hooks (only started with a few) before I moved to shallower water due to the dogfish.

As for salmon, trolling almost anywhere along the west side of the island, concentrate on current seams/breaks downstream of points. Stick to the fast side of the seam for salmon. Lures will limit your dogfish encounters. (Dogfish move in during the summer, are much less common in winter.)  Later in the season, you can try on the N and E sides to target fish staging before going up the Skagit and Stilly.