Nehalem Crabbing

The wife, I, and our dog took off to spend the day kayaking and crabbing on Nehalem Bay.  After hearing reports of good crabbing results there, I was excited about steamed crab, black bean crab, crab cakes, crab omlettes... you get the picture.

As per our usual, we got a late start.  Hit the ramp at the State Park around noon, launched by 12:30, had pots in the water by 1:00 (right at high slack). 

Initially set our pots off the beach west of the boat ramp in 14' of water, with one on the other side of the channel in 16' (need to be aware of the navigational buoys there, and keep the pots out of the powerboat channel.)  For bait, we were using old freezer-burned herring (brined) from my springer fishing this year, and some old trout I also had in the freezer.

Results were mixed at best.  Between in 1 and 5 pm, we managed two keepers and a 4-5 undersized.  On the outgoing, the areas we were crabbing were pretty exposed to the current.  I'm chalking the results up to a combination of poor bait and poor location.

Beautiful day though, and a beautiful spot.  Stopped in at the Wheeler Marina to see if any kayak fishers were about.  Nada, but did get to admire two nice chinook that had just been brought in by a couple in a power boat.

On a product review note, i found the Danielson traps to be a huge pain the but to deploy while in my kayak.  So much so that I ended up assembling them on the beach then kayaking them to the spot I wanted to place them.  The Crab King fold up hoop was a lot easier to manage (just required more frequent checking.)

which Danielson traps were you using? the one's that look like a barn or rectangle?

I've always assembled my Danielson's on the beach. Empty the decks (deploy the traps) then go fishing.

Sounds like a real nice day. 

which Danielson traps were you using? the one's that look like a barn or rectangle?

The smaller, barn shaped Danielsons.  Rectangle ones would be a bigger hassle.

By the way, the crabs were delicious!  Full shells, very tasty!

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The smaller, barn shaped Danielsons.  Rectangle ones would be a bigger hassle.

Ok, I found those locally at the "bites on" tackle shop. Didn't check the price since i really don't have the dough for 'em at the moment anyway.  But when i do at least i can get 'em. I can imagine the rectangle ones being a pain, i looked at them at Bi-Mart and there pretty big..

Nice work on the bugs 3W. They sure are tasty yeah?

I can imagine the rectangle ones being a pain, i looked at them at Bi-Mart and there pretty big..

I actually use these and while they are big they do fold and aren't that much of a hassle.
Here's master ChuckE w/ a few folded (not exactly same trap but same idea) on the back and a load of nice bugs. Also a nice tutorial on kayak crabbin'. http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?page=18

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I loaded my Danielson's in a similar fashion on the back of my Big Game.  Transporting them isn't the issue, it is unfolding them, aligning them, getting the little black plastic clips to lock into place correctly, getting the bait bag loaded, etc... all while riding the tide and getting blown around by the wind.  Once you have one assembled, trying to paddle into position to deploy them is quite a challenge as you can't stack them on the back anymore.

I'd imagine somewhere where the current isn't such a big deal (like outside Sunset Bay) would make this less of a hassle.