One of my COTH readers, Jeff Pascoe, a resident up in Kingston WA, recently asked:
“Do you know of any other piers or places, for guys like me who don’t have a boat, to go crabbing?”
That’s a great question, Jeff. I remember when we first moved here to Kitsap County WA how desperately consumed my boys and I were to try our hands at crabbing. So desperate, in fact, that we settled on a 2-man inflatable we bought over at Wally-World (See ‘Stupid Human Boats Tricks’ Part One). But that’s another completely humiliating story….
Crabbing from piers and docks here in WA State used to be very common and usually netted enough of the snappy bottom feeders to give everyone a good taste. Unfortunately, as human populations have increased, the crab populations have decreased, making it difficult in certain areas for even boat owners to make their limits consistently.
Still, there are a couple of area fishing piers where you might find an occasional rogue dungy lurking about. A couple that I would recommend trying is the pier at Illahee State Park in Bremerton WA or the Harper pier down in Port Orchard WA. Your chances typically improve around the peak of high tide.
I would be curious if any of my other readers have had any success crabbing off of area piers, docks, or tidelands. If so, please feel free to comment and share your locations.
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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, SOUNDBITEBLOG, ActiveRain, Everyday CK, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail: kitsapagent@gmail.com
I am going to try Illahee tonight. I will let you know how it turns out.
Jared: Hope you get something. Let me know how it turns out. You can also get some great squid action off that pier!
So I crab at illahee all the time have been for 8 years now. The squid action has decreesed at the dock but the crabbin if don’t right and useing the right bait, youl catch a lot of rock crabs and a few dungys my last catch I got a male 8 3/4″ dungy.. and several females (all put back to make more yummy males) we caught 13 red rocks and were able to make a decent amount of crab cakes…. 40 to be exact with no extra filler… so illahee is a decent place. I got a 4 man inflateable and some box traps so I row over to the breaker. And drop 2 traps useing squid for dungys. And chicken in 1 more for red rocks.. (frozen squid works best due to it needing to milk on the bottom and attracts more crabs… I usualy catch the most while the tide is comming in, and going out….. hope this helps all those non boater crabbers out there..
William: Thanks for the added advice! I’ve been having a lot of success using large horse clams and butter clams that I dig up. Just gut them out, put them in ziplock bags, and freeze them. When it’s time to crab, take them out of the freezer, put them in the bait cage, and poke holes in the bag. Crabs go crazy for them!
Do you know if people can still crabbing at the Seabeck pier or we have to wait for the new pier?
Howard: I don’t know that I would advice crabbing from the Seabeck pier at this point. The developers of the new marina are in full swing (or at least there is visible progress), and you might be overstepping safe boundaries. I’m sure that once the new marina is in place, there will be more than adequate places to drop a pot or two!….