CrabbingInTheHood.com

September 21st is the deadline for reporting your Summer recreational crab catch record for 2009.

A $10.00 penalty will be automatically applied to your next Puget Sound crabbing license endorsement if you fail to report by the due date!

Reporting is required, whether you caught anything or not. You can either submit your summer catch card by mail, or use the convenient on-line reporting procedure.

If you utilize the on-line reporting process, your name will be submitted for a drawing. Ten winners will receive a FREE 2010 combination fishing license!

To report your catch on-line, simply access the following WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife website from between September 8 thru 21:

https:fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov

To snail mail your summer catch card, address it to the following:

WDFW CRC Unit

600 Capital Way North

Olympia, WA 98501-1091

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One of the perils of recreational crabbing here in the Puget Sound WA is exposing yourself and your crabbing gear to potential thievery.

Okay, so maybe it’s not quite as perilous as the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” but it certainly is extremely annoying and frustrating!

We went out onto Hood Canal last Saturday afternoon to retrieve our crab pots, only to find 3 out of the 4 missing. The remaining pot had been picked clean.

There are instances (usually during the weekdays) when we don’t have a lot of time, and simply drop off our crab pots, leaving them out overnight. On the weekends, when we’re not in as much of a hurry, we’ll catch some rays, or tool over to Pleasant Harbor, while we wait for our pots to fill up.

Occasionally, it is entirely possible to set your pots too close to a steep underwater shelf, and have the current drag them into deeper water. But we dropped ours out at the peak of high tide, and left more than enough excess rope to compensate for any variables. It’s also highly unlikely that 3 pots, set at varying depths, would all strangely disappear, or that the 4th pot would be empty.

So, to you low-life crab pot crooks, I offer the following message:

Each of my crab pot buoys are marked with my name and phone number – Rich Jacobson (360) 440-4758. If you feel it necessary to pull up our pots and pilfer our crab, then at least leave the crab pots intact where you find them. We’ve always been very generous with the bounty of our catch and we don’t mind sharing some with you. But having to replace our gear is a huge pain and gets rather costly.

May the Creator of Crabbing Karma repay you for your dastardly deeds of Dungeness deprivation.

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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 and SOUNDBITEBLOG, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Well, July 29th couldn’t come any faster to the Jacobson household. That was the day that the recreational crabbing season for Marine Zone 12 (Hood Canal) officially opened!

Our first pull of the season made the nearly month long delay well worth the wait. Our first pot yielded 8 exceptionally large keepers. Several were off the gauge, measuring over 8 inches in body shell span. We easily limited out at 15 and actually had to throw a couple smaller males back to remain within legal catch limits.

The second week proved almost as productive, catching 8 one day and 11 the next.

With the WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife extending the current  season out until January 2, 2010, our mounting freezer stockpile  is guaranteed to keep us crab happy during the off-season.

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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 and SOUNDBITEBLOG, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Okay, so what’s wrong with this picture?

Here is it July 13th, and my boat (the ever-faithful 16 foot C-Dory Angler) hasn’t graced the waters of Puget Sound for the 2009 crabbing season!

Where the HECK are my priorities???

Normally by this time we’d have dropped and pulled our pots a half dozen times or so, porked out to our heart’s content, and started to replenish our our stock of frozen seal-a-meal bags.

But unfortunately, the opening of the recreational crabbing season has been delayed for Marine Zone 12 (Hood Canal), and doesn’t begin until July 29th.

Add to that the fact that I’ve been literally SWAMPED here of late working with 4 different Buyer clients. Luckily though, two of them should be under contract shortly, so I may finally have a few spare moments to run out and snag a few Dungies!

Happy Crabbing!…

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In years past, you had several local options on where you could purchase your crabbing gear supplies.

When we first moved here to Silverdale WA, I found some great bargains at a Pawn Shop over in downtown Poulsbo, just down from JJ’s Fish Restaurant. Unfortunately, they went out of business a few years back.

Kitsap Sports (just behind Macy’s Furniture store and Home Depot) has historically maintained a somewhat limited inventory, with typically higher prices.

Big Five Sports (located in the strip mall with Arby’s and Emerald City Smoothie) is known for their bargain prices, but their inventory of crabbing gear is extremely minimal.

As I had reported previously, in the face of bankruptcy proceedings, our local Sportsman Warehouse was recently purchased by UFA Cooperative Ltd., a company based out of Calgary, Canada, which currently operates 35 farm and ranch stores, 7 sporting goods stores, and 120 gas stations, mostly in western Canada. They operate under the name of Wholesale Sports.

I took a brief visit to Wholesale Sports here in Silverdale the other day (just one block east of Costco) and was pleasantly surprised to find an even greater selection of products than what had been previously inventoried by Sportsman’s Warehouse.

They carry the full range of Danielson products, including the most popular inexpensive collapsible crab trap for under $25.  You can outfit a complete crabbing rig for about $75 – which would include the trap, buoy kit w/ 100 ft. of poly rope, bait cage, weight kit, and 4-point harness kit.

The low end Danielson collapsible trap will usually last approximately 3 seasons, but Wholesale Sports also offers several other brands/styles that are more durable and naturally more expensive.

With the recreational crabbing season quickly approaching here in the Puget Sound, I would highly recommend a visit to Wholesale Sports in Silverdale WA, and stock up on all your crabbing gear needs!

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Well, we’ve come a long way since the time my son Ben and I dropped our first crab pot into the waters of Hood Canal WA.

If you’re already familiar with the story, you’ll know that the Summer after we moved here, we were desperate for crab! So we bought a ‘cheapie charlie’ 2-man inflatable boat from Wally-Mart, loaded it up with crabbin’ goodies, and launched out of Seal Rock Campground, just north of Brinnon.

Needless to say, it was a comedy of errors! But the upside was that we learned all the things NOT to do next time, as well as what ‘correct’ gear was necessary.

Obviously, the most basic thing we needed was a decent boat. Thanks to a really generous old-timer over in East Bremerton, we bought our 1985 C-Dory Angler, the perfect little utility boat.

The next thing was figuring out what crabbing rig was most effective.

In  the past, your best bet for crabbin’ gear was the Sportsman’s Warehouse in Silverdale. Unfortunately, they filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and sold 15 of their stores, including 7 in WA State, to UFA Cooperative in Alberta, Canada. It’s unclear if UFA plans to continue stocking crabbing gear and at what discounts.

I have always purchased the less expensive Danielson 24″ Folding Crab Trap. It retails for just under $30 and lasts about 3 or 4 seasons. A more durable stainless steel version will easily run $80 per trap.

In my next installment, I’ll give you some possible resources where you can purchase your crabbing gear in the Puget Sound area.

Happy Crabbing!…

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Okay, so you’re probably as bummed out as me from the news that Hood Canal (Marine Area 12) isn’t scheduled to open for recreational crabbing until July 29th!

You heard it right, July 29th! That’s nearly two-thirds of your prime warm Summer crabbing weather gone down the tubes, leaving only a few short weeks in August to make a mad scramble for those coveted Dungies!

So what are your options, you ask?

Well, starting as early as June 18th, you could trailer your boat up to Neah Bay/Seiku (Marine Area 4 & 5), on the northernmost point of the Olympic Peninsula. Don’t forget that the Hood Canal Bridge might still be closed, so you’ll have to drive around through Shelton! And while you’re at it, remember its open water up there, so that 12 ft. aluminum boat with a 5 hp. kicker just ain’t gonna cut it!

Or, you could trailer your boat down to Marine Area 13 (South Puget Sound), down around Olympia. But they haven’t seen any dungies in those parts since Lewis & Clark came through!

So that leaves you with Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton) that opens on July 1st. We normally launch at Brownsville Marina and motor out through Agate Pass, and drop our pots off Suquamish Harbor. It costs you a couple bucks to launch at Brownsville, but they have a nice ramp and dock.

There is always the Charles Lawrence Memorial Boat Ramp in downtown Suquamish as well, which is suitable for small-to-medium sized boats.

Of course, you could always just run out to one of the local tribal fisheries and pay $6.99 per pound. They’ve got plenty, all year round!…

For a list of all WA State Park boat launch locations, go HERE.

For the list of all Kitsap County WA boat launch locations, go HERE.

For the Kitsap Peninsula Visitors & Convention Bureau website, go HERE.

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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 and SOUNDBITEBLOG, or e-mail:  kitsapagent@gmail.com

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Well, the following news release just popped up in my e-mail in box:

Summer Crabbing Season includes Late start for Hood Canal

Yes, you heard it right. The 2009 Summer Crabbing Season for Marine Area 12 – Hood Canal will be starting ‘Late’ this year, July 29th to be exact.

YIKES!

Just about every year since we’ve moved here to the Kitsap Peninsula WA, the rules and regulations concerning recreational crabbing on Hood Canal WA have become more tightly controlled and stringent. We used to be able to crab 7 days a week. Now it’s only Wednesday through Saturday. We used to be able to take up to 6 male crabs per licensee per day. Now it’s only 5. The season used to start in June. Now were almost into August.

Now granted, even though the season is starting so late, they’re extending the season through until January 2nd, 2010. Unfortunately, depending on the weather, crabbing into the Fall and Winter months can be a rather daunting undertaking. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE going crabbing out on Hood Canal and I LOVE eating crab. But there’s a very obvious and discernible point where you have to choose between pulling up crab or contracting hypothermia.

According to a statement by Rich Childers,  the lead shellfish policy spokesman for WDFW:

“The crab abundance in Hood Canal WA has dropped considerably since 2001 and we need as many crabs as possible for reproduction. WDFW and tribal managers are taking extra precautions to help stabilize and protect the crab population.”

So I’m wondering, what exactly has been the cause in the population drop since 2001? Do we jump on the environmental bandwagon and blame Global Warming? Is the drop in oxygen levels in the Hood Canal the culprit? Have the number of recreational crabbers increased that dramatically? What affect do tribal and commercial fisheries have on the situation?

All I know is that I’m totally bummed out that we won’t be able to drop our pots out on Hood Canal WA until nearly August. Guess we’ll be launching over in Brownsville and motoring our boat out through Agate Pass for a couple of months!

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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing 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 and SOUNDBITEBLOG, or by email at rich@windermere.com

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