Crabbing by Copalis Beach

[fishndude]

Hi all,

I'm planning on going clamming the weekend of the 24th in the Copalis Beach area if it opens. I went 3 weeks ago and limited out in an hour.

Only this time, I'm gonna bring some crab rings as well. My question is, I doubt throwing rings from the beach is a good idea so I'm looking for some piers in the area. The WDFW site doesn't inform you on piers outside of Puget Sound. I know there is one in Westport, but I think I'm going to stay north of Grays Harbor. Another option would be the giant jetty at Ocean Shores but I'm not sure its that safe to be throwing/pulling crab rings off of an uneasy footing.

You guys know of any piers north of Grays Harbor?

I was also thinking of getting one of those fishing rod setups with the little cage that you cast out. Then, I could stay on the beach and crab.

Thanks all!

[Coastfishin]

I don't know of any piers this side of Westport. They Ocean Shores Jetty is a dangerous one, waves go clear over it reguarly. I have caught a lot of Red Rock Crab just surf fishing from the beach. They will grab your bait and hang on while you drag them in.

[G-Man]

No piers from which you could effectively crab on near Copalis. The crab snare does work and would probably be your best bet. Now, if your out collecting clams, keep any sand shrimp and mole crabs you find and use them for surf perch. Catch a few good sized surf perch and you'll be hooked, pun intended, they taste great.

[fishndude]

Thanks guys!

[fishndude]

Update:

Clamming was fantastic. Limited out again and they were much bigger than the ones I got last month.

Crabbing was not so fantastic. I tried the crab snare on the beach to no avail. I wouldn't recommend it because the waves just toss it around on the bottom. I did have waders on and got out as far as I could too.

After that, we drove to Ocean Shores and I tried a crab ring off the jetty. I hiked to probably the middle of the jetty (took forever) and threw off a crab ring. After intently waiting 15 min, I pulled and discovered the ring was stuck on rocks that I couldn't see. I knew it was a bad idea in the first place. Well, needless to say, I lost it.

As far as surf perch fishing, I was too bummed out to continue, but there was a good 10 or so people on the jetty fishing for them with a lot of success. I didn't see the people in the surf actually catch any, but the ones on the jetty were killin it.

Had a great clam dinner though!