I love winter Dungeness crab season. Was planning on Friday afternoon but plans change. Headed out Saturday and had the boat in the water just after noon (Pleasant Harbor). Was planning on dropping the pots and chasing coho. I dropped 2 pots at an area I only crabbed one time right at the end of the last season. Had some incredible pulls. Not today! First pot was empty after 70 min. I kept it in the boat. Second pot only had one barely under size. The only fish I caught, and released, during that time was a 10” king.

After the second pull, I beelined south and across Tonados to the East side of the canal. Been crabbing and fishing that area for 30+ years. Dropped the pot around 55” Put th4e second pot around the same depth and about 100 yards south. After about 45min, pulled the first pot. Awesome! 3 keepers and a few softshell. The soft ones were pushing 7.5”. Second was about the same but with 1 keeper. The third pull had another 3keepers meaning I had to throw back 2 which is always hard. Only the second rock crab of the day was in the pot and it was very nice size. Ended up keeping it for a friend.

With a crab limit, I headed to throw lead along the shoreline hoping to meet a coho. Did encounter some really huge sea lions but did not land any keeper salmon.

---