Tribal Crabbing update
Tribal Crabbing update
Just a note: After servicing my Honda outboard yesterday for this coming crabbing and fishing season, I took my boat out in area 8-1 to have a look and to make sure my motor was running well. There was one string of tribal pots (maybe 6 to 8 pots total) in front of Camano Island State Park, a string across from Camano State Park near North Bluff, and a string near Camp Grandy at the north end of Camano Island. I did not see near as many pots out as previous years which I thought was encouraging. I just hope the info on the WDFW site about only giving the tribe 4 days in June to crab before it opens to us on the 2nd is true. A buddy of mine who has a house in Utsalady told me he has been watching tribal crabbers fish for crab all last week which doesn't jive with the WDFW info. So hopefully male crab numbers will be up this time and we can all harvest some crab without having to let pots soak all day. Good luck to all.
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Rollin with Rolland
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RE:Tribal Crabbing update
Alright, so i was just out the other day crabbing and ran into a tribal vessel and stopped and chatted for about 1/2 hour. i noted in an earlier post that in area 7 i have not seen one tribal crab buoy. Now i know why. these two gentlemen (nice fellows, gave me some hotspots to try) were dropping shrimp pots, because crabbing was not open yet for them. they said they only get like three days in mid-july to crab....that's it. granted, they also said their tribe manages the crab pretty well and will harvest 250,000 lbs of crab in three days. that's a lot. i'm not super-up-to date on the tribal crabbing, but throughout the inland waters there must be different regs for different tribes, or something. anyone heard of this??
I have caught many fish in my life. The most exciting? The next one.....
RE:Tribal Crabbing update
Hey Roland,
Nice job taking the time to speak with the tribal folks. I have found them to be very anti social when they are out on the water. I believe you are right as far as different tribes having different seasons. I was told the other day that Tulalip Tribes crabbed exclusively in area 8-1 which would explain the very low numbers of keepers with the exception of someone’s secret hot spot where the tribe isn’t fishing for crab. Yesterday 8-2 was very productive. I was almost in shock to actually get a limit so quickly let alone all four of us limiting in under 3 hours.
250,000 pounds is a huge amount of crab and I believe the State of Washington gets a percentage of the profit when it is sold, which could explain the high number of pounds and the pre sport season for them. The WDFW site indicated that the Tulalip Tribe was to have only 4 days of crabbing in June before it opened to us. I’m not so sure that was the case as a buddy of mine who lives across the street from the beach at Utsalady Bay said he saw Tribal crabbers out crabbing for a week before it opened to the public. He also said he saw commercial crabbers there that same week as well. I’m not sure how to tell the difference. Maybe the buoy color is different. Needless to say, before the State of Washington allowed the Tribes to crab before the sport season, crabbing was nothing short of amazing. This was just 3 season ago. Crabbing opened to everyone at the same time so everyone got easy limits in about an hour. Tribal crabbers also demonstrated very poor sportsmanship having to compete with the public. On more than one occasion, I was buzzed by a tribal boat at 35+ mph maybe 50 feet from my boat which upset me almost to the point of contacting them and reminding them that you never know where you might find the police, but I and my sergeant resisted that temptation. Can you say reckless boating = jail? Anyway, thanks for the update. It affects all of us. I just wish the state would go back to opening the season to everyone at the same time. Good luck crabbing. Salmon season is almost here…. Can’t wait!
Dave
Nice job taking the time to speak with the tribal folks. I have found them to be very anti social when they are out on the water. I believe you are right as far as different tribes having different seasons. I was told the other day that Tulalip Tribes crabbed exclusively in area 8-1 which would explain the very low numbers of keepers with the exception of someone’s secret hot spot where the tribe isn’t fishing for crab. Yesterday 8-2 was very productive. I was almost in shock to actually get a limit so quickly let alone all four of us limiting in under 3 hours.
250,000 pounds is a huge amount of crab and I believe the State of Washington gets a percentage of the profit when it is sold, which could explain the high number of pounds and the pre sport season for them. The WDFW site indicated that the Tulalip Tribe was to have only 4 days of crabbing in June before it opened to us. I’m not so sure that was the case as a buddy of mine who lives across the street from the beach at Utsalady Bay said he saw Tribal crabbers out crabbing for a week before it opened to the public. He also said he saw commercial crabbers there that same week as well. I’m not sure how to tell the difference. Maybe the buoy color is different. Needless to say, before the State of Washington allowed the Tribes to crab before the sport season, crabbing was nothing short of amazing. This was just 3 season ago. Crabbing opened to everyone at the same time so everyone got easy limits in about an hour. Tribal crabbers also demonstrated very poor sportsmanship having to compete with the public. On more than one occasion, I was buzzed by a tribal boat at 35+ mph maybe 50 feet from my boat which upset me almost to the point of contacting them and reminding them that you never know where you might find the police, but I and my sergeant resisted that temptation. Can you say reckless boating = jail? Anyway, thanks for the update. It affects all of us. I just wish the state would go back to opening the season to everyone at the same time. Good luck crabbing. Salmon season is almost here…. Can’t wait!
Dave