After dinner we took a short walk around Valley Ford and then retired early in anticipation of the crab combo trip the next morning. If you have a cell phone with you, (and are fishing with Wil's) give Drene, your hostess, that number and you will get a wake up call directly from Wil's. Sure makes fishing easy not having to make that midnight drive through the fog.

ON THE WATER

As we rounded Bodega Head, at first light, we were greeted by a gentle swell, no breeze, and no fog; a beautiful Bodega day. As we headed north toward the Moku's string of crab traps, deckhand Fred orchestrated a group effort by the 12 passengers to prepare bait for the traps. Plastic jars were filled with chopped squid, and fish carcasses from the day before were strung onto the wire which attaches the bait and jar to the trap.

As we neared the mouth of the Russian River, Captain Vince Orsini, eased the Moku up to the first trap in the string. Fred hooked the float, grabbed the rope and wrapped it around the pulley on the winch. While the trap was coming up, the "Crab Crew" sprang into action. The 200' of rope has to be kept behind the boat so it doesn't get caught in the prop. This is done by using the same hook used to grab the float. The trap comes to the surface and Fred and another passenger lift it over the side of the boat. The crabs are removed from the trap along with star fish, kelp, and rock crabs. The old bait is removed, and dumped over the side by another passenger while Fred is handed the fresh bait and the crabs counted, then the trap is tossed back overboard. Randy Pratt and his three fishing buddies from Sacramento crewed while Deborah Alves tallied the take. After pulling 20 pots we had 12 dungeness to show for it. Captain Vince said that we would pull the pots again on our way back from rock fishing.

The commercial crabbing fleet has complained for years to the Department of Fish and Game that crabbing is not sportfishing. The current regulations allow for crabbing on sportfishing boats if the passengers are involved. If you want crab, plan on participating. If at some time in the future DFG decides passengers are not doing the crabbing on these combo trips, they can decide to change the regulations. Dungeness Crab populations go through a 7 year cycle along the Pacific Coast. Captain Vince explained the primary current, which carries the crab eggs after spawning, runs South. There is a lesser current, close to shore, which circulates North like a giant back eddy. Crab caught off the Bodega coast were spawned somewhere else, just as the eggs from Bodega would develop into crab somewhere else. Due to variations in the currents and conditions where the young crab fall out of the current provide the variations in the fishery at a given place over time. This year Northern California is experiencing the low point of the cycle.

The sportfishers are getting limits of very large crab but are having to pull more traps than the last couple of years to do so. Very few of the crab we boated were under two pounds! Crabbing is always better at the beginning of the season in terms of quantity and size so the sooner you make the trip, the better you will do.

FISHING ROCKS

We cruised up the coast to Fort Ross and began fishing the rocks in about 100' of water. The changes in the rockfishing regulations only allow three hooks and most of the shrimp fly rigs come with four or more. This required us to cut the hook off the extra hooks.

The fishing wasn't red hot but everyone had their limit of "Fruit Salad" (vermillion, black cod, china cod, coppers and kelp cod) by the time Vince had to return us south to the crab traps. Vince and Fred were helpful fixing tangles, snags, re-rigging and even showing how to work a hex bar over the rocks without snagging.

BACK TO CRABBING

The Tracer had fared much better crabbing in the morning than we had. Captain Roger Garcia radioed Captain Vince and gave him the position of a string of traps they would not need to harvest this afternoon and that we were welcome to the crab. They were north of the Moku's traps so we pulled them first.

Randy and his friends again took over the bulk of the work. By the time we finished the string they looked like pros. They were pulling in a trap a minute! This string had been productive, we were up to 64 dungeness at this point.

We had twenty traps to go and needed 20 more crab for limits. There were 3 dungeness in the last trap and that brought our total for the day to 84. Exactly a limit for everyone on board!

COOK THEM CRUSTACEANS

We arrived back at the shop where Judy had her crab cooking station up and running. For a buck a crab it sure helps to keep them fresh and it saves a ton of work when you get home.

The Moku is a new addition to the fleet at Wil's Fishing Adventures. Captain Vince Orsini has been the deckhand on the Tracer for many years, in addition to commercial fishing and crabbing. The Moku can carry 12 passengers very comfortably and is a pleasant alternative to the 50 passenger party busses and six-pacs alike.