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Weekend report: I caught crabs! (way OT, w/pics)
 (17 posts)
|  Weekend report: I caught crabs! (way OT, w/pics)
| Tscheezy
Jan 20, 2003 9:43 PM | | I'm not kidding. Here goes...
Sunday at noon, the Kodiak Tanner crab season opened. I volunteered to work as a deck hand on my friend Deny's boat, the F/V New Song. He ran the boat out to Monashka Bay, the chosen fishing ground, and I drove out the road to meet him to save me the long boat ride out from the harbor (I've spent PLENTY of time on fishing boats, thank you). I paddled out in one of my kayaks to meet the New Song.
The New Song is a typical Delta of about 40 feet. It is comfortable inside and can be used for a lot of different types of fishing, but was mainly designed for salmon seining. Here is Deny at the wheel.
The deck was organized chaos as the noon opener approached as we baited and rigged a few pots.
After weeks of wind and rain, the calm of fog was actually pleasant.
Deny baits a pot with herring and halibut heads.
Other boats working gear near us.
Deny splashes a "Jap" pot. There are a lot of different styles of crab pot, but these small stackable cone pots which one person can easily handle are great on small boats. They don't hold a lot of crab, but they beat dealing with the larger big-boy pots which are up to 9 feet long on a side and weigh over 600 pounds.
Hauling the gear back. I did most of the gear work and Deny drove the boat, but he took over a few times so I could take pictures. The block pulling the line in is hydraulically driven.
The quarry! Tanner crab (Chionoecetes bairdi).
By the afternoon of the second day we had put a few pounds of crab on board and let them hang out in a disused pot on deck...
We caught a Pacific octopus in one pot. The octopus is a voracious crab eater and he had already polished off 3 of the crabs in the pot. The pot was pretty empty of crab because the rest were scared to join the octopus in there. Here he is working his way across the deck. If you look closely, you can see the look of abject terror on the crabs' faces.
Back in town some cannery workers sort and weigh the crab while Deny looks on. Not a huge haul, but the gear is still soaking out there and after the current storm blows itself out we will slide back out to pick it again. A fun way to spend 2 days, all things considered. One of the things I love about coastal Alaska is the variety. and all the seafood you can eat!
tscheezy
PS I hope you forgive this digression. I rode my bike on Friday and Saturday if it makes you feel better ;^) |
| Quite amazing! | xxlt
Jan 20, 2003 10:10 PM | | That octopus barely looks real. I love how that one crab is peeking out the hole watching that bad boy (or girl). Truly amazing.
Thanks for sharing! |
| Mmm...seafood at Tscheezy's place! | Cook
Jan 20, 2003 10:48 PM | | Some great shots........I love the 4th one of the solitary boat with it's lights on in the mist. That pic makes you feel the chill of the ocean. |
| Look at those snappers! | Hollis
Jan 21, 2003 5:15 AM | | I almost needed Dramamine just to read that post.
Pretty cool. |
| Dramamine??? | AK Ken
Jan 21, 2003 8:45 PM | | That looks dead freakin calm, man! Dramamine just puts you to sleep. Puking keeps you awake, at least.
Ken (can get seasick in the hot tub) |
| Great post! | Nat
Jan 21, 2003 6:00 AM | | That octopus is cool. I didnt know they were so red. I suppose there's more than one type of octopus, just as there is more than one type of crab. What did you guys do with it? |
| Hey -- me, too! | Titan
Jan 21, 2003 7:58 AM | | With our razor clam season wiped out this year due to high domoic acid concentrations, I've been focusing my efforts on our local red rock and dungeness friends.
My operation is significantly smaller than that of your friend. :) |
| Bleh, Chionoecetes. | Pup
Jan 21, 2003 9:37 AM | | Glorified spider crabs. Trash crab, blech.
(Well to be fair, Ive only ever had opies-- but still.)
Gimme Paralithodes or Cancer magister any day.
:0
P
crab snob |
| Opies suck... | Tscheezy
Jan 21, 2003 10:45 AM | | And I'd take a tanner over a king most days. Easier to get the meat out and they taste better to boot.
Not a snob, but I know what I like.
tscheezy |
| Yez they surely do | Pup
Jan 21, 2003 12:51 PM | | (blech) -- all you ever see down here though.
Will have to look around for tanner to try then.
Pup
Seattle
fair-and-even-handed crab snob |
| Very cool. What did you do with the Octopus? | troy
Jan 21, 2003 10:15 AM | | reminds me of my days growing up on the outer banks. Lots of fun. |
| Drove away from the pots and tossed him back... | Tscheezy
Jan 21, 2003 10:54 AM | | they are cool critters. If you "age" them, they make good bait, but we didn't know when we were going to rebait, so we put him back to chow some more crustaceans.
They can assume an amazing variety of colors and even skin textures. They recognize the color and surface features of whatever they are sitting on, and will mimic it almost instantly. It seems that when they are pissed, they turn red though. They have the most amazing eyes- pupils like a cat's, but blood red.
We also caught grey cod and sculpin and those did turn into bait.
tscheezy |
| Great post--looks like fun, | AK Ken
Jan 21, 2003 8:51 PM | | especially if you don't HAVE to do it no matter the weather. How long's the opener?
Are you sending us some more precip? We're ready.
Ken |
| No more precip, thank you.... | Bill in AK
Jan 21, 2003 10:08 PM | | I'm ready for breakup.
Friday late afternoon freezing rain made for an early day at work--got sent home at 4 to beat the mess.
Sunday night rain/freeze cost us the son's Bronco. He was headed back from Wasilla with 3 others and lost it in the median on the Glenn, just past the Eklutna exit. Swapped ends twice, into the median, then a full barrel roll to end up on the tires. No injuries, not even bumps or bruises.
Bill |
| Better view of the damage... | Bill in AK
Jan 21, 2003 10:23 PM | | Do you think it's totalled? |
| Totalled? Barely looks broke in | AK Ken
Jan 21, 2003 11:47 PM | | for a genuine Alaskan rig. Nobody can complain about him not taking his SUV off road, eh?
Seriously, very glad everyone's smiling. Was the baby in there too? Scary stuff.
Did you yank it out with the big Dog? Drive it home? Even if the insurance co totals it, if it's good mechanically (and you like it) you might buy it back from them for cheap.
Went to Fairbanks today on some rain glazed roads. If I lived in town I'd add 4 inch pipe bumpers all the way around the Suburban. I stopped short of an intersection to let some idiot slide into the spot I should have been occupying. They just don't understand that turning the steering wheel does no good when the brakes are locked.
How's the new job?
Ken |
| Looks better than 90% of the cars down here! | Tscheezy
Jan 22, 2003 12:00 AM | | Sorry to hear about the accident, but you have not seen "unroadworthy" until you have spent some time around the motorized morgue escapees here on Kodiak. I once watched a truck break in half while driving down a smooth road from a rusted through frame. Down the street is a truck where the only remaining body panel is the hood. The bed is just a plastic bed liner tied to the frame. Wanna trade?
tscheezy |
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