We finally have a full opening of the recreational Dungeness fishery in the Monterey Bay area. Anglers in the region have been chafing at the bit while waiting for the go-ahead from authorities to begin a “full equipment” crab season. The season was delayed from its scheduled November 6 opening by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Restrictions were put in place by DFW due to “potential of entanglement of humpback whales and leatherback sea turtles in trap gear.” Fishing for crab with hoop nets or crab snares was allowed because they do not pose a similar danger to those species.

Dungeness crab regulations are a tad complicated, and all are advised to review the DFW 2021-2022 regs before dropping pots this year. Bag and size limits remain the same as last year with 10 crab per person per day of Dungeness crab measuring at least 5 3/4 inches. Other important changes were listed by the DFW who declared, “New regulations require recreational crab traps to have a single standardized main buoy which measures at least 5 inches by 11 inches and a single red marker buoy that measures 3 inches by 5 inches. The marker buoy may be attached to the main buoy or on a trailer line no more than 3 feet in length. No additional buoys or trailer buoys may be used. There is also a 10-trap limit and all traps must be serviced at least every nine days.”

Go Fish Santa Cruz is the only charter boat out of Santa Cruz running client crab trips right now. And the crabs are crawling. In Monterey Bay, the best spots are usually along deep canyon edges in anywhere from 140 to 230 feet of water. As Skipper JT Thomas from Go Fish reported, “We made our first pull on Saturday with a full boat of six clients. Ended up with 80 crab. Limits for everyone including crew.” The beautiful Miss Beth pulled 15 pots averaging about seven keepers per pull. “You know how it goes, some pots were zeroes and a couple had 12-15 keepers,” said Thomas. Go Fish Santa Cruz will make the most of crabbing over the winter. “We’ll get back out there after this week’s weather try some different spots. We know where to look. And, these are nice clean crabs, big and full as should be expected at the beginning of a season.” Thomas hopes to maximize the crabbing after this season’s late start, and may be running two trips per day for the tasty crustaceans. “We’ll try to get some crab combo trips in as well, before rockfish season ends on December 31,” Thomas concluded.

Meanwhile, fishing for rockcod has been very productive especially for those boats that venture to the outskirts of Monterey Bay. The Kahuna from Moss Landing had an incredible “long-range” trip on Saturday to the reefs below Big Sur, where clients pulled in a steady supply of hefty cod in the three to seven-pound class. Owner Carol Jones reported the Kahuna take from Saturday as “40 copper rockfish, nine lingcod, 60 assorted rockfish and 100 Vermilions.” We have run out of superlatives to describe the offshore fishing this year, but  bluefin tuna are still haunting the areas off Davenport and towards the Carmel Canyon. Few boats went out hunting for them this week, and fewer catches were reported. We did receive confirmed reports of tuna weighing up to 240 pounds caught this week as well as a few in the 80-100 pound class.