Mark your calendars with a couple very important dates coming up quickly. First is November 2, tomorrow. As the first Saturday in November, tomorrow is the yearly sport season opener for Dungeness crab. Second only to king salmon in terms of popular seafood and importance to the Santa Cruz fishing community, Dungeness are plentiful and delicious, though trapping them can also be frustrating and uncomfortably hard work.

Locally, most Dungeness crab are found in 180-250 feet of water, on flat mud or sand bottom areas. Crab traps baited with squid, anchovies, fish or chicken carcasses are dropped to the bottom and retrieved after one-three days of soaking, hopefuly full of legal Dungies. On private boats, the limit is ten Dungeness crab per angler per day. Minimum size restrictions from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife requires "five and three-quarter inches measured by the shortest distance through the body from edge of shell to edge of shell directly in front of and excluding the points (lateral spines); except in Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Monterey counties, when fishing aboard a commercial passenger fishing vessel ..., the minimum size is six inches." If fishing from a 'commercial passenger fishing vessel' the daily sport limit is six crab each.

Then, next week on November 9 is the annual Albacore Feed in Castroville. Sponsored by the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout project and the Castroville Rotary, the annual dinner is a tradition stretching back 36 years. Mike Baxter from the MBSTP Board of Directors is excited about this year's event. "This is the best way to support local salmon and steelhead in the watershed, ocean and in the classrooms!

The food is great, company is fun, prizes and raffle items are fantastic! Please join us this is the easiest way to "give back" and raise support for Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project! The Albacore Feed will be held at the Castroville Recreation Center at 11621 Crane St. with 6pm cocktails and 7pm dinner. Tickets are available at the door (kids get a discount).

Locally, Capitola was the place to be this week, not only for the fishing, but also the whale show. Tons of bait in the area has the rockfish and lingcod biting well from Capitola reefs. Surfer's Reef and Boomer's Reef have been particularly good this week, with limits of cod and some big lings brought to the boats. According to Ed Burrell at Capitola Boat and Bait, one lucky angler even caught a 28-inch halibut near Boomer's, using a hexbar with a custom bucktail. Burrell reports that humpback whales have been feeding all week just outside the Marina. It's a rare chance to observe from the pier or from shore active behavior such as tail slapping, breaching and lunge feeding.

Bushnell can also be heard on KSCO radio 1080 AM Friday mornings 6:45 with a fish report. Send your photos, comments or questions to scruzfishing@yahoo.com, or visit santacruzkayakfishing.com

Pictured Above: Neil Hornback, 16-pound ling caught on a live king fish, Surfers Reef, Capitola.