RATING: 2. I had a great time, the crabbing was poor.

At 3pm after pouring rain and more thunder and lightning all morning long, we went to the spot I have been crabbing at for the last 10+ years. Because the WDFW site said tribal crabbers only received 4 days in June to fish for crab I was hoping there would be plenty of keepers available like years past. NOT THE CASE! Once again, crabbing was very poor. This could be because of the storm that pounded the State, but I have my doubts about that theory. I was able to harvest only 2 keepers in my once prime crabbing grounds. So we relocated to Utsalady Bay (north end of Camano Island) where I was told by a buddy at work that he and his friends knocked em dead taking multiple limits in just a few hours. Yea, there were literally hundreds of pots soaking there. It was almost stupid. We managed 3 more keepers in about 1 ½ hours using 2 pots and a ring. It was like crab was the last and only food left on earth and everyone and their brother was out trying to get theirs to survive. It was the worst I have ever seen and I believe this area will be crabbed out within a few more days with this kind of pressure. My spot across from Camano State Park had fewer pots soaking but there were very few crab to be found including females which is unusual. Usually the pots are full of females, thanks to the tribe and the State of WA. How depressing! I will focus my efforts on the Everett area in the coming weeks. My area (8-1) isn’t worth the time unless you want to soak your pots all day risking pot theft and or raided pots. There were more boats on the water than I have ever seen at any one time. Someone could effortlessly pull your pots and take your crab, and unless you were right there watching, you would never know. Gone are the days of 1 hour soaks and 30 keepers in every pot. I did hear of a few who did well on Wednesday in Utsalady Bay.

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