A great Crab Catcher

As you can see by the picture to the right, the pot is equipped with an upper and lower angled spring steel door. The crab simply crawls through, but can’t get out.  Crabs check-in, but they can’t check-out.

I did multiple side-by-side live field comparisons to the much less expensive Danielsons 24″ Square Collapsible Crab traps and in each case, the 360 degree access yielded better catch rates.   In every test, the 360 degree traps had 1 to 2 keeper crabs more in it than the Danielsons. that adds up quickly when you are fishing bays that a lot of crabbing pressure.  The most recent test, we compared 3 of each trap over one high tide (3 hour soak) in Nehalem Bay (Oregon).  The 360 degree traps caught 18 keepers to 12 keepers in the Danielsons traps.

As rigged for shallow water (no additional weight)

The Danielsons Crab traps are still great traps for the price and definitely worth considering if you have a tight budget.  The one thing I liked about them is that they are very durable and will last a long time. I’m going to do more testing and reviews of other crab pots, but they might be the #2 small boat crab pot when it is all done.  They definitely can catch crab.  We’ll see after my next round of testing.   After fishing the Danielson pots several times, I made some important modifications.  I used bailing wire to tie down 2 sections of 1 inch rebar as additional weight  in all of my crab pots to keep them from drifting/sliding during heavy tides and on the danielsons pots, I added several ounces of lead to the doors to keep the currents from blowing the doors open.  This has significantly increased the catch rate. The modified door is shown below.  It should be noted that Danielsons offers per-weighted door that you can buy as an accessory for the trap.  Overall, I would give the Danielsons pots score of 7 on a scale of 1 to 10.  Good pots but need improvement.

An inexpensive modification results in better catch rates.

It is presumed that sea-lions have historically hunted salmon in the Columbia river for as long as the fish have been swimming upstream to spawn.   The difference is that when a sea-lion head popped up out of the water at the former Celilo falls, there was a Native American there waiting to spear it.  I can’t say for certain that sea-lions would taste good, but I’m betting that their skin and fur made good clothing.  In other words, they had natural predators that they had to avoid.  If they failed, they would be dead.  Plain and simple.  There was no opportunity to lounge on a dock for days on end without risk. Sea-lions, being highly intelligent animals learned to avoid man therefore also learned to avoid place like Celilo Falls, where Native Americans fisherman congregated while fishing for the salmon that they relied on to survive.

So, my thinking is that the wildlife officials are going about this all wrong (with the best intentions).  In an effort to be as humane as possible, they are condemning more animals to death than is necessary.  As smart as sea-lions are, I think that the best way to discourage them from congregating at the dam is to simply shoot the worst offenders right there in the water as they come up with a salmon at the foot of the fish ladder.  The other sea-lions will see their dead counterparts floating downstream in a cloud of blood and they will quickly learn that the dam is not a safe place to hang out.

Perhaps there are tribes out there who are interested in restoring their sea-lion hunting tradition?  Think of the benefits…

And there is light at the end of this tunnel..  This year is looking up.  If I can just make use of all that I have learned lately, we should be back on track and I should be on the water again soon.

So what’s the solution?  How can we reach fish catching Nirvana? Well, the answers are simple.  First,  I have two answers for you – Fishing Mentors and Specialization.

While I would like to tell you that my Dad was my first fishing mentor, it would be a lie.  Dad liked to fish, but wasn’t much in the catching department.   Actually, my first Fishing Mentor was Russ Gates.  he had been our neighbor when I was little, but moved to central Oregon when he retired (with his wonderful wife Liz).  Together, they fished all of the central Oregon lakes in their tan Tri hull boat.  I can honestly say that those two caught tons of fish.  So, when we would visit them in Central Oregon, it was like visiting family, but ones that could fish.  They taught me to find natural bait (larvae, damsel flies, etc).  They taught me how to find the spots in the shallow lakes that held fish and why.  And they showed me that there were trout big enough to bury a 5 inch red and white bobber.   Overall, our biggest trout was 32 inches, caught by my 5 year old sister on a closed faced spincast reel.  it was nearly bigger than her (she has a habit of hooking big fish, more on her later).    I digress… My point on this is that without the Russ and Liz Gates to show us the way, we would never have found the trout fishing success that I have.  And ironically, that success helped me to become a fishing partner of my Salmon and Steelhead mentor, Steve.    During a fishing discussion with Steve, I told him a few of the secrets I had learned (including secret fishing spots that aren’t so secret anymore thanks to some fishing magazines!).  That led to hundreds of hours in his Willie driftboat fishing for steelhead and a bunch of trips to Lapine for trout.  Thanks to Steve, I count myself to be a better steelhead fisherman than mos (he is definitely a 10 % guy).  I’m nowhere near the 10% club for Salmon and Steelhead but I’m working on it.  I’m damn close to it for Plug Fishing (Kwikfish!).  My latest fishing mentor is my father-in-law, Tom.  He is the most experienced fisherman I have ever met.  he grew up as a commercial fishermans son in Wrangle Alaska.  He bought his own boat as an adult and continued the family tradition.   He has been trolling for Salmon and long lining Halibut and Black cod for years. For fun, he sport trolls for Marlin in Mexico (Catch and Release). When he talks Salmon, it pays to listen.  I have seen him accurately predict bites (nearly to the second) numerous times.   He is a serious fish killer!

So, the lesson here is to listen when a real fisherman talks.  Their words and experience can propel you to the 10% club.

Dorado-On-The-Hook

Today was a different result, though.  The tide change was at about 8 am.  We were out there and ready in time to run into a school of Yellow Fin Tuna.  We managed a triple but that was short lived as one fish wrapped another ones line and burned it off before using that newly created slack to shake the hook.  Still, we landed one 23 lb Tuna.  Of course, great cameraman that I am, I completely forgot to take pictures of the tuna and of the Dorado (18lbs) that we landed about 20 minutes later.  Later in the day we hooked up and released a nice sailfish.  Maybe 90 lbs.  I’ll post the pictures as they are.  Obviously I am not quite in the groove as far as the picture taking.  Still, overall we are catching more fish than most all of the boats and doing so in short 4 to 5 hour trips thanks to Tom’s experience.    Fishing gear worth noting – Williamson Coyotes (Black/Red and Black/Purple) are the hot colors.    See below for my lame pictures.  Laughing is allowed.

Umm, Oops. Missed the shot Completely...

There is a sailfish under the Williamson Coyote lure... Really...

One more shot of the lure. Still missing the fish....

One from Jan '09

Housesitter – Check
Lures – Check
Extra Line – Check
Rods – Check
Reels – Check
Terminal Gear – Check…
Dive Camera – Check
Everything Else – Check.

Nearly time to go.. Heading to Mexico for some Marlin fishing.  The reports are great.  Tom has lost a ton of gear to big fish and landed a good number more.

It’s rough, but someone has to do it…

Skunked Again

Well, I’m sure by now, you’ve guessed that my last trip did not go as expected.   My river-of-choice for the day was overloaded with driftboats (likely due to internet report chasing). My guess is probably 40+ boats in a four mile stretch.  So, that left us fishing a backup river.  This river is a gem of the NW but small and can easily have too many boats on it.  This day, we were one of just a few boats to fish it because the water was low and clear and late in the season.

We were running late because of the change in rivers and because my slacker fishing partner (Tony) was a little behind the curve (Just kidding Tony) and because the boat pilot (me) hates getting up before 5 am.   I was driving a little fast as we were headed up the little farm road to the gravel beach were we would be launching and as I rounded the corner near the turn off, I went wide and hit a pothole , no, it was more of a gaping sinkhole that nearly tore the tires off of my rig and send the boat and trailer into the air.  To give you an idea of the size of the pothole, my 12 lb lead box bounced up into the air and landed on the seat mounting knob, breaking it.  All because of my Genius driving skills.  After I replaced the fillings that were knocked out of my teeth by the massive jolt, we turned around (we missed the turn about this time) and headed down to the launch.   After some “minor” re-rigging of the boat (putting everything back into place that had flown around the boat.    So, besides getting some water into my boots, the launch went went smoothly and down the river we went.   The weather was perfect.  Sunny and sweatshirt only warm.  The water conditions weren’t all that great.  Low and gin clear is not what we were hoping for…  I fish better in high and a little on the silty side.  It’s one of my specialties.    Still, we were there and fishing, so it was time to give it our best shot.  Unfortunately, all we would have to show for the day was one dark chum hen, which we released, of course.  Still, the weather was perfect and we had a great time.  No complaints here.

My Favorite Oregon Coastal River Level.

I’ll have pictures and reports for every one on Sunday Night.