I was crabbing at Sequim Bay all weekend. We did pretty well but did manage to lose a pot. We "knew" it had been stolen as both I and my son-in-law remembered that it was in plain sight of our other three, all in about 80 feet of water. We had the positions marked on two separate GPS units. When we went back to check our pots three of them were in the proper place and one was nowhere to be seen.
Tonight I got a call from the P.A. game warden who said he had our pot. He did a sweep of the bay and picked up all pots remaining after the season closed. He found our pot in about 30 feet of water in perfect condition and with crabs in it.
Because it was 100% legal, with the exception of still being in the water after the seasons end there were no problems. In fact he was nice enough to say he will hold the pot for me until I get a chance to pick it up later this fall.
He was professional, courteous and went above and beyond the call of duty. Hats off to that game warden!

That's good to hear.

PM sent.

Was it Miller?

It was an ofice named Gary Viley? I may have the spelling wrong.

Gary works or worked for the Clallam County and is a part-time officer for WDFW. He's a good hand.

WDFW had a road side check on 101 Monday for invasive species and there was four or five of the local Wardens checking boats and trailers. All of them were very courteous even though they were working on Labor day checking boats for critters LOL. I could only imagine what they had to deal with that day. There was one boat that was registered in WA the gentleman had a WA resident fishing license but a Hawaiian drivers license and a resident in CA. All Miller said to him because they were so busy with the check point was that is a whole another issues and just shook his head in amazement. This guy was shaking in his boots and actually told Miller that he had no idea he was in the wrong and asked for advice from Miller on how he should play by the rules. On another note I spoke with the wardens and they thought about checking fish punches and fish but felt that it would hold up all the vacationers heading home. They said that they were there because WDFW enforced them to check for invasive species road side and would much rather be out on the water checking for fishing violations. BTW I saw WDFW out on the water Sunday around eleven and they were not giving many warnings they said!

The whole issue of invasive species whether it is animal or plant is a lot bigger than most realize.

It is especially critical in the freshwater environment. When you pull your boat, be sure you pull off any plant material that your trailer drags out. And, you should not be transporting any live fish or other critters from one body of water to another.

I think LE gets some funding for doing inspections, so such checks will occur around the state.

I've done a fair bit of crabbing and in my experience most of the pots thought to be swiped are generally either floated/dragged by their bouys/line out or in with the tide, or else the line has been fouled by weeds and the pot is still there but the bouy is now forced under by the flow of the tide. I was just out crabbing in Waldport, OR over Labor day along with nearly a hundred other boats and by the end of the day, at low slack after everybody had left, I fould at least half-dozen bouys scattered about--likely resulting from one of the previously mentioned scenarios. I personally had to chase down my pots several times becasue they were drifting away with strong outgoing tides and one one occasion I dropped a pot and within minutes the bouy submerged due to a huge raft of weeds. I had to wait 'till the low slack before it popped back up again on the surface.

On eht other hand, I bet a few pots get lifted by unsavory folks too, but more often than not, your pot is the victim of the bay and not your fellow crabber.

-GF

and....there are always some people that just don't get the word and ruin it for the rest of us. I was awakened this morning by the sound of motors on Dungeness Bay. Two boats were dropping their usually Weds. morning crab pots in the inner bay. About 4 red and white bouys are still out there.

Probably not for long.

I saw fewer pots this year than usual, but crabbing was still only fair. Lots of soft males and females. Even so, we had a great crab feed and are having crab cakes for dinner tonight. Feel free to P.M. me with any tips for next years crabbing.

DV

Will be happy to provide fresh info when you come up.

By the way - I really enjoyed your article in STS. Very well done

there were alot of soft males this year. i tought it was deff. better this year than last. limits on sunday and close to limits sat and monday.

Than ks. I put more work in that piece than any other I have ever done. I was trying to answer the questions I hear so often about where did all the coho go?

Readers will get educated. We all impact the life cycle of salmon in one way or another. I hope folks get the message.