Niche Markets

 

                                                              Rockies...

 I was talking to a dungeness crab fisherman at the dock in Princeton and he goes: "rock crabs are garbage, I got no interest in that."  

And that's just fine with me, buddy!  

It all comes down to what your particular version of the American Dream happens to be.  Mine is unique, I think, in that it doesn't include a lot of expensive stuff.  And because of that, I can make underground, under-utilized, non-mainstream fisheries work for me.  But not everyone can.  

It's funny though, I have to say, commercial fishing a string of hoop nets! You guys think I'm kidding but that appears to be the best way to capture rock crabs (more on this later). 

Even funnier, since we started doing this with our buyer (and benefactor!) I'm seeing rock crabs all over town.  Copy cats! Got more demand for eels than I know what to do with. Got people talking about the different kinds of smelts (FYI: there's a huge demand for jacksmelt... yes, jacksmelt. Worms and all!)

Anyway, Mikey and I have been dropping pots everyday.  Okay, let me rephrase that.  Mikey's been dropping pots everyday, I've been tagging along occasionally.  But, we are starting to learn a few things:

1.  rock crabs are smarter than dungies

2.  rock crabs are very good at escaping from conventional crab pots

3.  hoop nets work well because you have to pull them up every 15 minutes and so the crabs don't have a chance to escape.

4.  getting pinched by a rock crab deeply sucks (their claws are designed to break clams, yo).

5.  we need a different kind of pot.

It's weird, even with weighted doors and 3.25 inch escape rings we can't seem to keep these buggers in the traps over night.  Drop a few hoop nets on rocky bottom and you catch more rock crabs in an hour than you do with a 48 hour soak.  Very strange.  I think what's going on here is that rockies unlike dungies evolved to deal with getting in and out of holes.  So as soon as they eat all the bait they start searching the cage for a way out... and they figure out the door quite easily.  I have this image in my brain of one rock crab, the leader of the jail break, holding the trap door open while all the others escape... might have to sink a GO PRO down there... anyone wanna volunteer a camera?

Anyhoo... as far as fishing goes, this is what I've been up to lately (see movie).  Nothing stupendous but some nice footage of our little operation, the wonderful 18 foot Whaler that has been provided for us by our crab buyer, Kenny (mensch of the 7 seas), and the foggy shores of the local coastline.  I think it's fair to say that in a month or two we will be able to triple our catch.  

Again, if there are any former commercial rock crab fishermen out there reading this, I'd love to pick your brain for a few minutes... beers on me.

Anyway, here's my first movie since steelheading on the Trinity...

Happy New Year!

PS: if any of you have photos from my tours down in Halfmoon Bay/Princeton/Mavericks I'd really appreciate you forwarding them to me, especially that monster cabezon Mikey got poke poling!

 

Comments

[Jeff Hipon]

I'll let you borrow my GoPro camera, but you may need a light.

[Simone Gambler]

Mmmm, those are very huge crabs. They're better when cooked with coconut milk and other spices. Just be careful in eating them because they are very rich in cholesterol. When is the best time for catching those crabs anyway?

[Northern Boy]

Great stuff Kirk, red rock crabs are the Food of Kings

I have always wanted to leave a waterproof camera in a hoop net bait cage - it would be fab footage if you could get it. For the light you could always try a glowstick, they would illuminate the net for long enough and might even attract some additional visitors. You don't need a GoPro either, saltwaterproof cameras are pretty cheap these days.

[Chinnu Xiong]

There's a decent sized market down here for rock crabs. I see guys sellin them at the farmer's market and our saturday fisherman's market. Plus you get business when dungies go out of season.

[me]

There is a pretty big rock crab fishery in Santa Barbara. Guys bring in 800-1200 pounds a trip on a regular basis. They also target kellets whelks with the same traps. I dont know much about the traps but they do well.

[Ben Fishin]

I know that beard & afro....that looks like my boy Mikey D!!! Mikey saved my life on the slopes one day. good to see him

[Chumchum]

What about keeping the smaller keepers till they molt and marketing them as pacific soft shell crab? Always wondered if theyd be good and a 4 or 5 incher seems to be a good sandwich size crab.

[fishing rods]

If they are anything like the Florida Stone Crab (they look alot like them) you could look at those traps. They are wooden or plastic with concrete bottoms.
Hope that helps.