Article Category: Guest Column

1964 Crab Season

1964 Crab Season

Between salmon season and the coming Dungeness crab season, I was on the beach working on the crab traps for the coming crab season that was to open Dec. 1, 1964 in the Crescent City, Calif. area. I had put together 120 crab pots, and come Dec. 1, the weather report was not good: a strong southerly storm could be on its way. Most fishing boats were going to set pots anyway, hoping to get in on a good first catch, so I went too. We set all 120 pots but were unable to get back out to check on them for the next three days because of the stormy weather. When we did get out, I found 60 pots stuck in the mud, and the other 60 that I pulled loose did not have many crabs in them —maybe three per pot. So I brought the 60 pots home that I had pulled off the mud and stacked them on the dock. Luckil...
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Me, the Sea & the Frances E

Me, the Sea & the Frances E

It was the month of October and I was salmon fishing out of Coos Bay, Oregon. At the time I owned a 34-foot salmon boat. Although the season was about over, I was day fishing and catching eight or 10 salmon a day. Days were getting short and I knew it was wise to head for my home port of Crescent City, Calif. On this particular day, I quit early and after delivering my salmon, I tied up in an empty slip. There was a bigger fishing boat on the other side of the float with a “For Sale” sign in the window. I needed a bigger boat as I was crab fishing in the winter. My vessel at that time was not a very good boat for crab fishing. I was fishing 38-inch traps and could only get seven traps in the fish hold at once. The for-sale boat was a 48-foot vessel with lots of open stern deck,...
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