Crabbing at Cornet Bay
If you want to be guaranteed to harvest legal-sized Dungeness or Red rock crab around Whidbey Island: buy a boat. If that’s not an option, you should try crabbing from the dock at Cornet Bay. With boaters, fishermen and crabbers all sharing the same dock space, it can get a little crowded in the summer; however, in the winter, you may find yourself alone save for others’ crab pots. The summer crabbing season typically runs from the 4th of July through Labor Day weekend in September, while winter runs from the beginning of October through December. Summer crabbing is typically allowed from Thursdays through Mondays (no crabbing on Tuesdays or Wednesdays) but winter crabbing is allowed every day of the week.
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An especially quiet day at the dock in October. This would never happen during the summer season. -
Typical opening day -
Success on opening day 2016
Before you go, be sure to buy a shellfish harvesting license, a Discover Pass and review Recreational Crab Fishing rules at the Washington Department of Fishing and Wildlife site. You will also need: a crab trap, lead line (the water is shallow at Cornet Bay so you don’t need more than 30 feet), a red and white buoy marked as required by law (if you plan to leave the pot unattended), bait and either a bait holder or something to attach the bait to the pot, a crab gauge, hatchet (for killing what you catch), a bucket or cooler in which to place your crab and a burlap sack. Don Velasquez, WDFW Fish and Wildlife biologist, suggests that storing and transporting crab in seawater actually kills them. Instead, set crab in a bucket or cooler. Soak towels or burlap sacks in water and place them over the crab. Keep the container cool and the crab can survive for days this way.
Locally, you can get all you need to go crabbing at a hardware store, except the bait, which you can get at any large grocery store. Before you go, assemble your trap, attach the bait to the pot (either using string or by placing it in a bait holder and attaching that to the pot with a small bungee cord), label the buoy, and connect the buoy/line to the pot. I like to use chicken drumsticks for bait because they are easy to tie with cotton twine (starting with the small end) to the pot. People tend to use bait holders (which the crab can’t access, so the bait lasts) but I don’t mind the extra effort of tying it to the trap so that the crab can snack while they wait to be kept or released. NOTE: CRABS PREFER THEIR BAIT FRESH, THE FRESHER THE BETTER.
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Box trap with cotton-twine attached chicken legs.
When you arrive at the dock, pay attention to the location of other crabbers’ pots. There’s no actual rule, but if you place your pot directly next to another person’s, they’ll probably glare at you. Some folks prefer to place their pots in specific spots, but I don’t think it matters that much. I like to place my pot somewhere that’s unlikely to be blocked by an incoming boater.
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The ramp is narrow, slippery when wet and steep (during low tide).
Once you’ve dropped your pot (throw it out away from the dock as far as you can) and left enough line to accommodate the tide, tie the line to the low wooden rail. I typically leave my pot (with a required, marked buoy) for one hour to several with the midpoint corresponding to low tide as I’ve never experienced or heard of a pot being stolen from the dock. If you have a clamp-type, open type or snare-type trap, it’d be pointless not to stay and pull it in every twenty to thirty minutes, otherwise, the crab will eat your bait.
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Open top trap with one of several bait options, a fish head -
Clamp-type throw trap -
Typical box trap. Most, if not all of these crab are too small to keep.
The best day to crab at Cornet Bay is also the worst day: Opening Day. My understanding is that you may begin crabbing an hour before sunrise and end an hour after sunset. The most keepers I’ve ever caught on a single day at the dock is four Dungeness. Typically, I harvest an average of one legal-sized crab on any other day if I leave the pot out for two to six hours. In a typical summer season, I harvest a total of about one to two dozen Dungies.
Statewide Gear Rules
Caution: The requirements below are the minimum established by law. The addition of weights to traps is advised and currents in some locations may also require the use of additional buoys and extra line to prevent the equipment from being lost. Refer to the individual species listings (Crab Rules; Shrimp Rules; and Shellfish/Seaweed Species Rules) for seasons and other harvest rules. Not all shellfish gear sold in Washington meet the specifications shown on this page. Verify that your pot meets these requirements prior to use.
General Gear Rules
Crab, shrimp, and crawfish may be harvested using pots, by hand, or with a dipnet. Hand operated instruments may not penetrate the shell. Additional rules for pot use apply.
One star trap, one ring net, one castable snare, or one pot is considered one unit of gear. The maximum number of units of gear that may be fished per person is:
Puget Sound: (Marine Area 4, east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line, and in Marine Areas 5-13).
- Shrimp: Two pots per person, and no more than 4 shrimp pots may be onboard or fished by any one boat at a time.
- Crab: Two units of crab gear per person, and no limit on the number of units of crab gear per boat.
Coastal Waters: (Marine Areas 1-3 and in Marine Area 4, west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line).
- Two units of crab and/or shrimp gear per person.
- Exception: Columbia River – three units of crab gear per person.
Freshwater:
- Crawfish: Five units of gear per person.
Statewide Shellfish Pot Rules—Crab, Shrimp, & Crawfish
- Every shellfish pot, ring net, or star trap left unattended in Washington waters must have its own buoy line and a separate buoy that is permanently and legibly marked with the owner’s first name, last name, and permanent address (telephone number is voluntary). It is ILLEGAL to set or pull unattended shellfish gear with a buoy that does not have your name on it, and only one name and address may appear on each buoy. Any angler may assist the person whose name is on the buoy while he or she is pulling the pot. No fisher may set, or pull shellfish gear from a vessel, in Marine Areas 1-13, from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise. All shellfish gear must be removed from the water on closed days.
- Buoys must be constructed of durable material. It is unlawful to use bleach, antifreeze, or detergent bottles, paint cans or any other container. Buoys must be visible on the surface at all times except during extreme tidal conditions. Personal flags and staff, if attached to buoys, can be of any color. Buoy lines must be weighted sufficiently to prevent them from floating on the surface.
- All crab, shrimp, and crawfish pots must be equipped with a biodegradable device (rot/escape cord) which must be affixed to the pot in at least one of the following ways:
- Securing the pot lid hook or tie down strap with a single loop of rot cord; or
- Sewing a 3″ by 5″ escape panel in the upper half of pot closed with rot cord; or
- Attaching the pot lid or one pot side (serving as a pot lid) with no more than three single loops of rot cord.
Cord used must be untreated 100% cotton, hemp, jute, or sisal no larger than thread size 120 (1⁄8″). This cord, when attached as described above, must be able to rot away and allow crab, shrimp, crawfish and fish to escape freely if the pot is lost. A derelict crab pot without proper escape cord can attract and kill crabs for years after the pot has been lost.
Crab Gear:
- The minimum mesh size for crab pots is 1½”, and all pots must have two 4¼” minimum inside diameter escape rings in the upper half of the pot, except in the Columbia River where the minimum ring size is 4″ inside diameter.
- All parts of ring nets and star traps must lie flat on the sea bottom and may not restrict free movement of crab until lifted. Shellfish pots must be covered by water at all times while being fished.
- Crab pots must not exceed 13 cubic feet.
- All crab gear buoys must be half red and half white in color, and both colors need to be visible when fishing.
Shrimp Gear:
- Pots must be constructed of either flexible or rigid mesh material (no liners allowed).
- Entrance tunnels can be made of any size mesh material but must be located on the sides of the pot. The sum of the maximum tunnel widths must not exceed one-half the perimeter of the bottom of the pot.
- Shrimp pots must not exceed 10 feet in perimeter and 18″ in height.
- All shrimp pot buoys must be yellow in color.
Shrimp Pot Mesh Size:
1″ Minimum Mesh Size
A 7⁄8″ square peg must be able to pass through each mesh opening – see diagram, except for flexible (web) mesh pots, where the opening must be a minimum of 1¾” stretch measure.
- Puget Sound: Required for all shrimp pots during the month of May. Required in all areas open for spot shrimp after June 1st.
- Pacific Ocean: Year-round in waters seaward of 20 fathoms.
1/2″ Minimum Mesh Size
A 3⁄8″ square peg must be able to pass through each mesh opening, except for flexible (web) mesh pots, where the opening must be a minimum of 11⁄8″ stretch measure.
- Puget Sound: Allowed after June 1st in any area closed for spot shrimp, but open for coonstripe and pink shrimp.
- Pacific Ocean: Year-round in waters shoreward of 20 fathoms.
Lost Gear:
Do not attempt to retrieve your lost shellfish gear without first getting permission from the WDFW Enforcement Program (360) 902-2936. Permission may be granted verbally or by a permit to retrieve your gear. Salvaging gear belonging to others requires a permit. To report lost shellfish gear, use the Online Reporting Tool https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfishing-regulations/gear-rules/lost-gear or call WDFW at 1-855-542-3935. If we can recover your gear and it is properly identified, we will attempt to return it. Learn more about how to prevent gear loss by visiting https://www.nwstraits.org/our-work/catch-more-crab.
The requirement that crabbers retain the shell in the field means that if you want to clean your crab before taking it home, you must keep the entire, intact shell.
The WDFW explains how to determine whether or not you’ve trapped a soft-shelled crab and the reasoning behind the requirement, “A soft-shell crab will yield less than 20% of it’s weight in meat while a prime hard-shell crab will yield 25% of its weight in meat…More significant, however, is that the meat from a soft-shell crab is of very low quality compared to meat from a harder cousin.” A WDFW enforcement officer once told me that the most common infractions he tickets for are for those who’ve harvested undersized crab and/or exceeded the allowed limit. He tends to give those who harvest molts a warning and educate them on the law prohibiting it. Once you’ve seen a few soft shelled crab, the lighter than usual look is a dead giveaway. If the crab’s body or upper sections of its legs give in the least bit when you try to squeeze it, you may not harvest it.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife suggests, “Fall is typically the best time to crab. Beginning in September, crabs tend to be more “filled out”, meaning there is a higher percentage of meat…Hard-shelled crabs contain 20 to 30 percent meat by weight, compared to soft-shelled crabs, which can be as low as 12 percent,” “Slack water (the time around high or low tide) are the best times to crab…[because they] are generally walking around and foraging since they are not getting pushed around by tidal exchange,” “Allow between one to two hours before retrieving your gear if you are crabbing with crab pots and 15 to 30 minutes if you are crabbing with rings,” “An experienced crab handler will sort crabs by keeping them at ease. They want to get out, but they don’t want to be forcefully grabbed. A quick shake of the pot is often more effective than reaching directly for them,” “Be sure to carefully and quickly release crab, do not throw them from heights as this will often crack their carapace and kill them. It is illegal to retain only the claws on all species.”
Although crabbing at Cornet Bay can be frustrating, more often than not, I come home empty handed, it’s always fun. Even if you don’t catch any keepers, you’ll likely trap at lot of crab. And dock crabbers tend to be really friendly, so if you have any questions, just ask someone.
