Our Second Annual
Crab Fishing Adventure

September 1999
Day 4

Wednesday
This morning didn't begin as early as yesterday because the tide occurred later. I was out of our motorhome by 7:30. I went over to the office to talk to Charlene. She said she had closed the office early last night to can a 32 pound salmon. She said she didn't finish with her task until 11:00 last night.


Fishing fashions

While we were talking Tom showed up, so we decided to get ready to get out on the bay. As we were making preparations, Harry and Wally came down. Because we had our traps ready, Tom and I headed out to the bay.


That is U.S. Highway 101 behind Tom

Today we were to try a new area out toward the opening to the ocean. We set our line of traps not very far from Highway 101 where we could see ocean breakers. Because the tide was going out, we could see the water running out of the bay down to the Pacific Ocean. It looked strange to me to see a slope in the water from the bay to the ocean. We were close enough to hear the waves breaking on the beach all day long. It was a very nice backdrop for our crab fishing activities.


In my role of boat driver

We did very well today with many large commercial size crabs finding their way into our traps. One trap was loaded with around 25 crabs with 6 being keepers. On the other hand, we had several traps filled with nothing but females that all had to be returned to the bay.

At one point we had done very well, so we decided to see how Harry and Wally were doing. So I set a straight course from our position to their location at the other end of the outer bay. I had forgotten we were almost at low tide and all of a sudden the boat engine sounded as if it died from fuel starvation. Then it started again, but stalled again. Whoops, I had driven over a submerged sand bar.

Fortunately the boat and engine were okay. Tom paddled for a short time to try to get us back to deeper water. The wind along with the current helped Tom get us back to water deep enough to start the engine. This time I set a course for the channel, then I turned to head for Harry and Wally’s location.

Once there, we pulled along side their boat to compare notes. It looked as if we were about even as we went back to continue to pull our traps. We found that the crabs had slowed down their feeding. We were not getting as many crabs as we had caught earlier in the day. We only needed a few more crabs to reach our limit, but it took almost as long to get those few as it took to get the bulk of what we caught.


The campground office building

We had come out on the bay at about 8 o’clock and we finally made it back to camp at 1:30. It had been a long fishing session, but we did get our limit. My count is a total of 154 crabs caught so far. Harry’s friend Dick caught twelve of those Monday morning. So even with those 12 subtracted from our total, the four of us have caught 142 crabs so far with one more day of fishing left until we leave for home.


Berthing area of marina

The women returned from town today at 2:45 in the afternoon. After a short time spent putting away purchases, it was time for a common activity. It seems that when we take these trips, at least one card game breaks out in the campground. This trip was no exception, a card game started in Tom and Nora's motorhome. The card players were Tom, Nora, Cathie, and Kay.


A customary card game

Tonight for our evening meal, Tom grilled some really nice salmon fillets. Harry’s friend Dick provided the salmon. There was a nice piece of salmon left over, so I claimed it so I could have it for lunch the next day.


Salmon being grilled to perfection

The weather had turned windy and cold, so our food was placed on the picnic tables where we all served ourselves. We then returned to our respective motorhomes for our meal. Tom did an excellent job of grilling the salmon fillets; they were delicious. Later, Harry would claim that the salmon tasted so good because of the butter he brushed on the fillets as they cooked. Whatever the reason, the fish was very good.


Sun setting beyond Alsea Bay

After dinner, because the weather was cold and damp outside, we finished our day in our motorhome with Kay working on her crafts while I worked with my computer.


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