Now came the fun part - we 27 lucky anglers got to step aside and watch and Captain Harry and Deckhands Tommy and Marisa pulled the traps for Dungeness Crabs. This was exciting for me - I'd only caught Dungeness on a private boat in Alaska, so, to have access to commercial style traps off of the Golden Gate was pretty all-right. And all we anglers had to do was watch - the three skillful crew handled the entire operation!

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the crab-troversy happening about 12 miles out of the Golden Gate. Ya see, as is happening everywhere in the State, we recreational fishermen are finding ourselves in a tough spot with some other parties in the fishing world. In the crabbing case, the commercial guys (some of whom travel from as far as Alaska to fish the Dungeness - like this boat) aren't too happy that we sportboaters have access to the traps. I always thought that the ocean was a big enough place for all of us....but maybe I'm just naive.

In California, you can only keep male Dungeness that are of a certain length. In a testament to how strong our fishery is right now, as well as how awesome Captain Harry's trap-setting skills are, we pulled up 8 traps and caught our limit of 180 male Dungeness, and we only had to throw back 2 crabs!

One of the four crab boxes on the boat, filling up with the crustaceans. The season had just opened for us - Saturday the 11th was the Sportfishing season opener - and the commercial guys had to wait a few days, until Wednesday the 15th, when they could start the catch. Old regulars of these Rockfish and Crab Combo trips told me that the crabbing wouldn't remain this steady for too much longer in the season.

Last shot of the Dungeness.... It was great to listen to everyone aboard and their plans for these tasty guys. Personally, I added mine to a rich Cioppino - an Italian specialty that was born in San Francisco. Another angler told me he brings the crabs home live and lets his young sons paint their shells and race them around the house! Whatever floats your boat, I guess...