Red Rock Crab

[joeyota]

Well I and my fishin buddy was there today and caut 38 good sized red rock crabs, and 4 legal dungeness crabs. I have never seen so many big red rock crab I still don't believe it.

The reel reason we went to new port is to do some bottom fishing. I stayed out as long as I could but started to get sea sick so we went back into the bay and finished off the day crabbing. I need to figure out where the reefs are out there we are just kinda guessing when we go out.

All in all it was a beautiful day the bar was a little rough but the ocean was nice and soft long kinda deep rollers. Just big enough to make me feel reel small in that 17ft boat.

Still a little queasy Joe

 

[Isaac]

Bottom Fishing

Bottom Fishing

Hello joeyota,
My name is Isaac, i am new to the Newport area, and have no idea where to go bottom fishing. I heard of the south reef but nothing more than that.
If you I figure it out and can find GPS coordinates i will share.

 

[joeyota]

Hello joeyota,
My name is Isaac, i am new to the Newport area, and have no idea where to go bottom fishing. I heard of the south reef but nothing more than that.
If you I figure it out and can find GPS coordinates i will share.

I have been out there since this post in a friends boat. He has one of those new GPS depth finders. He ordered it with the charts loaded into it already. there was a bar restriction up in tell the last 45 min of our day. We got out there and using the charts we dropped right on top of the reef of our choice and were catching fish in minutes. I don't have the coordinates, but next time I am going out I will let you know and I will try to get some coordinates.

 

[fishfreak13]

I'll gladly go w/either of you and show you where the reefs are. Very very close to the bar
Trade ya a ride in your boat and some fishing for a lil guidance

 

[joeyota]

I'll gladly go w/either of you and show you where the reefs are. Very very close to the bar
Trade ya a ride in your boat and some fishing for a lil guidance

I hope you art to scared of going out in a 17ft boat!

 

[GOLFJOE]

Red rock crabbing in yaquina bay.

Red rock crabbing in yaquina bay.

Hey Joe,
I read your post from Feb. 09' about the 38 large Red Rock Crab you caught at Yaquina Bay. If you don't mind were did you place your pots? I would really like to catch some Red Rock Crab.

Thanks,

Joe S.

 

[Chass]

We catch the reds all over the bay but most of the big ones come from the area around the last green buoy before the bar. Just to the north of that big green buoy and east and west in 15 to 25 feet of water. No shortage of reds there. You'll also pick up plenty of Dungeness when they are in.

We crabbed Friday and Saturday last weekend and didn't do well with the Dungeness but we picked up plenty of reds to feed us. They seem to be the old standby

As far as the reefs, its no secret. There are reefs all the way down the coast between the south jetty and Seal Rock. If you don't have a chart plotter with terrain, just zig zag back and forth between about 1/4 mile from shore and 1.5 miles from shore until you find the the rock formations with your depth finder. Drift across them with your jigs and you'll pick up the black rockfish. If you can't figure it out, just follow the charters. They limit out almost every day.

Chass
ct

 

[GOLFJOE]

Thanks so much Chass,

The info. is priceless!!

Joe

 

[Chass]

No problem.

We also pick up a lot of Pacific rock crab in that spot. I keep the big ones because their claws are HUGE! I almost feel like I should just take a claw and throw them back like the stone crabs in Florida.

Chass
ct

 

[Dichrofisher]

No problem.

We also pick up a lot of Pacific rock crab in that spot. I keep the big ones because their claws are HUGE! I almost feel like I should just take a claw and throw them back like the stone crabs in Florida.

Chass
ct

Very bad idea. Thats like pulling off your arms and throwing you into the road. The small red rocks make great stew.

 

[GOLFJOE]

No problem.

We also pick up a lot of Pacific rock crab in that spot. I keep the big ones because their claws are HUGE! I almost feel like I should just take a claw and throw them back like the stone crabs in Florida.

Chass
ct

I love Dungeness crab for sure, but I tell you the Red Rock crab just seem to me to have a little better flavor. I just wish they would grow as big as the Dungeness. Just think......a 2lb Red......how nice would that be!!!

Joe

 

[Chass]

Very bad idea. Thats like pulling off your arms and throwing you into the road. The small red rocks make great stew.

Why is that such a bad idea? The crabs survive, perhaps not as easily missing a claw but I bring them up all the time missing claws and sometimes many legs.

In Florida you can ONLY take the claws of stone crabs. Whats the difference if you take the claw of a Pacific Rock crab? I'm not saying its easy on them but it happens naturally at times and the crabs live to grow new claws . . .

Disclaimer. I haven't done it before and it may be against the law here. That aside, I don't see why you say its a bad idea when its law in other states with other crabs.

Anyway, we eat lots of reds. The body meat is hard to get to on the smaller ones and the legs are small but those large claws make up for it. If you're patient there is plenty of meat there!

Chass
ct

 

[Chass]

Just think......a 2lb Red......how nice would that be!!!

Joe

I've caught them that big before. We caught one trip before last that was easly that big. His shell was almost an inch bigger than the entire width of the crab measuring gauge. I've caught a LOT of them that big up in the San Juans. They are very prolific up there. The claw meat can be so big that you can't fit one claw in your mouth

Chass
ct

 

[GOLFJOE]

I've caught them that big before. We caught one trip before last that was easly that big. His shell was almost an inch bigger than the entire width of the crab measuring gauge. I've caught a LOT of them that big up in the San Juans. They are very prolific up there. The claw meat can be so big that you can't fit one claw in your mouth

Chass
ct

I have never seen on that big! Ok....you've got me excited to go catch some RED's. I know that the Red Rock move mostly at night, have you ever fished for them at night? Can you fish for them at night in the jetty?

Joe

 

[Chass]

We catch them all day and on overnight soaks. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference.

We catch more reds in the jetty than anywhere else.

Chass
ct

 

[GOLFJOE]

We catch them all day and on overnight soaks. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference.

We catch more reds in the jetty than anywhere else.

Chass
ct

Will heck Chass,
Thanks for all the great info. I'll have to watch to see when the Dungeness crab catch starts to get good and head on over for a long weedend and catch some Dungeness and Red Rock crabs. Any other info. you think I need to know about just shoot me a line.

Thanks again,

Joe

 

[Chass]

Well if you are looking for info in general, don't buy bait. Just go grab some out of the trash bins at the cleaning station by the boat launch. I just take a 5 gallon bucket and grab as many rock fish carcasses as I need. Some guys use a small gaff to get them out but I just grab them by hand. Then go watch where the other guys are setting them. There are three main spots. The first is the one I described earlier. The second is just across from old town on the south side of the bay. The third is up across from the HUGE green water tank and on up the channel for a half mile. You'll see strings of floats in each of those places.

Chass
ct

 

[GOLFJOE]

Well if you are looking for info in general, don't buy bait. Just go grab some out of the trash bins at the cleaning station by the boat launch. I just take a 5 gallon bucket and grab as many rock fish carcasses as I need. Some guys use a small gaff to get them out but I just grab them by hand. Then go watch where the other guys are setting them. There are three main spots. The first is the one I described earlier. The second is just across from old town on the south side of the bay. The third is up across from the HUGE green water tank and on up the channel for a half mile. You'll see strings of floats in each of those places.

Chass
ct

I have a freeze half full of Shad that we catch everyear on the Clumbia river. Shad seems to work the best for me. When I was a kid growing up in Albany, my family would drive over to Rivers Bend with our camper and boat. We would camp there and put the boat in. Take the boat down river and start crabbing. While that traps soaked we would fish for flounders. Great memories. We caught a lot of crab!!

Joe

 

[joeyota]

I am glad Chass could answer you question for I have not been online in a few days. I agree on shad it works great. The other thing that works really well for us is all of the trout I catch. I clean them in a zip-lock back careful to get all the blood and guts in. Freeze it and keep it frozen till you put it in your trap. It is the best I have found for at least the first 15 min.

 

[The Nothing]

you can really use just about anything for crab bait so long as it contains some sort of animal product... fish carcasses & entrails, cat food, chicken parts (including McNuggets), baitfish...