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Happy Dungeness Thanksgiving
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ContinuousWave Whaler Moderated Discussion Areas
ContinuousWave: The Whaler GAM or General Area
Happy Dungeness Thanksgiving
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| Author | Topic: Happy Dungeness Thanksgiving |
| elaelap |
posted 11-25-2009 04:44 PM ET (US)  
My goodwife of many years said, once again this year, come back with Thanksgiving crab or don't come back at all. Thus I jumped at a deckhanding gig--basically a work-free trip with an old buddy--on a 28-ft aluminum 6-Pak (since our partnership Whaler, 'Strike3', has been pulled for the winter); and we got an early start today out of Bodega Bay, our tiny drinking village with a fishing problem, about 60 miles north of San Francisco: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/elaelap/ Thanksgiving09crabbing011.jpg Great weather for this time of year, and the Dungeness crab cooperated. Here's a shot of Capt. Les pulling in a nice pot full of the critters: And here are six of the poor delicious crustaceans at my house a couple of hours later, in some other types of pots, boiling away and ready to be part of our Thanksgiving feed tomorrow: Best of the season to all of us here--we are truly blessed (and this from a cranky old agnostic). Tony |
| Ritzyrags |
posted 11-25-2009 04:48 PM ET (US)
Yum, Yum... I have put my garlic butter a simmering, Put a couple of those on the Wire... |
| JMARTIN |
posted 11-25-2009 04:53 PM ET (US)
Neat morning shot Tony. Happy Thanksgiving back at you. Nice looking crab, glad you cook them whole, better flavor whole. Try one hot out of the pot. John |
| fourdfish |
posted 11-25-2009 05:46 PM ET (US)
Happy Thanksgiving to ya All! |
| jmorgan40 |
posted 11-25-2009 05:59 PM ET (US)
All I can say is... Damn Tony!! Nice picks and delicious looking crab. Have a great Thanksgiving |
| MarthaB |
posted 11-25-2009 06:15 PM ET (US)
OMG----My mouth is watering. Living in N. MIchigan we do have our fresh whitefish, walleye and lake perch, but I really miss fresh shrimp, fresh lobster (not the rock lobster) and crab. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. |
| ratherwhalering |
posted 11-26-2009 02:27 PM ET (US)
Yuck, I can't believe you boiled them whole Tony! Why not just go to CostCo for boiled crab? You gotta clean 'em first, then steam in an Old Bay and pale ale broth. You will never have them any other way my friend, trust me. |
| elaelap |
posted 11-26-2009 03:25 PM ET (US)
What a waste of pale ale, Rob! Avoid the middleman, says I, and send that good stuff directly to where it belongs...in my stomach (and blooodstream). paleale |
| Menemsha69 |
posted 11-26-2009 06:06 PM ET (US)
Tony- Nice looking dinner! I had never tried Dungeness until I went to San Francisco- it was awesome! I fished two days ago, and had a little bit of Thanksgiving luck. Marked some nice schools at the mouth of a southend creek on Lanier: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b268/ktswhaler15/Fishing%2009/ IMG_4347b.jpg I was able to stay over these guys for a couple of hours, and landed these two stripers: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b268/ktswhaler15/Fishing%2009/ IMG_4369b.jpg I usually don't keep the fish I catch, but these guys provided a nice feast for a couple of (Jamaican) friends of mine. Happy Thanksgiving to all! -k |
| Sal DiMercurio |
posted 11-26-2009 09:20 PM ET (US)
Tony, just saw on TV, that a commercial crab boat is over due @ Bodega, & they found 2 bodies at Salmon Creek. Sal |
| 17 bodega |
posted 11-26-2009 09:52 PM ET (US)
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091126/ARTICLES/911269945/1350/ FRONTPAGE?Title=Man-s-body-found-at-Salmon-Creek-Beach Sal, I'm very sorry about your friend. I'm not sure how close you guys were but you obviously knew each other for many years. Although you and I have never met, I talked about you with Nick just the other day when I was on duty... These Boston Whaler websites make for a "small world" out there. I'm afraid his wife was reported to be on board as well. I listened to the entire event unfold this afternoon. I wish he would've turned around. I didn't know him all that well, but he was a legend of sorts at the campground. Everybody knew him and he was considered a longtime friend of fishermen all over Bodega Bay. Steve |
| WT |
posted 11-26-2009 10:00 PM ET (US)
I have friends getting pretty good crabs at Bodega Bay. I haven't been out yet this year but it's pretty easy to capsize in a small boat. Here's the forecast: TONIGHT FRI FRI NIGHT SAT SAT NIGHT SUN Be careful out there! Warren |
| elaelap |
posted 11-27-2009 12:37 AM ET (US)
Shit, Steve and Sal! The weather was nice yesterday when I went out crabbing in Samantha Irene---fair-sized long interval swells without a lot of breeze on top of 'em, crisp sun and clear to the horizon. We pulled our pots in 140 ft off Carmet, along with half a dozen other boats working that location. I wonder what the guys were doing in the surf at Salmon Creek? Certainly not crabbing that close in, eh? Maybe trying for late season halibut between the Salmon Creek reef and the shore, not wise at all with any kind of wave action. Or maybe their motor gave up the ghost and they just drifted in. What a way to end a nice Thanksgiving day...to get news like this. Tony |
| 17 bodega |
posted 11-27-2009 01:03 AM ET (US)
Today was a different ocean. When I opened the park at 6:30 AM, waves the height of Bodega Rock were breaking over the rock and across the entire channel between the rock and Bodega Head. Buoys were reporting 12 foot seas and offshore winds had churned up the water and deacreased the wave interval throughout the morning. By 7:30 AM, the Doran Boardwalk parking lot was almost completely full of surfers. The waves on the Doran protected side were in the 8-9 foot range. The southern side of Doran (more exposure to West swells) was too big and dangerous. Look at Warren's forecast. That's how it was later today. Very nasty. |
| elaelap |
posted 11-27-2009 01:16 AM ET (US)
Man oh man. I haven't seen the full reports yet. That wasn't Nick "The Greek" by any chance--a legendary Bodega Bay fisherman with whom I've chatted via VHF for the past fifteen or twenty years, but never met in person. Yikes, what an absolute bummer for the community, Steve. Tony |
| Sal DiMercurio |
posted 11-27-2009 10:38 AM ET (US)
They were in a 20' boat. Sal |
| elaelap |
posted 11-27-2009 11:40 AM ET (US)
Today's local newspaper only carried the same sketchy report posted by Steve last night, probably because they were short-staffed on the holiday and no reporter or photographer made it out to Bodega Bay during the attempted rescue. I suspect there will be much more information available today online and tomorrow in the rag. Unfortunately it's been confirmed to me by two trusted sources that indeed one of the deceased was Nick "The Greek", a well-known, incredibly experienced and knowledgeable local fisherman, who knew our ocean and dangerous coastline as well or better than just about anyone out here. That makes this whole thing even more disturbing, and provides a cautionary tale for some of us who have become somewhat complacent about our area's dangers as we've become more experienced ourselves. I don't know about you guys--Steve, Warren, Matt, Jim, and the others who run small Whalers out of BB and Tomales Bay--but this sad incident sent chills up and down my spine, and forced me to remember some of my close calls over the past couple of decades. Truly a Black Friday today as we await more details and try to get our collective heads around the tragedy. Tony |
| Sal DiMercurio |
posted 11-27-2009 12:22 PM ET (US)
Yes, it's confirmed, it was my good buddy Niko & his wife. Nick was a very close buddy of mine. Poor guy,...about 5 years ago he stopped some kids from playing with some "M"100s,....[ bigger than M-80s ] & told them they are to dangerous for them. He decided to blow them up so the kids wont get hurt. He lite one & went to throw it, & it had A fast fuse & blew his hand completely off at the wrist. He had a hook installed in it's place, & from than on I called him "Capt Hook". Niko lived just a couple blocks from me in Pittsburg. I'm gonna miss that little guy. Sal |
| elaelap |
posted 11-27-2009 01:11 PM ET (US)
So sorry about that, Sal. And it turns out this is a different guy from "The Greek" I was thinking about (which certainly doesn't make it less sad, just less personal for me). I just got off the phone with a charter boat skipper out there who thought it must be a third "Greek", a local commercial fisherman and crabber around the same age who lost his arm when it became entangled in outrigger wire rope. We're all scrambling around for facts, and gossip rules as usual at this stage. Hopefully we'll get full details over the course of the next several days. Tony |
| Sal DiMercurio |
posted 11-27-2009 01:35 PM ET (US)
I just talked with him last week, & he told me he was going crabbing, as he always did. Probably caught the bouy line in the prop & killed the engine, than the becomes anchored by the stern, & it faces into the on coming wind & sea, & it [ water ] comes over the stern, & down goes the boat. That happens far more often than you might know about. Sal |
| elaelap |
posted 11-27-2009 02:25 PM ET (US)
Here's a photo looking south across the Salmon Creek area, with Mussel Point on the far horizon and Bodega Head/Bodega Bay around the corner out of sight a couple of miles to the south. Surfers love it on the occasional days like this when offshore winds are blowing, and it's not particularly dangerous to fish the area in conditions like this if you're careful: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/elaelap/Offshorebreeze055.jpg On the other hand, when the wind and waves kick up a little, as apparently happened yesterday: If that video clip worked, and you look carefully at the second break outside the gnarly shore break, you'll see where the bottom rises up suddenly from 90 ft to 35-45 ft, forming the Salmon Creek Reef, a great fishing location on decent days, but a very dangerous area indeed when it's blowing. Tony |
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