Oregon Crabbing

[Capnbob]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to diving and will be getting my certification in mid March. I have a few questions about crabbing while diving... My dad agreed to pay for my gear rental anytime I get him crabs while diving. Sounds like a good opportunity to do some free diving So first off, I assume I need to get a special bag of some sort for this? Do I need get a liscense? Are there any good locations near Florence or Newport? If it matters, what time of year should I do this?

Any advice is much appreciated!

-Robert

 

[3-Ring Octopus]

Robert..back at it agian I see, eh? lol

You do need a license (standard crab/shellfish license). This lets you take a limit of 12/day. (I have yet to see a diver come out after a day with their limit..lol) You will probably also need a "goody-bag" (mesh bag that clips on to a d-ring on your BC...they have them at ESDS) and a crab gauge (to measure while you're down there...remember, things look larger than they actually are through your mask). And Florence is pretty much the best place locally for crabbing. I came up with 3 nice legal males three weeks ago (the last time we went diving for crab specifically). The best time of year is generally the fall...but things have been looking up down there recently..so who knows. You can usually find at least a couple of legal crab if you make a couple of dives down there on any given day...you just have to look. Also...when/if you plan on diving Florence and crabbing...bring a dive light!! lol You'll need it for looking in crevices...it's dark down there (pretty much black below 20')

And ask your instructor about crabbing...she's the Queen of Crabbing.

Cheers,
Austin

 

[nymbus]

Gi Joes or Fred Meyer will sell you a license. You'll need a photo id, generally a DL works. The cost is $6.50 just for shellfish and crab. If you are interested in spearfishing, you will need the full angler's license... which is close to $50 for the annual I think...

And there are some years that we have come out with a good 40 crab between five of us...

Ask M2 (your instructor) to show you the video of her from the newschannel!
hehehe...

 

[jlayman800]

I would like to dive the Newport Oregon jetties this Saturday, 2/16/2013 starting at 9:30 a.m.. Would anybody care to join me? My primary goal is to get a bag full of crabs. I've done this before in Washington State, but never in Oregon. I was there this weekend and the water looked very nice.

The slack tide is between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. If we time it well, we can get two very nice dives in.