when life gives you a stalled crabbing season, make it a weekend trip

well, thank goodness the actually significant lock out has been resolved. most every year, there seems to be some sort of posturing done between the crabbers and the wholesaler but they usually stamp out the details before the very important local san francisco crab meal night, thanksgiving.

this year they didnt. talks stalled till just this week. we finally have some commercially caught dungeness crab in our markets!

of course, stalled talks didnt stop us from having some of these ill fated tasty creatures....

some of our buddies LOVE the outdoors. we love to hang out with these guys because theyre always doing something, whether its racing around local racetracks on motorcycles, fishing in the bay or like this particular trip, crabbing and having a little picnic.

we were supposed to go up with them when the recreational crabbing season started, but we didnt make it our.

we missed out. they pulled limits. but we did get to share in the bounty. fresh crab right when the recreational season starts... thats a good beginning to the dungeness crab season.

we wanted to make sure we were there for next visit. and we were.

a little bit north of the oyster farms in tomales bay is lawsons landing. its a recreational area with rv/camping, fishing and crabbing. clam digging is very popular out here also. we will most definitely be here when the clam digging gets good.... geoduck (mirugai) hiding out? yeah, we are there.

you couldnt ask for a more picturesque view. kids playing in the sand. calm clear water in front of you. dungeness crab being pulled from the pier and boats coming in setting traps or bringing the latest haul in....

unfortunately, i must have brought some bad luck with me because our haul wasnt as good as our buddies last trip, but you really cant go wrong here. a bad day at lawsons landing is better than any day behind a desk. and no fear, cause the oyster farms are right down the highway. a little past nicks cove, you hit hogs island. grab a bag of oysters or two, and youre just fine again...but who really cares. how often do you get to be a crabber?

maybe it wasnt all my bad luck. the fishing reports out of lawsons landing says the crab haul was great in the beginning of the season, but since tapered off.

stuck sitting on the couch, watching tv on a sunday afternoon wishing there was some fresh dungeness crab around or out on the water on tomales bay? no brainer.


and i got an idea.... setup a camp sight, bring bikes to get you from one spot to another, bring the caja china, throw in a whole pig, toss in crab traps, catch a halibut, dig out some mirugai..... FIND SOME SEABEANS!!.... cook up a storm and enjoy the night.