Sunday, November 8, 2009

10/18/09.......

Hello.

The King Crab fishery is now well underway.

It appears as though the fleet is targeting three separate areas. The first and closest is about 135 nautical miles from Dutch Harbor, around Amak Island. We fished this spot briefly in 2007 & 2008 with mixed results. Both of those year's the concentrations of crab were small, but when we were on them the scores were huge. (In 2007 we hauled the largest count in a single pot that I have ever seen, 168 "keepers". ) On the other hand, at times we would haul a blank not one mile away! With that in mind, the Amak area is a total crap shoot and we chose to continue on.

The next stop is known as the "Deep Hole", at about 200 miles from town it is a solid day's travel. Surrounded by water 220 to 240 feet deep the hole's 300 plus feet of water is a drastic depth change for the relatively flat bottomed Bering Sea. The fishing here is more consistant over a larger area but as with any location the crab are either there or they're not.

The third and last locale is known as the "Compass Rose". This area was given that name due to the navigational device on a common paper chart that aids in plotting. We have caught more crab in this area than any other and at more than 240 miles from Dutch Harbor it is pretty much the end of the Earth as far King Crab fishing goes.

We expect to have gear in both Deep Hole and Compass Rose. I will let you know how it goes.

Capt Monte"mouse"

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