Avoiding Crab Pots, Washington Coast

[Wakadui]

Looking for an experianced answer to...

How far out must one go to avoid crab pots along Washington coast?
20 fathoms, 30 fathoms, deeper?

Want to avoid the "thud, thud" sound from the double bouys smaking the bow, and the gut wrenching 3 seconds of waiting to hear if the prop caught one.



"Wherever you go, there you are!"

[captain58sailin]

At the time when I was fishing out that way, we were fishing on the 20 fathom line, but we also carried extra line in 20 fathom shots. Usually the pots are laid in a string so if you see one the others are usually a line along that depth line. There is no telling how deep they may run. I wouldn't expect to see much gear past 40 fathoms. Most of the buoys will have reflective tape on them, the lines are usually weighted so they won't float up, it is a good idea to pass the down current side of the floats, you should be looking at the fat ends. Most crabbers don't have anymore line on the pot than needed, but there are always some lazy guys that will have 40 fathoms of line on a 20 fathom set.

[Evan]

Somewhere.... I found a website showing the "crab trap" free routes for tugs and ships along the WA coast. Sorry don't recall where.

[highseas]

According to Charlies ,crab pots not beyond 40 fathom line.

[CharlieM]

There is really no depth that you can choose to avoid the crab pots. In the winter probably up until about March, there will be gear out as far as 70 fathoms, and some guys will even go out farther. In the summer, there is a general rule that after August 15 gear is not supposed to be outside the 30 fathom curve, but occasionally the state decides that it is still ok to fish out there. There are always stray pots out there though that you have to watch out for even once the crabbers quit fishing.

From September 15 to Late November, there is very little gear out there at all. The towing lane or tug boat lane does not have to be free of crab gear. Lots of guys fish there. You run the risk of getting your gear chopped off, but it is sometimes worth it if there are a lot of crab.

The best way to avoid gear is to watch for pots. Other than this, look on your chart for areas of hard bottom and drive over that. The Washington Coast has lots of rocky bottom areas, and crabbers do not fish there.

[mrohr]

hey, how to avoid all the lobster pots here in the east?

[sarafina]

stay away from Rockport?

>; -)