Winter Crabbing the Yaquina

Oregon Coast crabbing during winter months can be very productive if you plan things just right.

In Oregon, you can still crab year round, and are able to keep a combination of twelve 5 3/4" male Dungeness crab and up to twenty four non-native "red rock" or Japanese crab of any size or sex. This means that each person (using no more than three catching devises) can keep a total of THIRTY SIX crab per day! Ok. That is if you want to keep little red rock. The little ones aren't worth your while, so go for the 5" range and expect to land lobster-like claws.

Crab season generally peaks for river & bay crabbers during summer months, especially August through September. This increase in crab is brought on by a much higher salinity in the water. Many crabbers tend to just say, "let's go crabbing," no matter what the weather & tidal conditions or time of year is. This lack of research or planning can make for good crabbing, and not so good catching.

Yaquina Bay

The Yaquina Bay is located in Newport, Oregon, situated between Depoe Bay and Waldport along Hwy 101, and is an excellent river/bay to crab during winter months when the water salinity is low and the rain keeps coming. The Yaquina River is a very short drainage, which means that when the rain finally stops for about a week, it's time to load the crab pots up and go get 'em.

Before heading out in your boat or for the public crabbing pier in South Beach (just south of Newport), you should make sure and check the tides. An aggressive and fast moving tide is not the one you want, even if the rain drops have subsided for about a week. High tides are most successful, however, crabbing into a low tide, at times, can produce limits.

When planning a crab trip going into either a high or low tide, make sure that there isn't a big difference from one side of the tide to the other. For example, if you're planning on crabbing into a high tide, and the prior low tide is a huge difference, perhaps you can plan for another day. Basically, if the low tide is a minus 1.3 ft. and the high is a plus 7.2, then the water will be moving so radically that the crab can't stay still long enough to get into your trap—a better tide would be a low tide of plus 2.4 with a high tide of 6.7.

If crabbing from the Newport Fishermen's Pier, you should remember to throw your traps out according to the tide. This means that if the tide is coming in, you should throw your traps from the upriver side of the pier so you don't lose them in the pier's structural pilings. If you plan to crab through a couple of tides, make sure that you keep an eye on you trap lines. If they begin to move straight down, the tide is about to change and pull your gear into the pilings. All you have to do is move to the other side of the pier. More rings and traps are lost because of tide changes than any other.

BAIT: Especially in Yaquina Bay, because the sea lions are such a nuisance to crab rings and traps, use chicken or turkey for bait. The crab love it and the seals won't mess with it. Don't forget about getting an Oregon shell fish licence, provided by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which can be located at a very wide range of sporting good stores.