Crab in Wigham Cove
November 11th – 15th 9 (Monday – Friday)
Over the past few days in Wigham Cove I did not write for the blog, as each day passed without presenting a story. However, I found myself still writing in my daily journal, and looking back over the days, I noted that some interesting things did happen.
When we first got to Wigham Cove we set one prawn trap out in about 475 feet of water. We were hoping that since we were in the same channel that we caught so many prawns out from Mouat Cove, that we would also be able to catch prawns here. We also put out one crab trap within our cove in the deepest hole of about 90 feet. We are always curious to see what we will get in our traps, especially the first time in a new area, as we have come to know that what we get can change dramatically from area to area.
When we first pulled up our crab trap it had only been out for a couple of hours. We had set it, then gone out to set our prawn trap, and then done some exploring before coming back in. We figured we would check it so as to get a sense of what the area was like for crabs. We were quite surprised when our trap got to the surface to find that we had two large Dungeness males, and that was it, no small crab, just the two big guys.
Upon measuring them we found that one was 8" and the other 8 1/4" across the shell; our biggest crab yet. They were massive. It truly is amazing how big they can get, after the 7" mark in particular, each increase in shell size seems to make a huge difference, and the pile of meat from an 8" crab is astounding. Usually we clean one half at a time, and then eat before cleaning the second half. The pile on our plates after one half was amazing.
We re-set our trap about 50 feet away from its original position. The next day we pulled it up, fairly sure that we would have something, even if just small crabs, but our trap was empty; completely empty. Surprised, we reset it again, about another 100 feet away in the opposite direction from the last move. Next time it came up with just one small female crab. Curious. Again we reset it in a new area, this time about 200 feet away. When we pulled it up once again, very unsure this time, what, if anything, might be in it, we got two large 7+ inch males, and two smaller crabs.
More and more in certain areas we are finding that the exact location of a trap can make a huge difference. Just because we get nothing, or something, in one area, does not mean that the whole area will give us the same. Crabs seem to be much more area specific than I had previously thought.
So far we have been having good luck with catching prawns here. We have pulled up our trap twice; once we had 67 keepers, and the second time we got 40. Each time we have caught many large, egg-bearing females, and also some small prawns, which we let go.
On one of the days that we had prawns, we also had some leftover crab, so we made sushi. We made crab rolls, and spicy prawn rolls, with miso soup. It was a delicious dinner!
Several times we have seen sea lions while outside of our cove. We have been seeing them on a small rocky islet that is not too far away. The first time they were clearly fishing as we noticed them at first from a distance thrashing at the surface. As we got closer we could see a fish in the sea lion’s mouth being thrashed from one side to the other. The two sea lions were somewhat curious about us as we watched them, and they came up to check us out. They always came up in a new area together, and then would hang out at the surface, dunking their heads under and back up again, their loud breathing clearly audible over the water. The second time that we saw them in that area there where three of them, and they appeared to be resting rather than fishing.
There was a storm forecasted for the next day, and it was supposed to bring a lot of rain and strong winds to the whole coast of BC. We were hopeful that our chosen anchorage would give us good protection. Since being here there had been two forecasted gales, only one of which ever materialized in our area, and through that one we were quite well protected. So fingers were crossed.
So far we have been having good luck with catching prawns here. We have pulled up our trap twice; once we had 67 keepers, and the second time we got 40. Each time we have caught many large, egg-bearing females, and also some small prawns, which we let go.
On one of the days that we had prawns, we also had some leftover crab, so we made sushi. We made crab rolls, and spicy prawn rolls, with miso soup. It was a delicious dinner!
Several times we have seen sea lions while outside of our cove. We have been seeing them on a small rocky islet that is not too far away. The first time they were clearly fishing as we noticed them at first from a distance thrashing at the surface. As we got closer we could see a fish in the sea lion’s mouth being thrashed from one side to the other. The two sea lions were somewhat curious about us as we watched them, and they came up to check us out. They always came up in a new area together, and then would hang out at the surface, dunking their heads under and back up again, their loud breathing clearly audible over the water. The second time that we saw them in that area there where three of them, and they appeared to be resting rather than fishing.
There was a storm forecasted for the next day, and it was supposed to bring a lot of rain and strong winds to the whole coast of BC. We were hopeful that our chosen anchorage would give us good protection. Since being here there had been two forecasted gales, only one of which ever materialized in our area, and through that one we were quite well protected. So fingers were crossed.
Anchored in Wigham Cove
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