We’ve been successful and less successful in our efforts to eat as much crab as possible during open crab season. We’ve been crabbing in Skagit Co, the San Juans, South Sound and just outside the Hood Canal. We’ve had very full pots and very empty ones. We’ve discovered that some areas only have Red Rock crabs which are kind of a pain to eat due to their very hard, brittle shells. We also lost 2 pots to a very strong current and a rising tide. Oooops. Overall, for our (my) first season crabbing, it’s been awesome! I’ve eaten more crab than I could have imagined in such a short time and we’ve given many away to our kids and dock neighbors. The main takeaway…crabs love clams.

In an effort to get better bait than chicken legs or thighs, we went clamming. The first experience was on a VERY muddy beach. I’m talking the kind of mud that sucks down your boots and makes it really hard to walk. On that beach, we also left the dinghy high and dry when the tide went out, and had to wait for it to return 🤪 We’ve also been clamming on a rocky beach (that was really hard work), and on a very sandy beach, though the best find there was oysters. We haven’t eaten a single clam, but the crabs sure have been happy to climb in our traps to enjoy them! And we have a gallon size bag of cleaned clam ready to make chowder when the weather gets cold again.

It’s been such a fun summer so far, and being out on 2nd Circus is the best way I can even imagine to social distance when I’m not at work. Feeling grateful.