Fishing and crabbing up in Washington and Oregon

Aloha,
I just got back from 2 weeks on the coast of Washington and Oregon. The weather this September was "nice" for that time of year. This Maui girl was wearing shorts and a winter jacket everywhere. I could not not believe the difference in temperature from the shade, and 2 steps over in the Sun! There must have been a 15 degree difference!

My dad has a sail boat, an Islander 33, up in Blaine Wa. We took the boat out and went crabbing for Dungeness Crab, my favorite! (after buying an $18.00 -1 day- License) I was allowed to bring in 6 crab and they had to be bigger than 5.25 Inches accross the shell. (I just wish they had told me how to tell the females from the males, so I could throw them back. I realized after cooking them that 2 of the 6 were females with eggs). All said though I had a great time, going crabbing is one of my favorite things when I visit my dad.

My dad also has property in Waldport Or.; after a few days in Blaine, we headed down the coast to Oregon. I love Newport and the historical district with all the fishing boats and Crab! I usually like to walk the docks talking to the fishermen and buying my crab and fish direct, something we can not do here on Maui, rarely anyway.

The salmon fishing is really bad this year, the fishermen and the 'agents' all agreed, we could sign up for Salmon fishing and we were allowed to keep 2 Salmon, and then they would fish for "Rock fish" on the way back in to the harbor. I checked prices and availbilty in both Newport and Depoe Bay farther north (they advertise the smallest harbor in the world, I do not think they have seen Maalaea bay here on Maui!) Prices averaged about $85.00 + your fishing License.

The fish the boats were bringing were pretty small by our Hawaii standards. No wonder everyone wants to go Sport Fishing when they come to Hawaii! I had lunch & coctails at Dock One in Newport Or. and watched the fishing boats come in and filet up their fish & talk about small! The Commercial fishermen mostly had Tuna, which I was not interested in as we have Tuna-ahi in abundance off Hawaii, where as the boats taking customers were bringing in mostly Rock fish.

Here in Hawaii, you do not need a fishing license to go out and try your hand at catching a big Marlin or Mahi Mahi, and our smallest tunas are much bigger than anything I saw on the Mainland.