mikehar
Senior Member
After having boated in the San Juans for more than 20 years, I finally snagged myself a crab pot. By snagged, I mean I ran over a commercial pot and got it caught up on my prop.
It could have been a lot worse. We were headed towards our anchorage in Griffen Bay on San Juan Island, turning the corner between Turn Island the marker to the east and suddenly there was a nearly submerged crab buoy right in front of me. No room to maneuver so I put the boat in neutral and hoped for the best. I didn't see the float pop up behind me but it had been mostly submerged before, so I was hopeful.
40 minutes later, I'm anchored up and I am tying up the tender to the swim step when I notice a line coming off the back of the boat. Great. I cut the line and attached one of my own crab buoys to the line and let it go.
I got a good look at it by putting my phone in the water taking a picture and saw that the line was wrapped around my prop. My best guess is that the line was caught up on the rudder until I backed down to set the anchor.
As luck would have it, we had planned on anchoring there overnight (or more) and there was a diver who could come out the next day. I picked him up at a nearby dock and within an hour and the line was clear and I had dropped him back onshore.
The pot buoy had been stuck under the boat, so I was able to retrieve it after the diver cut it off. I copied the license number off the pot and emailed it to the WDFW folks and they mailed me back with the contact name and number for the owner. I put the original buoy back on the line and gave the guy a call.
He had lost that pot two weeks ago and had assumed it was gone. I think it got washed into deeper waters and the tide was just low enough that I was able to snag it. He seemed happy, but not all that excited that I had found it for him.
I talked to another commercial crabber and was surprised that both crabbers show very little concern that they had lost a pot. It happens all the time, they said. Aren't those things expensive? I guess the crab market must be paying well these days...
-m
It could have been a lot worse. We were headed towards our anchorage in Griffen Bay on San Juan Island, turning the corner between Turn Island the marker to the east and suddenly there was a nearly submerged crab buoy right in front of me. No room to maneuver so I put the boat in neutral and hoped for the best. I didn't see the float pop up behind me but it had been mostly submerged before, so I was hopeful.
40 minutes later, I'm anchored up and I am tying up the tender to the swim step when I notice a line coming off the back of the boat. Great. I cut the line and attached one of my own crab buoys to the line and let it go.
I got a good look at it by putting my phone in the water taking a picture and saw that the line was wrapped around my prop. My best guess is that the line was caught up on the rudder until I backed down to set the anchor.
As luck would have it, we had planned on anchoring there overnight (or more) and there was a diver who could come out the next day. I picked him up at a nearby dock and within an hour and the line was clear and I had dropped him back onshore.
The pot buoy had been stuck under the boat, so I was able to retrieve it after the diver cut it off. I copied the license number off the pot and emailed it to the WDFW folks and they mailed me back with the contact name and number for the owner. I put the original buoy back on the line and gave the guy a call.
He had lost that pot two weeks ago and had assumed it was gone. I think it got washed into deeper waters and the tide was just low enough that I was able to snag it. He seemed happy, but not all that excited that I had found it for him.
I talked to another commercial crabber and was surprised that both crabbers show very little concern that they had lost a pot. It happens all the time, they said. Aren't those things expensive? I guess the crab market must be paying well these days...
-m
