O'fer Bugs

[BT]

I was finally able to get back out on the water to do a little bit of bug hunting. After back surgery in December to remove a big ass tumor, and all of the crappy weather, I saw the window of decent weather and knew I had to do get out. Seeing all of Sherm's posts about how good of a season he has been having, I thought I would be able to scrape a couple up. Tried getting out with him, but our schedules didnt jive. He did give me some damn good intel, and I put it into play.

So Thursday I paddle to the spot in the bay and set my nets out a bit before sunset. Pulled till 10:00 and only saw a handfull of shorts, with only one that I attempted measure. Paddled in with the big goose egg.

Saturday night I paddled out to Zuniga at 9:00 and with the outgoing tide it took me about 25-30 minutes to get out. I usually dont hoop the jetty because of the paddle, but tonight it was easy. Set my nets and started pulling. If anyone was looking for crappy spider crabs, I was the guy to talk to saturday night. I pulled my nets up a few thinking it was filled with kelp due to it's weight, but it was FULL of spider crabs. 4 of the larger models and about 7-8 of the smaller ones was the norm. Dogs didnt find me till late, so that was a positive. Pulled them until 6:00 a.m. and started to paddle in with the sunrise. I pulled out all of the guns...short soaks, long soaks, made sure I was pulling up the nets perfectly, dropped them right next to structure, moved them when there was nothing in them...and not a damn keeper in my yak. Sunday was a looong day....

So last night I had the yak in the truck, took off right from work and headed towards the launch. Got there around 5, ate my dinner and headed over to my spot in the bay. It was a beautiful night, and I didnt even need the cold weather gear. T-shirt and a splash jacket with the waders. Gotta love SD when you can fish on a kayak in March and sweat! There was already a boat over there, so I paddled over and asked if they minded if I dropped nets in the area too, and they were cool with it. Dropped the nets, and waited. Before it got dark I received an omen....a huge Dole freighter was leaving the bay. Now I know the banana rule, but what happens when a cargo shipthat was once FILLED with bananas floats by you? Well as the night progressed, I figured the ship must have been spilling banana juice all over the bay. I was pulling up bugs left and right, but they were all just short...fingernail short. Pure torture! The guys in the boat did manage one keeper, but once again...nada por este vato.

So for the three days there were zero keepers, way to many spider crabs (catching one is cool...catching 100 sucks), a fatty sculpin, 6 cigars, and way to much banana mojo.

Aint gonna torture myself again tonight. Had a great season in the begining, just didnt pan out towards the end. Gonna wait till next year.