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BODEGA BAY, Calif. (KTVU) - Saturday at one minute past midnight may seem like an odd time to go fishing, but not for those who are crab-crazy.
The recreational crab season promises to be a good one, without the toxic algae that kept pots out of the water last season.
On the Sonoma Coast, boat launches were busy with vessels arriving one after another, and campsites filling up Friday.
"We will drop our pots at 12:01, our tradition, we love it," Donny Burton of Vallejo told KTVU.
Burton and his son brought two friends. By law, four people can take 40 Dungeness.
They pull up their pots in the morning, hopefully brimming with crab, and head back home to Vallejo.
"We're out of here by noon, go steam them and have 25 to 30 family members over for a crab feed tomorrow night. It's awesome," he enthused.
The only health advisory this season is to remove the soft guts of the crab, and discard them, before boiling or steaming, because the innards can contain neurotoxins.
At Bodega Harbor, thousands of stacked crab pots await the commercial season, which must wait until November 15, and a wholesale price to be negotiated.
"It's based on how much is out there," crew member David Stoops told KTVU. "So if there's a lot, it's going to be cheap per pound. If there's not much, we raise up the price."
For those who depend on crab for significant livelihood, it's hard work handling 80 pound pots and long hours.
"We'll go out about 3 or 4 in the morning, and come back at four in the afternoon, so it's a 12, 13-hour day," explained Stoops.
When it comes to crabbing, successful skippers say it's all about "where" you drop your pots. But the open ocean - in darkness and fog- can also be treacherous for the casual boater.
Fire boats and Coast Guard vessels will be patrolling for trouble this weekend.
The occasional crabber can have difficulty pulling up their lines.
"The propeller gets tangled up, becomes an anchor, and the swell comes in," described Chris Lauritzen of the Bodega Bay Fire Department.
"It swamps the boat, everyone's in the water, and someone perishes, it's just that fast".
As always the advice is, "when in doubt, don't go out."
Still, there is plenty of enthusiasm, with many people wondering if the shortened season last year let more crab, and bigger crab, in the ocean.
"I know I'm hungry for some crab, because that's like my favorite food, " David Young of Fairfield told KTVU, as he unpacked his pots. "I enjoy it, it's a blast, just going out on the boat," he smiled.