November 1, 2013 — On the first day of this year's Dungeness crab season, expectations among Monterey Bay area fishermen are already high because of a record-setting haul last year.
On Saturday, recreational and sports fishermen get the chance to set up their crab pots, traps and hoop nets before commercial crab fishing begins Nov. 15.
Chris Arcoleo of Chris's Fishing Trips and Whale Watching in Monterey said his chartered fishing trips were already booked full this weekend.
"Crab in Monterey has been outstanding and the outlook for the crab this year looks good," Arcoleo said. "We're booked (Saturday) and Sunday. It's real popular all the way through Christmas."
Tory Lucido of Randy's Fishing & Whale Watching Trips shares the optimism.
"There was a lot of crab last year," Lucido said. "It should be a good year, expectations are high."
Their optimism stems from two straight years of record-setting crab catches in the south central region of California, which stretches from Monterey to Morro Bay. Last year, commercial crab fishing in the region brought in a record 1.148 million pounds, an increase of nearly 38 percent from the season before.
Read the full story at the Monterey Herald