Date: February 4, 2005
To: PFIC Message Board
From: jshang
Subject: Muni Pier Report and Interesting Story
Report: Fished today (2/4) from noon to 4pm. Nothing, not even a nibble. Someone earlier was asking how negative tides affected fishing. If Muni is any indication, negative tides are the kiss of death.
Interesting story: So I got there and started setting up and this homeless guy approached me for some change. After declining his solicitation, I noticed that he also had a pole in hand and was fishing not too far away from me. We started talking about fishing conditions on the pier and I was beginning to think that he was a pretty pleasant guy.
Somehow, the conversation turned to Dungeness crabs and how they were illegal to keep in the bay. Now I couldn't care less if a homeless man took a Dungeness crab, the man has to stay alive and the importance of the Dungeness crab population obviously pales next to this. However, this guy seemed quite knowledgeable about the regulations and kept talking about how he always tosses back dungies.
“Cool,” I thought. THEN, I watched as he reeled in a small baby Dungeness clinging on to the line and carefully took the crab off the line. Thinking that he was going to toss it back, I was understandably aghast when he stomped on the crab, smashing it almost in half. Then he started using the insides of the crab as bait. Not wanting to start anything I couldn’t finish, I just fished on in silence and kept watching him out of the corner of my eye.
A few minutes later, he reeled up a fairly large rock crab, almost certainly a keeper size. Given his earlier demonstration, I thought, “ok, surely he's going to keep this one for dinner.” Nope! He casually tosses the rock crab back... and as he cast out again, I distinctly overheard him muttering, “can't keep the Dungenesses.”
Torn between laughter and pity, I went over and told him that that was a rock crab, and that Dungeness could be distinguished by the white tips on their claws. He wouldn’t have any of it, insisting that I was wrong and that he had been told by DFG officials that the black tipped ones were dungies and illegal to keep. I’ve never seen anyone so intent on not breaking the law and yet breaking it every other minute. By the time I left, he had hauled up about 5 dungies and thrown back more than 10 “homeless dungies” aka rock crabs.
Posted by Crabman
Maybe the state or DF&G needs to put up fish I.D. posters or signs on all of the popular fish/crab piers. Then the poachers or the clueless can't plead ignorance.
Posted by JamesPeach
There are pictures of crabs on that pier.
Posted by jshang
He saw the pictures. It didn’t matter to him. i think that he may have had a minor mental illness because he was muttering a lot. Lots of homeless people do have mental issues.
Posted by JamesPeach
Hitting rock bottom will shake you up sometimes
Posted by rsaxatilis
You and me against the world. It's a song.
To: PFIC Message Board
From: jshang
Subject: Muni Pier Report and Interesting Story
Report: Fished today (2/4) from noon to 4pm. Nothing, not even a nibble. Someone earlier was asking how negative tides affected fishing. If Muni is any indication, negative tides are the kiss of death.
Interesting story: So I got there and started setting up and this homeless guy approached me for some change. After declining his solicitation, I noticed that he also had a pole in hand and was fishing not too far away from me. We started talking about fishing conditions on the pier and I was beginning to think that he was a pretty pleasant guy.
Somehow, the conversation turned to Dungeness crabs and how they were illegal to keep in the bay. Now I couldn't care less if a homeless man took a Dungeness crab, the man has to stay alive and the importance of the Dungeness crab population obviously pales next to this. However, this guy seemed quite knowledgeable about the regulations and kept talking about how he always tosses back dungies.
“Cool,” I thought. THEN, I watched as he reeled in a small baby Dungeness clinging on to the line and carefully took the crab off the line. Thinking that he was going to toss it back, I was understandably aghast when he stomped on the crab, smashing it almost in half. Then he started using the insides of the crab as bait. Not wanting to start anything I couldn’t finish, I just fished on in silence and kept watching him out of the corner of my eye.
A few minutes later, he reeled up a fairly large rock crab, almost certainly a keeper size. Given his earlier demonstration, I thought, “ok, surely he's going to keep this one for dinner.” Nope! He casually tosses the rock crab back... and as he cast out again, I distinctly overheard him muttering, “can't keep the Dungenesses.”
Torn between laughter and pity, I went over and told him that that was a rock crab, and that Dungeness could be distinguished by the white tips on their claws. He wouldn’t have any of it, insisting that I was wrong and that he had been told by DFG officials that the black tipped ones were dungies and illegal to keep. I’ve never seen anyone so intent on not breaking the law and yet breaking it every other minute. By the time I left, he had hauled up about 5 dungies and thrown back more than 10 “homeless dungies” aka rock crabs.
Posted by Crabman
Maybe the state or DF&G needs to put up fish I.D. posters or signs on all of the popular fish/crab piers. Then the poachers or the clueless can't plead ignorance.
Posted by JamesPeach
There are pictures of crabs on that pier.
Posted by jshang
He saw the pictures. It didn’t matter to him. i think that he may have had a minor mental illness because he was muttering a lot. Lots of homeless people do have mental issues.
Posted by JamesPeach
Hitting rock bottom will shake you up sometimes
Posted by rsaxatilis
You and me against the world. It's a song.