SANTA CRUZ — Fishermen and officials are predicting a good Dungeness crab season based on previous years despite a slow start to the season for sport fishers Saturday.
Recreational crab fishers set traps on the season's first day and commercial fishers gauged the local productivity and continued to prepare for their season with a later opening date.
"I think it's going to be a good year," said Jim Rubin, who runs a sport fishing charter boat. "There's been a lot of crab the last few years. There's lots of bait for the crabs — anchovies."
Rubin also uses sardines and squid to bait the traps, which he set near Davenport at depths of up to 200 feet. He said he expects about 30 crabs. In one hour, he caught eight crabs; however, that catch is not a good indicator for predicting the season said Greg Hill of Bay Side Marine, which provides local fishing reports.
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