For many who reside in the Monterey Bay area, the thought of Thanksgiving includes not only roasted turkey with all the trimmings, but also steaming pots of fresh-caught Dungeness crab.

The season is still young, but so far so good. Most crabbers are reporting limits, some are getting limits on a daily basis. Of course, the more pots one runs, the more crab one can gather. Finding a good spot to drop the traps is critical as well.

Dungeness prefer a muddy bottom rather than sand or rocky reef. In our area, the mud bottom can be reliably found starting at 120 to 150 feet of water. Best soak areas historically are in 180-220 feet of water, and some adventurous sport crabbers fish much deeper- in the 300-400 foot areas. No matter where you drop the pots keep a good eye on them and check them regularly. If we have storm forecasts including big swells and heavy currents, it may be wise to pull the traps so they don't get lost.

Regulations this year are the same as last. For sport angling, the daily bag limit is 10 crab per angler, and the minimum size limit is 5 ? inches. If fishing from a commercial passenger vessel (Charter Boat) the limit is six crab and size must be six inches. Good news is, just a couple crab can provide a full dinner for a family of four.

Otherwise, we are fairly consistent this week with previous weeks' reports. Rockfish are plentiful, even on the local reefs near Lighthouse Point, and West Cliff areas. Lingcod, if anything, are on the increase, with limits of lings reported by some sport anglers for many trips. White sea bass can still be found up the coast near Four-Mile Beach, according to Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine, who adds the tantalizing news of Giant Humboldt Squid coming into the shallows. "The Humboldt Squid fishing was wide open from South Rock to Five-Mile Beach in 70-150 feet of water. The Humboldts are hitting Ahi Squid jigs 40 feet down. If you want to get them to the surface take some extra bait and chum the Humboldt up to the top.

In other news, Frank Ealy, owner of Capitola Boat and Bait has done it again. After a hard season, he likes to take his crew down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for some relaxing war-water fishing. WE have not received full reports yet, but the above picture is indicative of good fishing, at least for Dorado in Cabo this year.