Summer crab closes for the year on Monday, September 7. That is eleven days from now, Labor Day, the same afternoon the last of the free concerts has already packed up and the fair has been over for a week. So this issue is the one you use before then: six public places to drop a pot without owning a boat, and the thing nobody tells you, which is that two of them are legally open on a Saturday and four of them are not.

The poster above has the spots and the days. Below it, the fine print: the invisible line that decides which rule you are under, what the state will still not let you dig for, and how to not accidentally poison your family over a long weekend.

The Rundown

Crab Ends On Labor Day, Everywhere We Cover

Monday September 7 is the last day of the summer season in Admiralty Inlet, the Seattle and Bremerton area, and north Hood Canal alike. Tacoma and Vashon closed after Aug 17, and south Hood Canal below Ayock Point and south Puget Sound never opened at all this year. Then your catch card is due back to the state by Oct 1, and that is true even if you did not keep a single crab. Miss it and it is a $10 penalty on next year's endorsement. Online reporting opens the day after Labor Day.

Admiralty Inlet Reopened. Hood Canal Did Not.

First real movement since June. On Aug 12 the state reported biotoxin levels had fallen back to safe in much of Admiralty Inlet and reopened those waters. Hood Canal is still closed, still elevated, and has been shut to clams, oysters, mussels and scallops since June 12. NOAA calls it the worst paralytic shellfish bloom there in more than a decade, more than a hundred times the federal safe-harvest limit at its peak. Crab and shrimp were never part of the closure. Full detail, and the one link worth bookmarking, is down in The Tides.

The Ferry System Says It Is Three Boats Short

Deputy secretary Steve Nevey put a number on it in last week's update: the system is running 21 vessels and needs at least 24 to hold current service. That is the arithmetic behind every summer morning you have spent watching a sailing vanish off the board. WSF is taking questions on it directly at two online meetings on Thursday Sept 10, at 11am and again at 6pm, covering the summer recap and where the new boats actually are.

Best Burger of the Peninsula

We are settling it with a bracket. Sixteen burgers, single elimination, and you vote in every issue until one is left standing. The winner gets the 2026 seal for the front window.

We are not picking the sixteen. You are, and that is the whole point.

Every town here has one. The drive-through shack with the hand-lettered sign. The tavern where the burger is better than the tavern has any right to be. The place you will drive past three other towns to get to. We want the name of yours, and we want every corner of the peninsula in the field, so if nobody speaks up for your town it will not be in the bracket.

Know a place that would win and never enter itself? Especially want to hear that one.

The Last Crab Weekends

Start with the line, because everything else follows from it. The state splits our water at Apple Cove Point, a mile and a bit north of Kingston, on a line running across to Edwards Point near Edmonds. It is invisible from the beach and it is the most consequential thing on this map.

North of it you are in Admiralty Inlet, Marine Area 9, and you may crab Thursday through Monday. South of it you are in the Seattle and Bremerton area, Marine Area 10, and you may crab Sundays and Mondays only. Hood Canal proper, south of the bridge, is Marine Area 12: north of Ayock Point it runs Thursday through Monday like Area 9, and south of Ayock Point it never opened this year at all. All of it stops on Sept 7. Gear has to be out of the water on the closed days, not just unattended, out. And do not set a pot in a ferry lane or off a terminal. That is its own violation, and it is a live temptation at Kingston.

So Point No Point and Salsbury Point are open this Saturday. Kingston is not, and neither are Indianola, Silverdale or Illahee. Kingston sits a mile or so south of the line, fifteen minutes from Point No Point, and it lands on the two-day side of it. That is the whole trick, and it is why people get tickets.

Point No Point  ·  Hansville  ·  Area 9, Thu to Mon

The far north corner, shore access, lighthouse on the point. There is no boat ramp and there is not going to be one: the Army Corps denied the permit in 2021 over Suquamish treaty fishing rights. So this is a walk-in-and-throw spot off the beach, not a launch, and there is no pier to stand on. The county lot is free, but the overflow lot next door is WDFW and wants a Discover Pass. Being north of the line, it is one of the two here that work on a Saturday. Crab only: this beach is closed to butter and varnish clams.

Salsbury Point County Park  ·  Port Gamble  ·  Area 9, Thu to Mon

Right beside the Hood Canal Bridge and just north of it, which keeps it in Area 9 and on the five-day schedule. Public launch, saltwater beach, restrooms. Crab from the beach, not from the dock. The county posts no fishing or crabbing from the floating pier at the head of it and people miss that sign every single year. And do not put a clam or an oyster in a bucket at this park, because you are standing on the closed water.

Port of Kingston  ·  Kingston  ·  Area 10, Sun and Mon

Sits just south of Apple Cove Point, which is the thing almost everybody gets wrong. The line is north of the marina, so Kingston crabs on the same two days as Bremerton does, not on Point No Point's five. Real public fishing pier, restrooms open around the clock, town two minutes away. Parking is $12 for twelve hours or $3.49 an hour, and the one free option is a two-hour zone the port genuinely enforces, which is not long for a soak. Keep your pot well clear of the ferry lane. Crab only: Saltair Beach is closed to butter and varnish clams.

Indianola Dock  ·  Indianola  ·  Area 10, Sun and Mon

The long pier everyone photographs. South of the line, so it is a two-day-a-week proposition now. Crabbing is allowed here, whatever you may have heard: the port's posted signs are about boats, not pots. The two real catches are different. Parking is thin, about two hundred feet back, and part of the road end is a fire lane. And the port has permits in hand to replace the pilings and floats starting September or October, so phone (360) 779-8229 before you make the drive late in the season.

Port of Silverdale Dock  ·  Silverdale  ·  Area 10, Sun and Mon

Dock, ramp, beach and restrooms at the top of Dyes Inlet. The most forgiving of these if you are bringing kids and need a bathroom within sight of the pot, though the restrooms are daylight hours only. Set your expectations at red rock rather than Dungeness up in the inlet.

Illahee State Park Pier  ·  Bremerton  ·  Area 10, Sun and Mon

Seventy-five acres facing Bainbridge, with parking and restrooms on site, and the park says plainly that fishing and crabbing are both fine from the pier. It is a state park, so you need a Discover Pass on the dash. Sunday morning here is about as civilized as this gets. Two warnings: the pier is closed for maintenance Aug 31 through Sep 3, which takes out Monday the 31st, and the boat launch shut permanently back in June.

What it costs and what the rules are

A resident shellfish and seaweed license is $21.58. The Puget Sound Dungeness endorsement on top of it is $11.89. The catch card is free with the license. Buy either at fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov or in the Fish Washington app, in about four minutes, from the parking lot if you have to.

Five male Dungeness a day, hard shell, 6¼ inches across the carapace minimum, plus six red rock crab of either sex, also hard shell, at 5 inches minimum, and six tanner crab. Two units of gear per person. Your pots need two escape rings of at least 4¼ inches in the upper half and a rot cord of untreated cotton or other natural fiber, no thicker than thread size 120, so that a pot you lose stops fishing instead of killing crab on the bottom for years. That last one is not bureaucratic box-ticking. It is the difference between a lost pot and a ghost pot.

Season rules can change late with almost no notice, so check the state's crab page the morning you go.

This Weekend

Kitsap Fair & Stampede  ·  Kitsap Fairgrounds, Bremerton  ·  through Sun Aug 30  ·  gates 10am  ·  $12

A century of livestock barns and a PRCA rodeo sharing a fence line with a carnival. Jefferson Starship tonight at 9, Alli Walker on Saturday. Parking is cash.

Noah Delos Reyes + Friends  ·  Mike Wallace Park, Kingston  ·  Sat Aug 29  ·  5 to 7pm  ·  Free

The last Concerts on the Cove of the year, all ages, on the grass by the water. Bring a chair and stay for the ferry coming in behind the stage.

Moonlight Market  ·  City Hall lawn, Bainbridge Island  ·  Fri Sep 4  ·  5 to 9pm  ·  Free

The last one of the year on Bainbridge, makers on the City Hall lawn. It gets properly dark during this one now, which is rather the point of the name.

Blackberry Festival  ·  Bremerton Boardwalk  ·  Sat Sep 5 to Mon Sep 7  ·  free  ·  hours at blackberryfestival.org

Over fifteen blackberry things to eat, 150 vendors and a beer garden run by the Rotary, on the water for the whole long weekend. Admission is free, and so is most of the Kids Zone.

Kingston Sunset Market  ·  Kiwanis Park, Kingston  ·  Sat Sep 5  ·  4 to 8pm  ·  Free

First Saturday, May through October, so this is one of two left. Makers and artisans, right at the hour the light goes gold over the water.

Poulsbo Farmers Market  ·  18901 8th Ave NE, Poulsbo  ·  every Saturday  ·  10am to 2pm  ·  Free

The two weeks where the summer table and the fall table overlap: tomatoes and corn still going, first winter squash already in. Runs to Dec 12, but it will not look like this again until July.

Wooden Boat Festival  ·  Point Hudson, Port Townsend  ·  Fri Sep 11 to Sun Sep 13  ·  9am, Sunday to 4pm  ·  $33 a day, $59 for three, 12 and under free with a paying adult

Just past this issue's window, flagged now because you need to plan the boat to get to the boats. Three hundred of them, plus a hundred talks and a woodworking tent. Early-bird pricing is long gone.

Live Music

We told you two weeks ago that the free concerts were nearly done. This is the week they finish. Every outdoor series on the peninsula ends inside these ten days, and there is no point pretending otherwise, so here is the closing bill.

The free series, closing out

THU Aug 27  ·  Kevin Mason & the PT All Stars  ·  Concerts on the Dock finale  ·  Pope Marine Park, Port Townsend  ·  5 to 7pm  ·  Free

THU Aug 27  ·  Concerts by the Bay finale  ·  Marina Park gazebo, Port Orchard  ·  6:30 to 8pm  ·  Free

SAT Aug 29  ·  Noah Delos Reyes + Friends  ·  Concerts on the Cove finale  ·  Mike Wallace Park, Kingston  ·  5 to 7pm  ·  Free, all ages

At the fair

THU Aug 27  ·  Jefferson Starship  ·  Main stage, Kitsap Fairgrounds  ·  9pm  ·  With fair admission

SAT Aug 29  ·  Alli Walker  ·  Main stage, Kitsap Fairgrounds  ·  9pm  ·  With fair admission

Rooms and taprooms

THU Aug 27  ·  The Darts, with The Karmakazis and Grrrizzly  ·  The Charleston, Bremerton  ·  8pm  ·  $16 advance, $20 door

THU Aug 27  ·  The Heart of Rock & Roll, a Huey Lewis tribute  ·  Clearwater Event Lawn, Suquamish  ·  7pm  ·  from $21, ages 5+

FRI Aug 28  ·  Subserious  ·  Brother Don's, Bremerton  ·  7 to 10pm  ·  No cover

FRI Aug 28  ·  Meghanne Storey  ·  Bushel & Barrel, Poulsbo  ·  6 to 8pm  ·  No cover

SAT Aug 29  ·  The Lumberjax  ·  Brother Don's, Bremerton  ·  7 to 10pm  ·  No cover

SAT Aug 29  ·  Liquidhorse  ·  Tracyton Public House, Bremerton  ·  8 to 11pm  ·  No cover, 21+

THU Sep 3  ·  The Way Below, with Less Than Three  ·  The Charleston, Bremerton  ·  8pm  ·  $15, $10 under 21

FRI Sep 4  ·  Storm Rider, a Doors tribute  ·  Beach Rock, Clearwater Casino  ·  8:30pm  ·  $15, 21+

SAT Sep 5  ·  Ted Vigil, a John Denver tribute  ·  Beach Rock, Clearwater Casino  ·  8:30pm  ·  $15, 21+

SAT Sep 12  ·  Matthew Morrison, Show Up  ·  Admiral Theatre, Bremerton  ·  doors 6:30, show 7:30pm  ·  From $26

Two free series end tonight, and the Cove follows on Saturday. Already finished: Battle Point and Silverdale both closed Aug 26, Music in Manette on Aug 20, Music in the Square on Aug 17, Poulsbo's Summer Nights at the Bay earlier still. The Admiral coming back on Sep 12 after the summer dark is the actual changing of the season here, outdoors to indoors, and it is worth noticing.

The Tides

Labor Day weekend brings the last workable minus tides of the year, a solid week of them running from the 3rd to the 10th, bottoming out below a foot on the Monday and deeper still on the Tuesday. Which is a cruel piece of timing, so read the box first.

Sat Sep 5 · 6:16am · -0.52 ft  ·  Bremerton and Port Orchard

Sun Sep 6 · 7:06am · -0.81 ft  ·  Seabeck

Mon Sep 7 · 8:31am · -1.02 ft  ·  Bremerton and Port Orchard

Tue Sep 8 · 9:30am · -1.14 ft  ·  Bremerton and Port Orchard

Wed Sep 9 · 10:21am · -0.97 ft  ·  Bremerton and Port Orchard

Predictions from NOAA. Seabeck sits on closed water, so Sunday is a walking tide, not a digging one. But a proper minus tide at seven in the morning with the canal that far out is the best two hours the beach gives you all year, bucket or no bucket.

Hidden Gem: Presidents Hall

Everyone at the fair is pointed at the rodeo and the carnival, and almost nobody walks into Presidents Hall, which is where the still life exhibits live: the arts, the crafts, the baking, the horticulture. Somebody's grandmother has entered a jar of pickled beans and somebody's nine-year-old has entered a drawing, and both have a ribbon on them, judged by people who took it seriously. It is quiet in there in the way the rest of the fairgrounds is emphatically not, it is free once you have paid the $12 at the gate, and it is the only part of the whole operation that tells you what this county actually grows and makes. Do the barns, do the bulls, and then go stand in the vegetable competition for ten minutes.

Ferry Watch

No schedule changes, but no slack either. Late August is when the delays stop being occasional and start being the timetable. Bainbridge and Edmonds to Kingston have both been running behind on the sunny afternoons, and the fall schedule does not start until Sept 20, so nothing structural changes before then. One exception worth putting in the calendar: on Labor Day, Monday Sept 7, both Bainbridge and Edmonds to Kingston run a holiday timetable, and on Bainbridge that means the Saturday timetable, not the Sunday one. Bremerton is unaffected. That is also the last legal crab day of the year, so plan the boat before you plan the pot. Labor Day weekend will be the worst of it. Walk on if the far end works on foot, and if you must drive, go at an hour nobody else wants.

Tonight, Colman Dock: one of the two vehicle lanes at the Yesler Way exit may be closed from 7 to 10pm for Seattle City Light work. If you are coming off the 7:something back to Bainbridge, that is your evening, so leave a little extra on the far side.

Say something on Sept 10. Two online systemwide meetings, 11am and 6pm, recapping the summer and covering where the new vessels are. If the boat math above annoyed you, that is the room. Registration links are on the WSF site.

Still running: Kingston's boarding pass system, daily 8am to 8pm through Oct 12. We walked through the whole procedure last issue and nothing about it has changed. Colman Dock elevator 5 remains out on the Alaskan Way side.

Full schedules and real-time alerts: wsdot.com/ferries

Know someone who'd enjoy this? Forward it to a friend.