Fishing Forum

I went crabbing with my inlaws in Maryland last weekend. We pulled up the crab pots Saturday morning and feasted on these beauties Saturday afternoon. [center][/center] [left][/left]
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Oh yea love that sea food. Went to Maryland a couple years ago nice country up there. We ate crabs at the crab shacks along the coast really nice. Was able to hit seven states while we were up there. Love seafood had steak and shrimp last night, having snow crab legs tonight. We eat seafood once or twice a week. Also hit the Maine crab shacks while we were up there.

We were in the Soloman area in Maryland and fished the Cheaspeake bay while there. We have relation that live in Soloman.
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[cool]Thinking of crabs brings back lotsa fun memories, and also gets the salivary glands working. I have caught, cooked, cleaned and consumed crabs all around the country, from New England to New Orleans to Newport Beach, to Puget Sound. Different species in different waters, but they are all fun to catch and delicious on the table.

One of the best memories TubeBabe and I share was while I was on a six month assignment in the New Orleans area. During one of her weeklong visits, over the Christmas holidays, we were driving around and casting into the canals around Venice (mouth of the Mississippi) for redfish, sea trout and the feisty little "marsh bass"...a subspecies of largemouth that does not get big but tolerates brackish water.

Fishing was slow, so we moved often. On one stop, I looked down while retrieving an unmolested cast and noticed a blue crab scuttling along near shore. At the completion of my cast, I dropped the plastic minnow down and the crab neatly clipped in in half with its sharp claws. I went over to the bait bucket, where we had some mullet strips cut for sweetening jigs, and tipped my "altered" lure with the real stuff. On the next drop, the crab actually swam up and intercepted the offering and held on tightly enough to be lifted onto the bank.

TubeBabe came over from where she had been watching and asked if we could catch more...for dinner. We both love those crustaceans. I had only seen the one crab, but suspected there were more. I was right. We both rigged our jigs with pieces of mullet meat and began lowering them to the bottom in about six feet of water. We couldn't see how many crabs were there, but every drop had a quick response. By using the long handled landing net we had, we were able to slip it under the crabs and scoop them before lifting them out of the water and having them let go. That works great for crawdads too.

In the hour before dark, we filled a good sized cooler with big blue crabs, and turned loose several times as many that were not big enough to keep. Just before we were ready to hit the road back to New Orleans...and a crab feed...something grabbed my baited jig head and hauled the rod down. A few minutes later I netted a hefty channel cat. What a surprise. His fillets harmonized well with cracked crabmeat as we picked crab well into the night.

That trip is still something we remember fondly. The crabs provided a great experience and a couple of great meals.
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RNL

Nice post, thanks for sharing. Like to see variety on the board.

Hey Tubedude,

I don't think I would be bragging about having had crabs in the past LMAO.

As Always, Kayote
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[cool]Once they get big enough to eat, you no longer need the ointment.

That brings up another funny memory. In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the scene of another temporary work assignment, there is a seafood restaurant that features steamed crabs. They cover a table with newspapers, dump out a couple of dozen freshly cooked crabs on the table and everybody just digs in and starts cracking, cleaning and munching. I think the name of the place is Joe's Crab Shack, or something like that. You can buy their tee shirts that say "I GOT CRABS AT JOES.".

They got some great restaurant slogans down there. Another place...Fat Johnny's BBQ Restaurant has a slogan "PUT SOME SOUF IN YOUR MOUF."

Now, we've had some chatter on eatin' "CRAWDADS", but I ain't chipped in. Nobdy yet been talkin' bout eatin' dose "MUDBUGS". Got me plenty of stuff to say 'bout 'dat.

And...anybody wants to catch some serious BIG crabs...I got a system for bringing in some three to four foot wide California King Crabs off the piers in California. Keep some of the twenty pound mono you strip off your yellowtail rig, and make some one foot loops out of it. Tie it off in the middle and hook a three ounce sinker and a big rock cod hook in the middle. Tie it on the end of some thirty or forty pound line, on a stout pier rod, and hang a fish head on the hook. CAst out away from the pier...beyond where the guys with the crab traps can reach. When your rod tip starts pulsing, pick up the rod and just start reeling. The crabs get their legs and claws tangled in the mono loops and can't get loose before you hoist them up on the pier.

It helps to have a big pier net hanging in the water below you. When you bring in a biggun that you do not want to lose, reel it over the pier net and hoist it up in the net. Most of the crabs will be the dungeness variety. However, in the right place at the right time there are a few of the biggies.

There were some nights off the end of the Newport Beach Pier that I caught five or more of the big old king crabs. They look like elephants coming to the surface in the lights. The largest will have a three foot span and weigh several pounds. When cooked, each one will yield a whole lotta meat.

By the way, the mono trick works great for crawdads too. Use lighter line...a whole bunch of it, with a hook and some chicken "parts" in the middle. When the 'dads are thick you can bring in several on a drop.

I admit it. I am a crabaholic. And I ain't interested in recovery, neither. Bring on ALL them crustaceans.
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I have a cousin that lives in New Orleans and had not been anywhere else, HE was used to sitting down and eating a dozen blue crabs for a meal!!! He finally ventured up north, dont know where exactly!!! But he walked into a crab shack and asked for a dozen of their largest crabs. I guess the little waiter boy was a bit . The waiter went and got the owner of the shack and he came out. Asked my cousin, if he need them delivered somewhere, if there was a party he was throwing. Then my cousin got the look. Said yeah I want them delivered, right here to my table for me to eat. The owner informed him that all 12 wouldnt fit on the table. so he went back to grab a example of one of there large crabs to show my cousin. My cousin ended up only ordering one. A king crab!!!
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[cool] When you get those Alaskan or California King Crabs, sometime 1 is just enough even if you are a hearty eater. Bon Appetit[sly]
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Het TD as a kid we used to summer at Padre Island & Mustang Island on the Texas coast. Catch crabs was a riot, and goooooooood eatin to boot.
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[cool]Hey, Moose. Love that Texas Gulf Coast. Lots of good fishing and crabbing. Only problem is that you can't get out there on "Spring Break" anymore. The college crowd pretty much takes over. Lots of good "scenery" but the prices are sky high and the services are all booked up.

But, if you can get some redfish in the morning, fillet them out and then use the heads for bait around the pilings in Laguna Madre, there is some fine crabbin' to be done. Good memories.
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You guys are making me hungry. I need to get out and get some crawdads somewhere. It's the closest thing I can get to lobster.[sly][cool][]
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[cool]If ya want some "poor man's lobster/crab/crustacean", all ya need is some perch fillets.

First, go to the hispanic food section of your local market...or to a market that caters to the hispanic families. Look for some soup base...by Knorr's. They will have "pollo" (chicken), "res" (beef), "tomate" (tomato) and "camarron" (shrimp). Get some of the shrimp. Use it to "poach" some fillets.

Start by putting a quart or more of water in a good sized soup pan. Sprinkle in some onion flakes, garlic powder, black pepper and some cayenne if you like spicy. Go easy on the salt, because the soup base is salty. Get the flavored water heating and unwrap a couple of cubes of the shrimp soup base. Put it in the pan and stir until it is all dissolved and the water is just at the boiling stage.

Dump about a pound of fillets into the shrimp flavored soup and put the lid on for about five minutes. Turn the heat down a bit if it wants to boil over. As soon as the fillets can be flaked with a fork, pour off the liquid and scoop the hot fillets into individual serving size bowls (the whole pound works for me). Now pour some melted butter, with a generous amount of fresh garlic stirred in, over the hot fillets. Serve some hot french bread on the side, squint your eyes a bit and tell me you ain't eating fine crustacean.

By the way, that recipe also works great on the skeletons and rib cages on walleyes, bass, wipers and stripers. You would be amazed at how much meat is left over, even if you are good with the fillet knife. When steamed or poached in the shrimp flavoring, you can get a good side dish of fish flakes from a single large carcass.

If you can't find the shrimp flavoring in the hispanic section, try the oriental food section. I have a major supermarket sized oriental market only a long block away from where I live down here, and I can get a supply for anyone who strikes out up north. They do a great business with both the oriental and hispanic families in the area.

Then, there is the Vietnamese chili garlic sauce. Arriba!

Oh yeah, polokid, you like that Zatarain's crab boil, for crawdads. You should try some on a few perch fillets and see what happens. Don't cook very long...just til the fillets turn white. Dip the cooked fillets in the garlic butter, or put them in your world famous fettucine alfredo. It works.

Anyone for sunfish fried rice? Or, fish fillets and egg noodles (instead of chicken and noodles)?

Dang! I went and got myself all hungry. Guess I better go finish up that pan of fresh enchiladas.
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Now that sounds delectible TD. I love learning about new ways of cooking things. I love to cook and love to eat. As a matter of fact I will be starting my culinary schooling next spring. I'll definitely be able to find it, the shrimp buillion. I have some in my cupboard. I used it whaen I used the remaining crawdad bodies for a stock a month or so ago. I love using this stock fo clam chowder although I think after our little perch party this saturday I might throw together a perch chowder.[][cool][sly][][] Oh TD if only you knew. You just sparked a ton of ideas for fish now. Thanks a ton for that info. I owe ya one.[] Or if or when ya make it back to Utah I'll whip up a batch for ya. I'll let ya know how it turns out!
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[cool]I'm way ahead of ya loanfish. I had planned to get the ball roliing on a BFT fishing and fish cooking day. All waters and all species...organized to get a good representation of the most possible Utah species for a mega cookup at the end of the day. Kind of a "Cast Iron Chef" thing.

I used to do those things back in the olden days, when most Utah fishermen were wired into only the fish with stripes or spots. Had some big parking lot extravaganzas where we put on filleting and cooking lessons, with free samples of the end product. Developed some original recipes and redid a few old ones. At the urging of DWR and a few tackle shop folks I put together a now out of print book.



I've sampled and invented a whole bunch more recipes since then. Let's get all the fishermen and all the kitchen kamikazes together and do it up right. You can't put together a vast project with only half vast participation.
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