October... Is it the end of the crab season?

After the amazing weather we had here in the east coastal area of North Carolina. 18+ inches of rain! I decided to head out and go crabbing anyway the day after the storm. Mainly to get a feel for how the fall season may be shaping up and heck... I was curious to see how high the water was.
To start things off it took us over an hour to get to our crab spot due to a bridge out. But obviously that didn't stop us. It was a nice driving day so I really didn't mind...
We finally arrived and saw the expected rise in water but didn't expect it to be as high as it was. Right up to the walk boards! Normally the water is 2 feet or so beneath.

Now for the crabbing... Out of the traps we came up with ONE keeper crab! I surely blame it on the storm because after rigging up our chicken hand lines and an hour or two later we managed 20 hungry critters. The added bonus was how tasty the crabs are this time of the year!

So get out and go crabbing! It's not over yet. You may come home with less crabs but they are definitely worth putting in the steamer...

Crab Lunch

Getting ready for a snack.
Actually... We caught 31 crabs on Friday and another 25 on Sunday so crab is on the menu quite a bit these days. Had the boys over for some picking and cold beer Friday night.
I have also heard reports of a nice showing of larger "Jimmies" starting to make an early fall run. Go out and get some chicken, twine and your net and hit your favorite dock!

Bonjour :)

Crabbing in Georgia

A good friend suggested I mention a favorite crabbing spot of his located just south of the South Carolina, Georgia border and just east of Savannah in Tybee Island. The Lazaretto fishing pier is actually located on the old hwy 80 along with across the creek the Tybee Island Marina. Looking into this crabbing tip I 've noticed some great fun alternatives if the crabbing doesn't work out for you.

All of the ocean beaches are public and surf fishing is allowed in designated areas. So bring some medium tackle with you and your sand spikes. On the north and south ends of the beach are rock jetties that the locals crab from. I am always leery about walking out onto rock jetties and don't recommend doing so but if you decide to... Use common sense!

If roughing it isn't for you you can head out to the fishing pier on Fisherman's Walk (click for map. The pier is located on the Back River. Again... I haven't tried this spot myself but looking at the map it surely looks promising.

As with many recreational fishing these days check the local laws and regulations on fishing and license requirements. Georgia Department of Natural Resources- Wildlife Resources Division is where you can ask and or obtain about a license.

One last mention about Tybee Island is the famous "The Crab Shack". Looks like a fun place and I'm sure they have crabs if you aren't so lucky. Heck you can go in your bare feet! How good is that?

If anyone gets a chance to crab Tybee Island or anywhere else in Georgia drop me a note below. I welcome and appreciate all comments :)


View Larger Map

Stuffed Crab Recipe

Besides crabbing, fishing, drinking beer and not working one of my favorite things to do is cook fish. In this case it's crabs. There's a party today and between Guy and myself we are bringing a bushel of cleaned crabs, some of my clams casino, 15 large stuffed clams (baked clams) and to top it off 15 rather large stuffed crabs.

Here's how I made them...

15 crab shells
12 oz. imitation crab meat with real snow crab blended in
4 oz. salad shrimp (mini shrimp)
16 oz. herb style seasoned bread stuffing
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
8 oz.bottle of clam juice
1/2 cup water
Parmesan cheese (grated)
seafood seasoning (old bay etc.)
parsley

Mix shrimp, crab meat (break apart), melted butter, olive oil, wine, and clam juice in large mixing bowl till blended.
Fold in by hand bread stuffing till blended. Mixture will be dry and now you slowly add water to clump things up. 1/2 cup should do it. You want a loose consistency of the stuffing, not too doughy or flaky.
Stuff each crab shell and place on baking sheet.
Sprinkle lightly with seafood seasoning then Parmesan cheese and finally parsley (serves as a garnish).
Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Serve warm with lemon slices and cocktail forks.
Yummy!

Cooking tip: Avoid excessive seasoning by going very light with the seafood seasoning and Parmesan cheese. There's noting better than tasting the crab in butter, olive oil and white wine.

Clams in... Crabs take a break

The Crab guy and I decided to try something a little different today. Instead of running out to our favorite crab haunt which by the way is really showing a big pick up in both quantity and quality of crabs we decided to try clamming.
Both of us have clammed up north in NJ and Long Island before so we aren't strangers to the art of clamming. But here in the south it seems a bit more of a challenge.
We headed out with an old rusty clam rake and made an effort to catch as much or close to our daily limit of 100 clams a piece. Well... The day started off very slow and within an hour or two we had a measly 11 clams. At least it was something since both of us have never clammed here before.
We then decided to look around and cast netted up a few finger mullet and drifted for whatever would jump on the hook. I caught a small bluefish and a black tip shark.
Can you feel the excitement here?
So with an hour left to our fishing day we then decided to head back to the pier. Looking over to my left on the way in I saw a nice shallow flat that at the very least we could pull the boat onto and try one last time to get the twelfth clam :)
Guy agreed to give it a shot.
Sun burnt, tired but still optimistic we anchored and jumped overboard. I dragged the rake over a small clump of sea grass and there it was... A clam, the twelfth clam! We both looked at each other and before I could comment, another and another.
This is already a long story so I won't use the cliche... to make a long story short.
We came home with a nice pile of clams!
I'm making my famous "clams casino" a la scampi style as I type. They sure smell good.

Update: Judy of Judy's Kitchen is also blogging about foods of Down East North Carolina and took some awesome photo's of the finished clams.
Click to visit>>> The Bear Cupboard

Long Island Crabbing Reports

Looking for a great place to rent a boat and go crabbing on Long Island? Nobody does it better than Silly Lily out of Moriches, NY.
Visit Website>>> Silly Lily's Website

Nestled inside Tuthill Cove in the town of East Moriches, SL is geographically surrounded by some of the best blue claw crabbing Long Island can offer. Though we are not affiliated with SL in any way we feel this terrific fishing outlet deserves mention. So here it is...


Looking at their weekly crabbing reports you cannot help feeling the excitement and need to get some cut up chicken and your net. Beside terrific crabbing, the Moriches Bay offers some serious fluke fishing. Not to overshadow the areas abundant crabbing opportunities but fluke fishing has to be mentioned. Sorry about that :)

I know... I'm supposed to be the Crab Guy.
Suggestion: Bring your light tackle rods just in case!

Oh yeah, check out Silly's Crabbing Reports (updated weekly)>>> Blue Crab Report


View Larger Map

Crabbing, Fishing, Clamming and Camping!

As the title of this post suggests. You get it all at Cedar Point Campgrounds in East Hampton Long Island, NY.
I'm going back to the 80's but would bet you still can do most if not all of these things still today. In an earlier post I showed a huge crab we picked up in a local pond. Now there were many more crabs we caught but this grand daddy deserved the photo to be taken.
Here it is again on the left. I can't for the life of me understand why we didn't measure the monster but would easily say from point to point it measured over 10".
So not to beat this horse to death... You can also catch bluefish on the beach along with other species. Back in the 80's they allowed you to drive to the point if you had 4-wheel drive. I'm not sure if this is still allowed. In any event the walk isn't too far to the main beach that holds a nice amount of hump back porgy's in the 2-4 lb class along with some decent clamming. At low tide steamers are available inside the cove as well as clams and scallops. Now again I was here in the 80's and don't know if this is still the case. In the worst case scenario, bring ribs and hot dogs. I couldn't imagine not being successful at all... So pack your clam & fillet knives, steamer pot, butter and tarter sauce. If you do get the opportunity to camp/fish here this summer please let me know how you make out :)
I'm sure it's worth the trip either way.

More info: (click to go)>> Cedar Point Campgrounds


View Larger Map

Crabbing Memories and the Blues?

Just strolling down memory lane during these hazy days of summer. One great memory was of a favorite fishing dock at the end of Blue Point Ave. located yes... In Blue Point Long Island. Reminiscing more so about the number of blue claw crabs we caught and how you brought empty garbage cans fishing instead of 5 gallon buckets. Catching 40 or so crabs in a few hours was an average crab trip. To be fair, this was back in the late 60's and early 70's where everything was plentiful and I guess you can say... Life was good.
And so was the crabbing!

I am living 800 miles or so from my favorite little dock that holds some great memories of days gone by and some terrific crabbing adventures. I haven't been back for over 20+ years and wonder how the crabbing is today. It's nice to see the google satellite snapped a picture of the dock so I guess it still exists.


View Larger Map

July 4th Crab Feast in Maryland

Looks like the start of something good...
I wonder if any blood ends up in the pot. Hmmmm.
Possibly there will be a part II of this crab feast?

Crabbing in Galveston Texas

Here's a unique way of crabbing from a shore line using tent stake, a rubber mallet and twine. And of course a net :)
Funny watching how slippery chicken can be...
At the end of the video a nice crab is caught.

Long awaited crab showing!

I am happy to report this crab season has taken a turn for the better over last year. There are some great signs coming from the docks. Sunday within a few hours my dad, son and myself managed 12 nice jimmies using a hand line and chicken. My son who's 7 insisted on being the official net guy and kind of missed a few crabs.
He did though manage to bring in quite a few. It was all fun...
As we crabbed we set out a fishing line and caught a large skate that turned out to be the highlight of my son's day. He had the game face working when I handed over the rod to him. It was quite a fight to say the least.

Using a cast net we also came up with a nice supply of menhaden for our traps along with a few shrimp. The bait stayed but the shrimp came home and was tossed into the steamer during the last 2 minutes of the crabs cooking. Looking forward to more!

So yesterday the crab Guy and I decided to take a peek at the traps on an overnight set and were pleasantly surprised and happy to report we came back with 8 more blue crabs. Hopefully this is a sign of better times ahead!

This is Chris and his crab snack.

New Crabbing Season

Won't be long now... The crabs are starting to move around more as the waters warm.
Usually we see them when the water temps get above 60 degrees.

For a listing of water temperatures here's a great link to go to>>> NODC

While you wait for your local waters to warm up here's a video (new) of a recipe and procedure for cleaning blue claw crabs.