During our beach trip to visit our friends the Blevins family we wanted to come up with some fun activities to do. Somehow when we all get together we can come up with some pretty unusual things to do. So this weeekend was no different as we decided to go crabbing. I guess it's not all that unusual for the area, Oak Island, but for me this was something way beyond my radar.
The next morning we set off to the dock near the Blevins' place that went out into the intercoastal waterway.
Mark baited up the hooks with the turkey necks and Mike and I started crabbing. It's basically like any other fishing - throw your bait into the water, wait patiently, and when you feel a little tugging on the line bring it in slowly. Mark manned the net for us and while the crabs hang on to the bait, you scoop them in before you bring them completely out of the water. Right away we started having success!
As we started to land the crabs, Madeline was torn between looking at them and being scared. The moment the crabs started to move too much she was out of there! Eventually she, Audrey, and Anna found some shade and played away from the crabs.
It was really fun to watch the crabs go after the bait and latch on. We caught over 20 crabs that day. However, there are size restrictions as to what you can keep, so we ended up with 2 keepers for dinner. Luckily I was also making shrimp and grits that night!
Later in the evening as I prepared dinner, we decided to cook up our two friends as an appetizer. Mark was in charge of getting them from bucket to pot and needless to say, they were not happy!
Although the runaway crab was pretty entertaining, the best part of the cooking was Madeline's reaction. She was horrified by the smell of the crabs and shrimp cooking! She ended up spending time in her room coming out frequently to ask if the smell was gone!
I don't enjoy seafood at all. Shrimp is as far as I will go, but I have never eaten anything that I have ever caught before. Why miss the opportunity? I loaded a tiny little piece with some citrus butter and choked it down - it really didn't taste like anything but butter so I survived!
I have been fishing many times - in lakes, ponds, and deep sea fishing too. I have never really kept anything I have caught, and have done it more as a past time. It's something that my Dad really enjoys so fishing is something that we did on many family outings. But I have never had the opportunity to go crabbing so of course I was up for it.
For those of you who don't know how to crab, step one is to get your equipment. All it took was a trip to Walmart and about $10 to get some triangle shaped hooks with string and a long handled net. Next you need your bait which is preferably chicken necks. Walmart didn't have any that were up to our standards so we ended up with turkey necks. I am assuming most people don't have this item regularly on their grocery lists, so if you've never bought them, good thinking. They look pretty gross and have all kinds of tendons and such in them. We needed to cut them into smaller peices which was proving quite a job for the small knife that the Blevins family had at their house. So instead we opted for a machete that my husband uses to cut down kudzu. I was worried there might be finger loss involved at this point, but all went smoothly.
The next morning we set off to the dock near the Blevins' place that went out into the intercoastal waterway.
Mark baited up the hooks with the turkey necks and Mike and I started crabbing. It's basically like any other fishing - throw your bait into the water, wait patiently, and when you feel a little tugging on the line bring it in slowly. Mark manned the net for us and while the crabs hang on to the bait, you scoop them in before you bring them completely out of the water. Right away we started having success! As we started to land the crabs, Madeline was torn between looking at them and being scared. The moment the crabs started to move too much she was out of there! Eventually she, Audrey, and Anna found some shade and played away from the crabs.It was really fun to watch the crabs go after the bait and latch on. We caught over 20 crabs that day. However, there are size restrictions as to what you can keep, so we ended up with 2 keepers for dinner. Luckily I was also making shrimp and grits that night!Later in the evening as I prepared dinner, we decided to cook up our two friends as an appetizer. Mark was in charge of getting them from bucket to pot and needless to say, they were not happy! Although the runaway crab was pretty entertaining, the best part of the cooking was Madeline's reaction. She was horrified by the smell of the crabs and shrimp cooking! She ended up spending time in her room coming out frequently to ask if the smell was gone!
I don't enjoy seafood at all. Shrimp is as far as I will go, but I have never eaten anything that I have ever caught before. Why miss the opportunity? I loaded a tiny little piece with some citrus butter and choked it down - it really didn't taste like anything but butter so I survived!
What fun we had on our crabbing adventure! It is probably not something I will really do again, but I had a great time with some great friends. Don't worry Deadliest Catch - we are not in your league!
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