Some time ago, we got our first two crab traps. For a little while, I let them sit on the seawall, not really sure how the whole crabbin adventure was going to take off. After a few boat rides, I decided I'd found the spot where I was going to put them out, a sheltered little spot with water that was neither too shallow nor too deep, with lots of seagrass nearby. I got comfortable with taking rides out that way. And then one day, it was finally time to grab some steak that had been in the fridge just a few too many days, put it in the trap, and motor out to the destination.
I spent a hopeful night, wondering if my efforts were going to pay off. The morning came, and I took a trip out to my spot. I got in close, grabbed the line on one, and started pulling as hard as I could. There was something in it. Could it be? Yep, two good-sized blue crabs. If you could only see the expression on my face. I quickly grabbed the other line and started pulling, bringing the second 40-pound trap aboard. Another blue crab!
Certainly not a haul to be proud of in a regular way, but as a first experience trapping crabs, I was immediately overcome by the awesomeness of free seafood, that I could apparently convert electricity into tasty crab dinners. I brought the traps back up to the seawall and used tongs to transfer the feisty, slippery lil things into a bucket of cold water. The crab bucket was brought inside, and the crabs were very carefully transferred into the steamer, one at a time, with Old Bay. After just a few minutes, the crabs took on a more familiar form:
If you think crabs are tasty when you buy them from the market, they are just incredible when you caught them yourself, and they only spent about half an hour in transit from the ocean to the steamer. Grace handled the steaming and demonstrated picking them, to wonderful effect.
So, just 3 crabs, but a great beginning. The traps were put back out (they still had a lot of meat left), and this time they're going to sit for two nights to catch more crabs. It's okay to do that, as long as you can keep them fed after all. Also, tomorrow I'm getting 3 more traps to get up to my full 5-trap limit. Soon I hope to take this concept to its natural conclusion and get enough crabs to make tasty crab cakes a few times per week.
And yes, Daisy got her share. It is wonderful to be able to feed myself and my family without going to a store (except of course for butter and Old Bay).
-Chris