In Hot Pursuit; The Raw Claw-Stone’s
She
built low to the ground and always in Hot Pursuit because this Stony
is about her claw and her début was this morning. In search for the
elusive crab”, Elusive you say? Yep, these shell fish are always on
your baits when fishing or at a glance swimming by on the top of the
water when you don't want them but try and more times than not, at
this time of year they can be elusive and hard to catch! The other
night we were trying to hook up with a big shark and couldn't keep
our baits on the hook long, enough to get a bite, for the crabs were
hungry. Therefore, today I brought the crab baskets and will try for
a crab dinner and as an extra treat, I will be using my bridge net as
a super sized crab catcher. It Ought to be hot tonight!
You
can purchase crab baskets, string or bridge nets from your area dept.
stores and they work well. They are easy on the pocket book too, with
the exception of a bridge net, which start at around thirty bucks for
the small ones and up to seventy for the large ridged ones as I use
in King fish to Cobia/Snook hauling. Crab baskets, as are bridge nets
are designed to lift your catch from the waters below bridges, docks
or piers, much like a landing net. Baits range from left over fried
chicken bones to fish scraps. I like using an oily fish like the Jack
Carvel or mackerel carcasses and heads. The Jack, as is the Mack is
easy to catch and you get to fish while crabbing; the better of two
worlds! Jacks will hit shrimp, cut bait, or anything that fits in
their mouths when feeding which, by the way seems to be all the time
when schooling. They can be found in cuts, passes, along the beaches
and in the bays. I catch more than not using jigs or Got-ch-A's.
Butter flied out and attached with wire to the bottom of the crab
basket, I am armed to catch crabs. You don’t need a large armada of
baskets to catch crabs. For this outing, I am using two baskets, a
bridge net filled with two pieces of Jack in the crab baskets, and
three Macks tied in the middle of the bridge net. Lowered to the
bottom and checked periodically on fifteen-minute intervals. If no
crabs within four checks or an hour, move the traps and repeat until
your bucket is full.
The
air temperature this morning is in the mid 70’s. No need for ice,
just a bucket and with luck we will get some crabs. Dropping our
baskets to the bottom next to the pile on out here on our city pier
"Sharky's", I await for supper. This time of year along the
Gulf coast crabs of all varieties can be caught. Spider crabs,
hermits, stone claws, speckled or sand crabs and the infamous Blue
Crabs tally up to what may be caught along with the occasional clown
crab. All of these varieties may be caught today but we are only
interested in supper; blue claw and sand crabs, though it is possible
to capture a stone claw, they usually feed only at night. When
catching the famous Florida Stone Claws, you must remember that you
are only after its claws and the Stone
Crab
claws must measure at least 2 3/4-inches in length measured by a
straight line from the elbow to the tip of the lower immovable finger
and Stone Crab Claws are seasonal from October 15-May 15
here
in Florida.
Clown
crabs are considered ornamental, as if those one sees in a fish tank,
spiders are funny looking and are considered bottom scavengers like
their brothers the horseshoe crab. Blue crabs, sold the world over
like Stone Claws are seasonal from May to November in Florida, though
can be caught year round for recreational purposes with no females
bearing eggs and a ten gallon limit per person, per day. Though I
believe in 'limit your catch, don't catch your limit'!
Checking
the net every five to ten minutes for crabs and to ensure you still
have bait is my rule. When handling your catch be careful. The claws
of the sand and blue crabs can cut you and are painful. The stone
claws may not cut you but they can break your fingers. Be prudent
when handling these critters. Best rule is to approach from behind by
placing your foot (if you have shoes on) lightly on the back of its
shell and pick up by grabbing both claws simultaneously. Place in
bucket or ice for safekeeping. On the stone claw crab, if the claw is
a keeper, twist counter clockwise until the entire joint and claw is
removed with a quick jerk and be careful not to pull the claw off as
to not injure the crab. They will grow a new one back to catch next
year, so after removing its claw return the crab back to the water.
Stone
crab claws are high on the list of favored Florida seafood. These
crabs have the unusual ability to cast off their legs or pincers if
caught by one leg or experience extreme temperature change. The
separation always occurs at one of the joints to protect the crab
from bleeding. During the life of the crab, the same appendage may be
generated three or four times.
Florida
law
takes advantage of this ability of regeneration by making it illegal
to harvest whole stone crabs. One or both of the very powerful
black-tipped claws may be removed provided the length of the forearm
measures 2 3/4 inches. If not, the claw must be left on the crab and
the live stone crab returned to the water. If is also unlawful to
remove claws from egg-bearing females.
It
is a good idea not to put it back in where you have your traps or you
will catch the same ones repeatedly. I walk them down to the other
side and drop them back into the water.
Please
note that when
catching your own crabs it is illegal to catch female crabs during
the summer months when they have eggs. How do you know the
difference? Look at the abdomen on the underside of the crab. The
female abdomen is dome shaped, like the U.S. capitol; the male
abdomen looks like the Washington Monument.
OK, it is time to clean the crabs. Today’s outing only produced about two dozen sand crabs but what a dinner that will be for the family at home.
The
crabs have to be alive and must be cleaned first! That means taking
kitchen shears and cutting away the eyes and mouth. Then you must
pull back and remove the top shell to expose the gills so they can be
removed. Finally, you must pull away and remove the bottom tail flap,
known as the apron. These steps are done to remove the parts that are
inedible or are bitter and will impart unwanted flavors.
All
that is left is to boil up my catch. The cleaned crabs and stone
claws are cooked by placing them in boiling water and heating the
water back to a boil. Total cooking time should be 7-8 minutes.
Running cold water over the cooked claws is often suggested to insure
the meat does not stick to the shells. Most people are purists when
it comes to crab meat and prefer it cold or steamed only long enough
to heat it and served with clarified butter or warm lemon butter.
