No Luck Fishing? Try Crabbing Instead!
If the fish aren’t biting or you want a change from fishing then why not try crabbing? Crabs are delicious, easy to cook and great fun to catch. Below are 9 crabbing tips to help you catch some delicious crabs.
1) Target areas where crabs are located. Estuaries, rIvers, inlets and bays are all prime places to hunt for crabs.
2) Choose which method you are going to employ to catch the crabs. Using drop nets works well but is best from a boat. It can work from a jetty or pier but is less reliable this way. Using scoop nets on the water edge is fun but the crabs you get will often be undersized. Diving for crabs is both fun and exhilarating but requires a bit of skill and patience.
3) As with fishing you need to choose the right time of day to go crabbing. Crabs feed first thing in the morning or in the evening at sunset. Crabbing in the middle of the day is likely to produce no results.
4) Carry the right equipment to catch crabs with. If you are using drop nets you will need long lengths of rope attached to each net. You will also need bait, bait hooks and sinkers attached to the nets. If you are scooping crabs, you need a scoop, a good pair of water shoes, a container with rope attached that can float to place your crabs in and a towel to cover the crabs you have caught. If diving for crabs you will need a wetsuit, snorkel and mask, and a thick glove. With all methods of crabbing you will also need to carry a sizing guide (usually a small metal bar) so you can measure the crabs to ensure legal sizes are taken.
5) Crabs will always try to pinch you so always be on guard. Thick clothing is good but is not always practical. The best way to avoid getting pinched is to stay vigilant. Try to pick crabs up from behind. You can either hold them from behind or hold them just below their pincers (holding from behind is the easiest).
6) On the car trip home, pick up some ice to make an ice slurry. Crabs will keep best in an ice slurry. It is also the preferred ethical way to treat crabs as they go into a paralized numb state from the ice. When cooking remove immediately from the ice slurry and place gently into the boiling water. Make sure the water is boiling rapidly otherwise the crab will take longer to die. Place the crab gently into the water to avoid boiling water splashing up onto your body.
7) If you plan on using drop nets you should always get the best nets you can find. There are basically two sorts. The cheaper versions are made entirely of string netting. The better versions have a chicken wire base. The chicken wire nets are only slightly more expensive but get far less tangles, are a lot easier to use and are more sturdy. Also remember with drop nets to retrieve the rope rapidly. If you go slow the crabs are likely to jump out.
If scooping crabs, try to approach with the scoop from the sides. Crabs will often evade you by swimming either to their left or their right. So pick a side and approach with the scoop from there. If you try to scoop from front to back or from back to front they will get away nine times out of ten.
9) If diving from crabs try to approach from behind. If you can, try to surprise them as if you approach from the front you are sure to get pinched!
Crabbing is a great alternative to fishing and is a lot of fun. Crabs also taste great and can be quite a challenge to catch. So why not use these tips and start catching some crabs today?
James Fletcher is a boating and fishing enthusiast. His website is a great source of boating and fishing knowledge. Find more useful boating and fishing tips at:
http://www.freeboatingtips.com
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