Tips for Catching Crabs in Florida – From Ocean to Basket to Plate
You can purchase this basket type, string, crab nets from your area dept. stores and they work well. They are easy on the pocket book too. Crab baskets 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. The Jack is easy to catch and you get to fish while crabbing; the best 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. Butterflied out and attached with wire to the bottom of the crab basket, I am armed to catch crabs. You dont need a large armada of baskets to catch crabs. For this outing, Joe and I are using two baskets and two pieces of cut bait.
The air temperature this morning is in the mid 70s. 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, like 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 safe keeping. On the stone claw crab, if the claw is a keeper, twist counter clockwise till 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 over and over again. 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, Joe and I have been out hear about two hours and we are ready to clean the crabs. Todays outing only produced about two dozen sand crabs but what a dinner that will be for Joe and his family.
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. You can just boil them in regular tap water with a little salt or Bay seasoning. My favorite is to purchase crab boil from my local supermarket and just toss the bag in the boiling water. When the crabs or claws turn red or pink they are done. 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.
Nutritional Information Stone Claws: 60 calories, 0 fat, 15 gm protein, 45 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, and 4 gm calcium.
Nutritional Information sand & blue crabs: Calories 80, Calories from fat 10, Total fat 1g, Saturated fat 0g, Cholesterol 55mg, Total carbohydrate 0g, Protein 14g
Bon-Appetite….”Fish On!”
