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Actually....its sort of like fishing....but without a hook.
See, blue crabs (which are the good ones) live in the bay, and they feed in the sea grass beds and otherwise wander around the bottom of the bay scavenging. So...unless you are crabbing with crab pots, you don't need a license (an if you own shoreline property, you don't need one for up to two pots on your own property), which is awesome. Instead, you use a technique called "chicken necking" (because chicken necks are a common bait), where you attach some rather thin line (rope for non-sailors) to the bait, which needs to be sizable, and plunk it into the water, wait for a crab to show up and then pull it up verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry carefully until you can catch it in a net. Or you can use a type of crab trap called a ring net which sits flat on the bottom with the bait attached and closes with a ring when you pull it up.
Sophie and I learned all about it at the Great Bridge park last week from some very boisterous and lovely grandma-types last weekend...and then I went home and checked the restrictions on Google. The park is a popular spot because its situated all along the canal, and most people take food home--fishing is popular there too, mainly for catfish.
Sorry, couldn't resist. My Grandad used to catch and sell crabs though. Crab sandwiches <3
"The Germans do not think it in keeping with the divine majesty to confine gods within walls or to portray them in the likeness of any human countenance. Their holy places are woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to that hidden presence which is seen only by the eye of reverence." (Tacitus, `Germania', 9)
Legally, size---5 inches for a male or immature female, no size limit for mature females and 3 1/2-3 1/4 inches for peeler crabs (in the molting stage with a soft shell), depending on the date and location. Personally...also gender. We only keep males...one male can mate with multiple females, and there are always males around (partially because the females are a hot commodity)... Because female blue crabs only mate once, but spawn multiple times, we don't keep any females (even though they supposedly taste better), and we don't catch peelers (they take a different technique anyhow), which are usually maturing females ready to mate.
Legally, size---5 inches for a male or immature female, no size limit for mature females and 3 1/2-3 1/4 inches for peeler crabs (in the molting stage with a soft shell), depending on the date and location. Personally...also gender. We only keep males...one male can mate with multiple females, and there are always males around (partially because the females are a hot commodity)... Because female blue crabs only mate once, but spawn multiple times, we don't keep any females (even though they supposedly taste better), and we don't catch peelers (they take a different technique anyhow), which are usually maturing females ready to mate.
Interesting...I didn't know they changed when they were ready to mate!
Interesting...I didn't know they changed when they were ready to mate!
Yup, an immature female has a triangular apron, which is fused shut. When she molts, her apron takes on a bell shape (I generally describe it as looking like the dome of the capitol building), which is able to open to lay eggs. (pics @ the bottom of the page) Blue crabs molt around 20 times (a few less for females and a few more for males) after their larval stage, but since they only mate when the female has just molted (at that "puberty" molt) and is in the soft shell stage (and then the female never mates again, but will spawn multiple times after that single mating) I think it is more ethical to *not* keep females. There is a huge recreational and commercial demand on blue crab--crabbing cuts the crab lifespan by 2/3 from ~3 years to just 1...and females are the most desirable catch (think she-crab soup).
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