Janet Wilder wrote:
> George Shirley wrote:
>> Janet Wilder wrote:
>
>>> My friend with the boat is here but I haven't had time to go out with
>>> him. I also need to get my fishing license. The stores have been so
>>> crowded. I'll get it next week and see if I can go with my friend.
>>> Here's a photo of a catch last winter
>>>
>>> http://i39.tinypic.com/2e0irzl.jpg
>> Ahh! Best crabs in the world, Atlantic blue crab. DW is from Maryland,
>> raised on the shores of the Patuxent River about a mile from
>> Chesapeake Bay. We courted along Nat's Creek and the Patuxent while
>> poling her Dad's boat and catching crabs along the bank. We always
>> steam them in a pot above water with Old Bay in it and then she picks
>> them out, so fast I can't do it nearly as well and I was raised close
>> enough to the Gulf to spit in it.
>
> The blues in the photo were caught near the Brownsville ship channel out
> on the flats. There is a small estuary there and a county boat ramp.
> It's off TX 48.
>
> I steam our crabs the same way.
>>
>> She always rests her crab cakes at least overnight before finishing
>> them off and they're at least 98% crab meat too.
>>
>> When our kids were young, we spent a lot of days around Bridge City,
>> TX and the big bridge there crabbing. I had made my own nets, about
>> two feet across, with a heavy wire lip and a harness above leading to
>> a float. Used a long cane pole with a hook on the end to lift them and
>> baited them with beef bones, much better than chicken necks. Only
>> problem was keeping the gators away from the nets. Not unusual to
>> bring home a bushel of large crabs. Damn! I sure miss those days.
>
> My friend, a retired Coastie, makes his own traps from coated chicken
> wire. We bait them with chicken legs and drop 6 or so traps on the way
> out to where we anchor. Then we jig with chicken legs for a few hours.
> Catch a bunch (we always measure them for "legal" and throw back the
> mommas)then on the way back we pick up the traps.
Most of the crab traps around this part of Louisiana are baited with
fish parts, generally heads, if available. Used to visit my sister's
boathouse* on Bolivar Peninsula and she always had a couple of crab
traps set out so we could have a feed. *Actually a living place attached
to a house for the big boat, was very nice as you could step out the
back door and fish in a canal off of the Intracoastal Canal.
>
> The place where we anchor is really quite with an ancient oyster bed and
> lots of birds. There is almost always a family of roseate spoonbills on
> the bank. It's really peaceful and lovely there.

We get lots of roseate spoonbills around here too Janet. Watched a
flight of them earlier in the fall flying over about sunset. By the time
I found the camera they were gone. Beautiful sight. Cajuns used to eat
them on a regular basis until the Feds stopped it many years ago. My Dad
had an oyster lease in Galveston Bay when I was small. We used to go out
and rake the oysters for sale and home use and take a bottle of hot
sauce with us. Open a few dozen fresh oysters and put a little sauce on
them and chew them up. Those were some happy days on the water.