[ad_1]
It’s easy to learn how to go crabbing, and to introduce crabbing to your kids.
- First, make sure you know your areas crabbing regulations, which species you are allowed to take, and what the catch limits are. You’ll also need valid fishing licenses for adults and older kids.
- Your state’s regulations will specify what type equipment is legal – whether crab traps, seines, lift rings, cast nets, or hand lines. Or a combination of techniques. You can usually get this information form your state game and fish department.
- One of the easiest ways for kids to learn how to go crabbing is by using a lift ring. It’s basically a woven nylon net attached to 2 different size rings, with a rope for lowering it into the water. Bait the net, lower it into the water, have a little patience – supper on the table!
- For really small kids, make hand lines. It’s like an old-timey fishing pole. Scavenge up a 4′ long stick, tie a 4′ long rope to it. Tie a chicken neck to the other end of the rope and lower into the water. A crab will grab the chicken neck and hold on. Just gently pull him up and out. Use a pole net to harvest him.
- Take a good lawn or camp chair with you, a book for you, a fun game for the kids, and a small cooler to put your catch in, in case the crabs aren’t hungry and the action is thin.
- Use the right baits. Crabs like squid pieces, or fish. Chicken is also in their diet. Buy and cut up the cheap pieces – backs, wings, necks and the like. Slightly “off” bait will work wonders – crabs locate their food by smell.
- Harvest your crabs from coastal creeks and rivers, or just off shore in bay areas or off the beach. A lift ring is perfect for learning how to go crabbing off a creek bank, or a pier.
- Best times to catch crab are a warm summer morning with a storm coming and on a slack tide.
- Teaching kids how to go crabbing is easy. The tough part is the cooking. Steaming is a good way to cook crabs. You’ll need a big pot with a lid and a steaming insert. Steamed crabs are done when they turn red (about 20 minutes).
- Eating crabs is messy and fun. You’ll have to break open the legs, so have a mallet, hammer or claw tool available. You can eat the meat from the legs or the body cavity, but be sure to dispose of the organs.
With a little forethought, teaching kids how to go crabbing is easy. From buying the bait, to making or purchasing the equipment, to baiting theirr trap of choice, to hauling in that first crabby critter, to cooking and (yum!) eating their catch, kids will have a great time – and generate fond memories for years to come about the time Dad and Mom taught them how to go crabbing.
(c) 2010 Richard S. Freeland
[ad_2]
Source by Rick Freeland
