First Rock Crab

[WAcoueshunter]

I threw a Red Rock in the live well yesterday and it immediately ripped the pincher off a dungeness. They are mean little buggers!

Exact same thing happened to me yesterday.

I haven't kept rock crab in several years, but we caught a couple giants yesterday so I thought what the heck.  But then I ate some last night and was reminded why I don't like them.  Taste is good, but they are a pain in the rear to clean/eat because the shell is super hard and it breaks into little pieces when you crack it.  You can clean nearly all of a dungie without crab crackers.

[DoubleJ]

I don't think rock crab has much for flavor, they're kind of bland to me

Exact opposite for me and most I talk to.  Red Rocks seem to have a more concentrated crab flavor.  Dungies have WAY more meat but the crab flavor is stronger with rocks, IMO

[Colin]

Caught this guy today in a pot full of Dungeness crabs.  I was surprised at the aggressive attitude this crab had compared to the others and the reach on the pinchers   We also caught a few dog fish, and going to try them out tomorrow for dinner, and the inedible parts for crab bait.

I've always heard and thought myself that Rock Crabs are a little sweeter tasting than Dungies. I prefer the Dungies by far simply BC they are so easy to eat.

Seth- How are you cooking the Dog Fish? I read an article a month ago that they get used in England for their fish and chips? Did you gill it right away? Heard they build up an ammonia taste if you done kill'em right?

[Becky]

I prefer them to dungies but there just isn't the body meat dungies have.  And yes, they are mean, aggressive sob's

  love me some red rocks. Much sweeter crabby tasting meat in my opinion, just wish there were more to eat off them.. and sometimes I don't want to fight with my food! Them critters are hard as rocks to crack. 

[DoubleJ]

Protip: a nice pair of 8" channel locks is a persons best friend when wrestling with red rocks.  Forget those crab crackers.  Eat enough red rocks, and I have, you learn how to get just enough of the meaty part of your hand between the plier handles to kind of act like a brake so that you don't shatter the shell, just crack it enough to get at the meat.  Still looking for an effective way to clean out the bodies though.  Those are frustrating

[lokidog]

Caught this guy today in a pot full of Dungeness crabs.  I was surprised at the aggressive attitude this crab had compared to the others and the reach on the pinchers   We also caught a few dog fish, and going to try them out tomorrow for dinner, and the inedible parts for crab bait.

I've always heard and thought myself that Rock Crabs are a little sweeter tasting than Dungies. I prefer the Dungies by far simply BC they are so easy to eat.

Seth- How are you cooking the Dog Fish? I read an article a month ago that they get used in England for their fish and chips? Did you gill it right away? Heard they build up an ammonia taste if you done kill'em right?

My thoughts as well, much sweeter, just wish there was more meat in the body.  On the dogfish, bleed, chill, filet, remove the red "blood" meat on the sides, dip in egg and breading and deep fry -- yummy.  Still hoping to get enough to serve at the BBQ at Fishstiq's place.

[j_h_nimrod]

As far as I know that picture is a dungie. Rock crab do not look even similar.

Might want to study up on your crab ID. Just a little something for some of you eastsiders to help with the crab ID is, the Red Rock are similar to the crabs in the outhouse, while the Dungeness are like something one might pick up on a payday weekend    .

Hunterman(Tony)

My bad!  Picture was deceiving on my little phone screen, it looked larger and darker.  I know quite well the difference between the two, I wore out more than on pot in SE Alaska.  We always called those red crab or red rock crab and I never found them large enough or numerous enough to bother to try eating one, plus dungies were plentiful. We called box crabs by the name rock crab so I automatically associated that to the picture which looks nothing like a box crab.

Here is a picture of what we always called a rock crab (really a box crab or Puget Sound king crab) and they are excellent eating.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/photos/Crabs/lophoforamdors.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/race/media/photo_gallery/invert_files/Brown_box_crab.htm&h=645&w=820&tbnid=AWipjMZlc6IcIM:&zoom=1&docid=KE5y28irHaOOnM&hl=en&ei=8Y27U9jdKojyoATkpoHoAQ&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CCsQMygGMAY

[huntingaddiction]

They are mean and extremely fast on land!

[elkoholic1]

but o so tasty!!!