Finally got into the crab again and again 9/3, 9/4, and 9/5

[lokidog]

Damn Ed you do a lot of fine eatn!! I bet the wife does the cookn and you gather up the credit though

Actually, I love to cook, when I have time.  We cook pretty much 50/50.  She's cooking tonight, Papa Murphy's $10 Tuesday since she is in town.     I'll be making a crab Caesar salad to go with it though.

[lokidog]

No $5s this time, but 31 more Thursday to this morning, most over 6 3/4" and 7 legal ones in one trap today.  Finally used up my duck carcasses from last season....   

[lokidog]

And more....

Crabbing is still going strong. Four traps from Thursday noon to Sunday noon, 41 keepers and counting. Yesterday, one trap had 7 legal ones, three being over 7 inches and the other trap pulled had five legal sized ones in it, we didn't even pull the other two. The best part is the total cost of bait was pretty much nothing using last year's duck carcasses and a couple of fish carcasses for bait.

These ten crab were 21 pounds, live weight! 

[Timberstalker]

Wow Ed, you scored!  Helluva haul for sure.

[lokidog]

The final tally for the weekend... 51 with ten more legal ones this evening.

Total bait used: 7 duck carcasses, 2 chicken thighs, a bunch of smelt heads and guts, a Kelp Greenling carcass and two small tail pieces of Lingcod that got forgotten in the fridge last spring (they were frozen until now  ).

Total soak time: a little over four days

[jackmaster]

Nice haul, don't you miss the days when all lots were chucked full on a couple hour soak, I sure do, I hit a couple spots this year and in two seperate days on 6 to 8 hour soaks I got a total of ten keepers.. Kinda frustrating. I think the days of a couple crab limits, clam limits and oyster limits in a days worth of fun work are history..

[Odell]

Nice job! i haven't even been able to get out once. I've got a freezer full of Shad and duck carcasses ready to go...

[jackmaster]

I notice you clean yours first, do you steam them or actually boil them when you clean them first? I have always cooked before cleaning. When you clean before cooking does it m ss up the shoulder meat?

[lokidog]

I notice you clean yours first, do you steam them or actually boil them when you clean them first? I have always cooked before cleaning. When you clean before cooking does it m ss up the shoulder meat?

I used to cook whole but discovered a few things... first, I don't have crab guts to get rid of at home (though the chickens did like to eat some of it), secondly, it takes a lot less time to cook them (7-10 minutes depending on how many I put in and which pot I am using), and finally, the meat lasts longer in the fridge without picking before turning black (I'm the only big crab eater in the family).

I do boil them.  I don't split the "shoulder" like some people do before cooking, it makes it harder to fit more than three or four in a pot, but it doesn't expose as much meat to the water where you might lose some flavor. I don't use saltwater or add anything to the water.  I've tried that but myself, I can't taste a difference in the meat so I just go the easy route.

Nice job! i haven't even been able to get out once. I've got a freezer full of Shad and duck carcasses ready to go...

Bummer.

Two of the crab that I didn't give away, had 9/10 of a pound of meat in them, some of the heaviest I have ever gotten.

Here's to the "winter" season.

[Cap.Silver]

Very nice haul ,I can't even buy a crab here ..... let alone to make crab cakes.

[lokidog]

Thanks Martin.  Sorry to hear that. Wish I could send you some frozen crab, but it might not be too frozen by the time it gets to you.

I got five more a couple of days ago using just some trimmings from cleaning my deer. Live weight was 11.7 pounds, legs and central disc cooked weight was 6.55 pounds (55% of live weight), and the meat total was 3.53 pounds wich was 54% of the cooked weight and 30% of the original live weight.

[Cap.Silver]

Thanks Ed ... Have real bad itch to go  fishing or hunting ,but it looks like this year is out of question - too difficult to get license . Maybe I'll come back later .... 

[lokidog]

Thanks Ed ... Have real bad itch to go  fishing or hunting ,but it looks like this year is out of question - too difficult to get license . Maybe I'll come back later .... 

 

[nwwanderer]

Thanks for the stats, kind of like performance testing hogs and cattle

[lokidog]

Thanks for the stats, kind of like performance testing hogs and cattle

It is interesting. I always laugh at the "sale" price of whole cooked crab in the grocery store, pretty much multiply that by 3 for the price per pound of meat.  Although, i think that cooked whole crab weighs a little less than live whole crab, especially after it has been sitting for a while.