Stone Crab!

 Coming in hot!  

After a 10 day soak we pulled up our traps for the first time and were delighted with a haul of 7!  7 beauties - nice size - it has to be said.  We are well on our way to some very good dinners if things continue this way.

We put them back down in a very similar spot - we like the depth they are out.  With the bait of the big old gross pigs trotters.  And for the first time ever we zip tied the traps closed: this won't prevent them being pirated but at least we will know.... We did suspect last year, on rare occasions, had our traps been raided and crabs taken?

Final crabs of the season??

 There is a change in crabbing and I guess it is a sign that the season is coming to an end.  While the quantity of crabs are there (in the trap) they are all very small so on each trip out now we are getting just one or two claws of legal size.  The halycyon days of 32 big claws and a party for 8 people seem very distant now!  

But! We still managed to have a little small gathering with our "across the street" neighbours yesterday. We had 9 claws which meant three each as F preferred not to eat and stuck to meat and cheese.

Oh! And devilled eggs.  Which reminds me, look at this double yolk egg I got yesterday.  Apparently it means an older hen (like humans: the chances of twins going up when a woman is older).

First time I've ever seen one of these!

After all those yummy claws we had a dessert of key lime pie and then a dip in the pool - fun and chats for the evening. A fabulous evening as always with a lovely couple.

I shall keep you updated on whether this is the end of season or not. We are hoping for one more meal of just ourselves and go out with a bang! Maybe a bottle of prosecco thrown in too for good measure ;)

Crab trapping - the best day yet!

 

Look at this!!

Just imagine, with the weather the way it is at the moment (windy!), we weren't even sure if we would get out on the water.  Well we did! And in the first trap we pulled up we get two monster crabs and get two of these monster claws off of them.  And this haul could have been doubled!! Technically (legally) you are allowed take the two claws, but morally we always just take one.

We ate crab claws last night and we have the makings of a fabulous Valentine's celebration dinner waiting in the freezer.  Sure feels decadent I tell you, nothing like that sweet crab claw meat.

Crab traps are in the water!!

Following on from my last post about the crab traps, I can now confirm we have five in the water!  

It was not without a lot of effort to get them to this point.  Assembling the traps together, was nothing compared to making the concrete bases for them.  You can kind of see the concrete in this photo?  Fair play to Garret and Patrick getting this done while Katrina and I were at work!

Then, they brought these, now very HEAVY, traps out to the mooring spot via jeep and out little 12 ft Carolina skiff.  They were dropped down with rope and a buoy for identification attached.  I etched our licence number into the buoys and spray painted them (again for easy identification). Oh! And not forgetting the bait of pigs feet and hot dogs.  Crabs like pork apparently??

By law the traps must now stay down for two weeks before you can pull them up and check them.  Hopefully there will be some crabs in there at this point - and you can remove one claw and throw the crab back in the ocean.  The crab will regrow it's claw.  How crazy is that???! You must however leave one claw on it - even thought it would regenerate the two in time - it needs one for protection and survival in the ocean.

Yard chores and crab traps. Life is good!

Fall has arrived, and with it Stone Crab Season!  We have had the crab traps stored in our shed for a while now so we decided we needed to get on to things - and get the traps made up this weekend and then hopefully get them in the water next weekend coming.

            I think we all know how happy power tools make me!

How about that?! We are all set! I will update you once we have laid them next week.  

The plan is that with our fellow crab hunters, our friends Garrett and Katrina, we hope to catch enough over a month or so to have a big stone crab dinner for the four of us.  Each one of us will make a key lime mustard and we will eat the crabs and vote on whose mustard is best.  How much fun does that sound?!

We also borrowed a power washer from Garrett and cleaned the front and back of our garden.  And the 1953 clamshell storm shutters/window awnings. Hard work! But worth it.  Apparently you should do a power washing of your home once a year or so - we are going to buy our own power washer soon.

Ps.  29 days to the election here in the USA.  Right now the big story is about a man who has Covid 19 and who may or may not be a super spreader.  That's all I have to say on that matter, friends.  Good night, wear your mask, wash your hands, social distance, stay safe!