We Got Crab Legs!

TyBoo · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject: We Got Crab Legs!

I am thinking the Columbia River crabbing is going to be real good this year. I was out the last two weekends for overnight pot soaks. Got 11 legals for 3 pots the first time, and about 30 for 4 pots this weekend (could only keep 12 because the kids bailed on me). The good news is they are firm and full for the most part. This time last year, or even a month later, they were still pretty hollow. They should be real big in another month or so.

I bought myself one more pot (now we have 5) to make the trip down river and back a little more worth the fuel. Since they cut off the salmon season right after I filled the boat tank I should have enough fuel to make crab runs until the first of December (that's when the commercial guys go in and when the ocean is too nasty they plug the river with pots). If I can get both kids to go along we should be able to get three dozen a trip. It's never a problem getting rid of them.

So, I see my dad being real happy when we show up with a cooler full of live crabs and the cooker like we did a couple years back. He went crazy and didn't even want to share (we had 56 crabs) with my sister. He froze 'em and ate most all of them.

rogerbum · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:09 pm Post subject:

Jeez - that's excellent. I might have to run down that way on some weekend or two. My crabbing this summer was very limited and I don't have much in the freezer. I need to put some in the freezer prior to the end of the year so Joyce can make her famous crab dip for the big new year's eve soiree at our place.

I understand they reopened the lower river for chinook recently. Anybody picking any up down there?

TyBoo · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:16 pm Post subject:

Roger - didn't know about the Chinook opening in the lower river. The fish are usually done in the estuary by October though.

Yep - crab looks good as long as the weather gives me a few breaks on weekends. Come on down. Our sport limit is 12 every day year round.

How do you freeze the things? Without some exotic blanch that I have never tried they don't seem to fare too well in the freezer for more than a month or so. I know the so-called fresh crab they sell locally year round has been cooked and then frozen whole anytime you get it when the commercial season is closed. They do something to preserve it before flash freezing. They don't even wrap them (at least they didn't 35 years ago when I worked in a seafood shop). They just pack them by the dozen in a cardboard box.

rogerbum · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:53 pm Post subject:

Captains Cat · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:00 am Post subject:

We have found that with lobster meat, if you freeze it in a milk/water mixture, it does great. Have not tried it with a cleaned lobster (East Coast with claws) but only with the meat...

Charlie

CW · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:02 pm Post subject:

I'm glad to hear the crab sound good, growing, healthy and "full". My buddy who crabs more than I complained about last year's crop being rather whimpy. I hope to go with him some and help him run the pots. The last time I went with him it was nerve wracking. His 22 ft. boat was dwarfed by the swell much larger than his boat. It kept lifting and bouncing the pots along and so we got very few. We lost one pot because it got moved too close to the jetty and we didn't want to get that close to the rocks in those seas.

CW

TyBoo · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 6:12 pm Post subject:

In case you were wondering I am on my way down river to dump the crab pots.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject:

So, what kind of license do we need to crab down in your neck of the woods? Our "season," if you can call it that, at Birch Bay was from the middle of August to Labor Day weekend, Wednesday through Saturday. And that is after the crab population is pretty well decimated by the commercial crabbers and the Native Americans. Our place at the Bay is now called "The Crabless Palace" and we are focusing on clams and oysters. I am drawing the line at renaming the Angler though...

TyBoo · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:07 pm Post subject:

Shellfish license is $6 for anyone. The problem with planning a long tow to here is the weather and wind. You never know. But you can always vsit us!

It's a little windy and bumpy but I anchored for a while to use my fish pole snare and I have my light pot tied off to the boat. The other four I'll leave overnight.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:23 pm Post subject:

Here is what Google gave - annual non-resident shellfish license appears to be $16.50. We pay that much for our annual resident license in Washington. The Oregon season also appears to be open year round, while ours at Birch Bay is barely over two weeks a year. The minimum size in Oregon is 5-3/4", while our minimum size is 6-1/4". What is wrong with this picture?

Shellfish License, Nonresident
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Click here to continue searching within the Oregon Licenses, Permits & Registrations directory.
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Updated: 8/2/2007
Description: All persons 14 years or older must have in their possession a valid Oregon shellfish license to take any shellfish for personal use,
except:
during one "Free Fishing Weekend" in June when licenses or tags are NOT required;
when taking crayfish or freshwater clams;
Oregon resident landowners and members of their immmediate family may take shellfish on land they own or reside on.

Similar Keywords: crabs, crabbing, mollusks, clamming
Statutes, Rules, Ordinances: Chapter 497
Duration: Annual (expires December 31 every year)
Fees - application, exam, etc.: $16.50
Responsible Agency: Fish and Wildlife, Department of
Application Form: Angling Mail Order Application
Service Links: [Current OregonSport Fishing Regulations] Current OregonSport Fishing Regulations
[Application] Application
contact Agency Contact Information
Additional Information: Licenses for the new year will be available starting December 1. Current Regulation books will be available at all license agents and on the ODFW Web Site on or about the same date.

TyBoo · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:33 pm Post subject:

Sorry didn't know about non res cost. I'll splt the 10.50 with you if you come down.

Too windy for me. Heading in. Got just one female with the snare.

CW · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject:

I just checked, the Columbia River minimum is 5 3/4". The limit is 12 male Dungeness Crab per person per day, not 6 as it is elsewhere in the state. It is open year-round. C.W.

Alyssa Jean · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject:

Tyboo said...Too windy for me. Heading in. Got just one female with the snare.

I got one female in a snare about 29 years ago. She was in such prime condition I married her. Still married to her, and I KNOW we are both still prime.

And from all the crab you are getting down there, now I know where all ours have been heading. Also what Pat said.

Captains Cat · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:01 am Post subject:

Capn Jack · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:00 pm Post subject: Freezing Crab

First, we pull the backs off, break them in half and clean off the goop. Crook

Next the halves are steamed for 20 min. in sea water with a sprinkling of "Old Bay", then they're cooled in sea water. Once they're cool, I do the cracking (using channel loc plyers) and Pat does the picking, (over old newspapers) with her favorite tool, an "Orange Stick". The meat is then lightly drained on paper towels, I fire up the Honda, we vacuum bag the meat, then into the freezer. We had to finish off the end of last years catch this August before we could start on the new. Wink

I've even learned how to make Crab Wontons. Wink

Mmmmm....Good Stuff... CoolSmile

Jack