Keeping crab fresh over the weekend

D

DuckDogTitus

New member
Do you guys keep live crabs on ice for a few days safely, or would they die and go bad? I'm wondering if you go on a cruise say Thursday... crab Thurs/Fri/Sat and come home Sunday, how do you keep the crab safe and fresh until you can get them home?

In the past I pretty much always took crab home the day I caught them so it's never been a real consideration for me.
 
DuckDogTitus":22xmak9b said:
Do you guys keep live crabs on ice for a few days safely, or would they die and go bad? I'm wondering if you go on a cruise say Thursday... crab Thurs/Fri/Sat and come home Sunday, how do you keep the crab safe and fresh until you can get them home?

In the past I pretty much always took crab home the day I caught them so it's never been a real consideration for me.
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I always boil them as soon as possible then store them on ice. :thup
Once dead they go bad quick.
 
Pull off carapace, gut, pull off the gills, pull the leg/body sections off, rinse well, store in baggies on ice. Whole crab goes bad in fresh water/ice and when dead, the crab releases chemicals that spoil the meat (same as spot shrimp when the head is left on and the shrimp dies - fresh water is a poison to them also). Lots of You Tube vids to show you how to clean the fast easy way while the crab or shrimp is alive, not whole and worst of all, not boiled first. Some areas require you to keep the heads of shrimp and/or the crabs' top shells to prove count and for crabs, size and count. Call me over to help clean and eat the catch!!!
bob
 
I dislike the taste of crab boiled whole; it's "fishy" to me. I also kind of dislike the idea of boiling anything alive, as unaware as it might be.

I kill crab 1st (sharp blow to point of carapace), then clean, break into halves and boil, then freeze the leftovers. That keeps for a good long time. I'd be nervous trying to store raw crab, but YMMV.
 
bobjarrard":fg85rb61 said:
Pull off carapace, gut, pull off the gills, pull the leg/body sections off, rinse well, store in baggies on ice. Whole crab goes bad in fresh water/ice and when dead, the crab releases chemicals that spoil the meat (same as spot shrimp when the head is left on and the shrimp dies - fresh water is a poison to them also). Lots of You Tube vids to show you how to clean the fast easy way while the crab or shrimp is alive, not whole and worst of all, not boiled first. Some areas require you to keep the heads of shrimp and/or the crabs' top shells to prove count and for crabs, size and count. Call me over to help clean and eat the catch!!!
bob
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ha, good stuff. OK I'll hit the youtube and look at this a little more. I used to have a large propane powered boiler for things like this, but there's no way I'm going to boil anything big enough for crab on the boat so I needed an alternative...
 
You could set up an aeration pump that you get from Cabela's or Bass Pro. Put crab in a cooler with salt water, put in pump and turn on.
It might also help to refresh the water now and then. Shellfish are kept in live tanks and I think that's how they do it.

If you are docked, put the crab in a crab pot with gates zip tied. Let them sit on the bottom and they'll be happy.

Not sure how many crab you can keep in your possession over 2-3 days when you hit the ramp to go home. Maybe if you killed them, gutted, shelled and put on ice before you put boat on trailer. As long as you all have your catch cards filled out correctly, it might not be a problem as long as you kept the carapace to prove legal size.
 
I only know State of Washington rules, and here's how it works here. You can only have 1 daily limit on board, so keeping crab alive beyond one limit is illegal. However, you can have "extra" crab or shrimp on board as long as they are "frozen or processed" (according to the regs pamphlet). When I first ran into this regulation, I had no idea what "processed" meant, so I called a state biologist to find out. He told me that "processed" meant either frozen or cooked.

So it would seem one can keep more than a limit of crab as long as you cook them. I know from experience that cooked and cleaned crab on ice will last a few days.

If you don't want to boil them on board, then you are going to be limited to 1 daily limit no matter how many days you are out there. I will say one thing.....this is probably not the best way to prepare crab, but......I have a medium sized pot and a Coleman single burner 10,000 BTU unit that sits on a 1 pound propane tank for this purpose. I do this in the cockpit. I don't attempt to boil them with lots of sea water, I just put in a couple of inches of water in the bottom. I clean the crab, break them in half, and then place those half crab in the pot (can get 2 or 3 crab - 4 to 6 halves - in the pot depending on size). I more or less steam the crab (rotating them top to bottom a couple times). IMO, works great while on board.

P.S. As Patrick points out you also have to fill out your catch card properly *in real time*, and keep the carapaces of *all* the crab you have caught but have not yet eaten.
 
OK so in regards to Patricks comments:
have you had issues with seals getting into them if you leave them overnight? that seems to happen a lot where we are.

Now, with 5 dungies and 6 red rocks being the limit per person that would put my wife and I potentially at 11 and 12, or 23 crab to take home without going over the legal limit. if we did that on a friday and didn't go home till Sunday... there lies my concern.

Although I've never had an issue in south puget sound with catching more crab than legally allowed unfortunately :shock:


your idea about the 10k BTU burner intrigues me! I just grabbed a Magma 3 for the boat which is a 10,700 grill but I haven't used it yet. I wonder how big a pot of water I could safely boil on there. I'll have to play with that!!
 
In most jurisdictions, you can have "processed" read "clean and frozen" seafood over the daily limit. I would ask. Better yet, eat everything as you go, right on the boat. I would call F&G but not trust the answer if not in writing.
Bob Jarrard
PS: In SE Alaska, I caught and brought home 100 pounds of halibut fillet but only was allowed two per day in possession. I did not push the issue of go out, catch, clean, process (fillet, smoke, can or freeze) the AM catch and then go back out. I could have easily caught 150 pounds that trip but two 50 pound boxes was enough to have schlep from Excursion Inlet, AK (check out this site, great folks and very fair prices): https://docwarners.com/) to Juneau by ferry, then change planes to in Seattle, and finally load and get the boxes home to the new freezer in Las Vegas!!!.
bob
 
bobjarrard":295tekpf said:
In most jurisdictions, you can have "processed" read "clean and frozen" seafood over the daily limit. I would ask. Better yet, eat everything as you go, right on the boat. I would call F&G but not trust the answer if not in writing.
Bob Jarrard
PS: In SE Alaska, I caught and brought home 100 pounds of halibut fillet but only was allowed two per day in possession. I did not push the issue of go out, catch, clean, process (fillet, smoke, can or freeze) the AM catch and then go back out. I could have easily caught 150 pounds that trip but two 50 pound boxes was enough to have schlep from Excursion Inlet, AK (check out this site, great folks and very fair prices): https://docwarners.com/) to Juneau by ferry, then change planes to in Seattle, and finally load and get the boxes home to the new freezer in Las Vegas!!!.
bob
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Doc's looks awesome!!! Sorta similar to when I stayed at Buck Canyon for deer hunting http://buckcanyon.net/
 
We have a very short crab season in Washington Area 7N, so we like to make the most of it. We crab in Birch Bay and anchor for the 4 days per week crabbing is open. We can see our house from where we anchor! We cook our crab whole in the cockpit with a propane stove and big kettle within an hour after catching them, clean and ice down ones we do not eat right away in a cooler until we are able to pick the crab meat, and store the picked crab meat in the cooler until we get home, where the meat are vacuum packed. It does not freeze well, so we try to consume it or give it away within a fairly short period of time.
 
-- Just over $3300 for six nights lodging and five full days (Monday to Friday) fishing from dawn to dark. Mid-summer you can spend over 14 hours on the water. World class Staibcraft totally safe/dry Aussie boats with 90 HP nice motors. This is full package including all transport from Juneau and back, five days use of your own boat (three guys is the best number - more room to fish and no extra cost), all your fuel, license, all meals, nice lodging, all fish prep/bag/freeze/two 50 lb shipping boxes (the good ones), all the fishing gear/bait, rain gear (great drying room - like a barn with max heat), all the coaching you can handle, and other stuff. We had so much fish in the walk-in freezer that we spent most of Friday just cruising around.
-- If the salmon are not biting, get your halibut and rock fish at the right tide and then you have up to ten hours to cruise and sight see. They allow you about 250-300 square miles of water to fish. We ran hard to the best fishing and then camped on the spot that the pre-loaded GPS said was a good spot and quickly filled three limits (six halibut of any size as we are self-guiding - no size limits - no one fish per person). My largest was 98 pounds and my buddy joined the 100 Pound+ club. We were happy with six halibut at 25-30 pounds each man. You get about 40-50 % yield so if you want 300 pounds of fish for three guys, catch two 25 pounders a day a man!!!! I would join a group if you want to go. Alaska Air was only $350 or less round trip from LV/NV a few weeks ago. You go up on Sunday and back on Saturday (Doc and family shop on Sunday and likely go to church). You could go up a few days early and see the Juneau area, you need to follow the fish boxes on the way home although there are places near the airport that will store you frozen fish boxes for a daily fee.
-- It was over 110 when I got home to LV/NV and the fish were fine, Friday's catch is best to the dock early so it can hard freeze, come and in, drop off you limits and go sight seeing the rest of the day or core and fish on Bro! Tight limits on rock fish this year, no Yellow Eye, but you catch them all day if you are not careful. We also caught some cod and a handful of salmon (silvers). I gave mine to another guy, I can buy sockeye local here at home but halibut is as high as $30 a pound so a 100 pounds of halibut fillets paid for my trip. Third box costs $25 for the box and $100 for baggage fee or $2.50 a pound so if you want more fish, the math is right. The two of us ate a lot of fish and it lasted and tasted great for a year+. Out the door with cheap air, the lodge costs, and a good tip for the crew? Under $4,000 and that is a deal for a trip to SE Alaska! Interested or want some info, call me at 714 686-2728 or email me at bobjarrard@gmail.com!
-- Wanna fish at Mead or Mohave? Give me a call, we live eight minutes from the boat ramp, we get you (3 folks plus me) into the Park on our senior pass and I have a nice little tinny with an 8 hp, more than enough boat if the wind is down. You can fish day and night in Nevada and we live in Boulder City - worth the trip alone.
-- Want to being your C-Dory? We get your boat an AIS sticker ($12) and Lake Permit ($50 for a year or $16 a day) before you come, nice room under $100 with breakfast at the local historic inn or even cheaper at my favorite place (El Rancho Boulder) with a pool plus room for your boat/trailer in front of your room. We got "no stinking resort fees in our town"). We can also fish at Willow Beach on the Mohave side of the dam and cruise down river all you want. See ya.
Bob Jarrard
 
Oh man that sounds sooooo good. Being a PNW native my whole life Alaska is admittedly still a bucket list place, but after our dark cold winters it's always so hard for me to leave the beautiful Puget Sound that I've waited all winter to enjoy!
 
We keep the crab on ice alive until time to cook. As long as they are cold they will last 24 hour in the fridge. I big reason they die in a bucket of water is they use all the oxygen. it is better to toss then into the ice chest as you catch them. As far as cleaning we cook on the boat or dock and then pick out all the meat and freeze it in a zip lock. We like to use the crab for crab cakes, salads, soups and tacos all year.
 
we're going to experiment with a pot to see how much weight my magma 3 can hold right now on it's current set up and how long it takes to boil that water ( as well as how far that propane tank will last boiling that much water.

Right now I'm loving the idea of cooking the crab on board, I just really didn't think that would be possible because I always used such large pots for boiling in the past with the big fat bbq sized propane tanks.
 
one thing that helps the boiling of water is wrapping foil around the rim of the bbq so that wind does not pull away the heat. wrap it around to the foil is higher then the bottom of the pot. we cook the crab after halving it. takes up a lot less room. Bay seasoning is great to use.
 
I find I can cook 2 cleaned crabs (4 halves) in 1+ quarts of sea water. I cover the crab halves up to maybe 40% the distance from the bottom of the pot to the top of the pile of crab halves -- probably even less actually. Using a lid is a must. Rotating the crabs in the pot is also a must (I just use tongs to quickly pick the halves out, put them on a large plate or whatever, and then quickly replace them back in the pot in the opposite, or at least different, order.

How long to cook is another variable. At home I always cook whole uncleaned crab in a rolling boil for 18 minutes or so. Cooking cleaned halves with this "steaming method" on board takes much shorter......around 12 minutes. I've never cooked cleaned half crab in a rolling boil at home, but I would guess that would take even less time.
 
.....it is better to toss then into the ice chest as you catch them.
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I agree with Tom on this. I have experimented with keeping crab alive on board. If they are placed in a bucket of sea water they die in 2 to 4 hours depending on temperature (they suffocate when the oxygen is depleted). In a dry bucket with a wet towel over them, they stay alive 8 to 12 hours depending on temp. I've never tried it, but I suspect if you put ice on top of the towel those times could be extended even further.

Another thing is don't put ice directly on cleaned crab. You don't want fresh water draining thru the meat; it leaches out the flavor (sitting in fresh water would be even worse). To maintain flavor put the cleaned crab halves in ziplocks; then under ice.
 
smckean (Tosca)":v5gg9hrf said:
.....it is better to toss then into the ice chest as you catch them.
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I agree with Tom on this. I have experimented with keeping crab alive on board. If they are placed in a bucket of sea water they die in 2 to 4 hours depending on temperature (they suffocate when the oxygen is depleted). In a dry bucket with a wet towel over them, they stay alive 8 to 12 hours depending on temp. I've never tried it, but I suspect if you put ice on top of the towel those times could be extended even further.

Another thing is don't put ice directly on cleaned crab. You don't want fresh water draining thru the meat; it leaches out the flavor (sitting in fresh water would be even worse). To maintain flavor put the cleaned crab halves in ziplocks; then under ice.
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Good stuff! :thup
 
what are you guys using to boil crab on the boat? My magma is not producing anywhere near enough heat to boil water.... I'm going to have to come up with a new solution.
 
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