We Got Crab Legs!

TyBoo

TyBoo

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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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
TyBoo":fdjkvivs said:
Roger - didn't know about the Chinook opening in the lower river. The fish are usually done in the estuary by October though.
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The chinook opening started yesterday (Sat. 9/20).
From the WDFW release - "Starting Saturday (Sept. 20), Columbia River anglers will again be allowed to retain chinook salmon they catch on a large section of the river below Bonneville Dam. Encouraged by a new estimate of returning upriver bright chinook, fishery managers from Washington and Oregon agreed to reopen most of the area that closed to chinook retention earlier this week.

Under that agreement, anglers will be allowed to catch and keep an adult chinook salmon as part of their daily catch limit from the lower end of Bachelor Island, near the mouth of the Lewis River, upriver to Bonneville Dam.

The chinook fishery in that area will remain open until further notice, said Cindy LeFleur, Columbia River policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

TyBoo":fdjkvivs said:
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.
Click to expand...

Here's what I do to freeze my crabs - first I steam them just like I would to consume them. For me, this means placing them in a spaghetti pot with the colander in place or in a pot with a screen on the bottom. I put a little water in the bottom (no so much that it touches the crab) and toss them in whole. Steam for 20 mins or so. Then, I pop off the back, clean the "gills" and liver out, break out the mandibles etc. I rinse the thing in cold water, break it in half and freeze it still in the shell. I just toss 'em in a ziploc freezer bag. The shell on seems to do a pretty good job of keeping them from getting freezer burnt.

When I want to eat some, I re-steam it. The nice thing about freezing them with the shell on is that the expansion/contraction of the freeze/thaw cycle helps to release the meat from the shell and makes it easier to get the meat out. I've kept crab this way for 3-5 months and it's still OK.
 
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
 
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
 
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":1u0njctd said:
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.
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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.
 
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
Not the license you were searching for?
Click here to continue searching within the Oregon Licenses, Permits & Registrations directory.
How useful was this web page?

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Anna Leigh":36s9heaf said:
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.
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OK David, whatta you gonna do with TWO females now? :shock:

Charlie
 
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... :smiled Jack
 
I emailed this inquiry to the WDFW, we'll see if they reply, if so, I will post the answer. Theoretically, if I go out of Blaine, just cross the international boundary and don't land or have contact with another boat, no customs is involved, correct?



May a person crab in Canadian waters under Canadian rules and land in Washington waters? I am specifically interested in launching in Blaine, crabbing in Boundary Bay on the Canadian side (with a Canadian license, following Canadian catch rules) and then retrieving in Blaine.

Thanks.

Pat Anderson
 
Pat, I looked that up once...It's buried deep in the regs. :smilep As I remember: You have to clear Canadian Customs before you fish, cannot exceed US catch limits and cannot fish in the US while you have the Canadian catch onboard. It's all based on not allowing you to have in possession limits from both countries, or to mix the catch. :smiled Jack
 
Pat Anderson":34dltj3s said:
I emailed this inquiry to the WDFW, we'll see if they reply, if so, I will post the answer.
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Dude...you're a lawyer. Read the law yourself. :mrgreen:

As this layman reads it, with crabbing, you're in the clear as long as you meet Canadian regulations. And, there's no need to deal with customs on either side.

The only exceptions listed at the link above, are for rockfish, halibut and salmon. The only mention of customs, pertains to salmon.
 
Bill,
Even though the reg. only talks about fish, (correct me if I'm wrong), the title of the reg makes it all encompassing. We'll see if Pat can get some "Official Clarification" (Oxy-moron):smiled Jack
 
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