Pulling Miles of Line (3/11)

[Latimeria]

I spent all morning installing a new breaker and running wire from one end of the house to the other.  I finally got my attic fan installed as well as an outlet, light, and dropped down a wire for light switches in the hall.  I was tired, and then had to start packing for a lobster trip, which included chopping all the bait from the blocks of partially frozen fish.

Typical riff-raff was down at the ramp trying to bum a ride and/or free snacks.



It was a heavy mist to light rain all night and dead as a doornail out there.  In 8 hours of hooping and pulling lines at all different depths and spots, we only mustered:

2 rock crab...



6 lobster and only 1 being a keeper (Not this one pictured as he immediately went back)



and 2 spider crabs (In which this one was 3 feet across!)



We only managed about a dozen swimmer crabs, and 2 sand dollars also.  It was as slow as I've ever seen out there.

I kept the big spider since it was clean with no growth on it.  I just wanted to see if it tasted any better since the last time I had one was over 15 years ago and I heard the bigger ones tasted much better.  With no lobster for me, I made sure I was taking something home to eat!

I figured I could keep the shell for the "museum" and see what I had with this crab.

Much bigger than the last crab I caught.



Claws looked like they would cook up good.



Looked great after steaming!



Full load of legs



So, I only tried one leg and it was like breaking open a PVC pipe!  The meat was good, but a little gamey for my liking.  It definitely was better than the last one I had as I took much better care prepping this one and I always heard the bigger ones were better.  I'll try the claws later today to see if they are any better, but my overall satisfaction is a score 5 out of 10.  That means I'll eat it in a pinch, but not something I'll be harvesting again unless needed.

Long day and I'm sore as hell.  Time to start getting myself in some better shape before the BFT trips start rolling in!

Thanks for reading!

[Tim524]

I'm sure pulling up traps all night is rough on the lower back. Btw, who's boat were you on ?

[KogaHead]

So you have crabs, interesting . . .

[jrodda]

Gamey bug? Mmm no thanks. Looks nice steamed though.

[Latimeria]

Gamey bug? Mmm no thanks. Looks nice steamed though.

I wasn't a fan of the legs, but I'm going to try the claws today just in case they are any better.  I'll let you know, but suspect there is no difference.

[Latimeria]

So you have crabs, interesting . . .

Big ugly ones that kind of have your profile in a weird sort of way.