Ever been crabbing?
It is an activity requiring patience, minimal skill, but
the fortitude to face your prey prior to the kill.
My first crabbing experience was when I was eight years
old. My family discovered Crystal Beach during a summer
vacation to Galveston in 1968 when bored someone
suggested we take a ferry boat ride to Bolivar
Peninsula. My parents fell instantly in love. Having
seven children and a desire to afford an inexpensive way
to manage a yearly family vacation, they discovered
Crystal Beach, they never looked back.
We rented a beach front house in Emerald Beach #1 fondly
called Bedlam for the month of June. It was a large, one
room home with no air-conditioning that rented for $300
a month. Mom and her sister would occupy the house,
along with the children during the week, and the dads
would come down on weekends. It was during this summer
vacation I was first exposed to crabbing.
Being the youngest of seven, I had much to prove to
compete with the elder siblings and cousins. I did not
know I would become an expert crabber, but the fact I
enjoyed eating crab for breakfast after they were served
as the prior evenings meal propelled me to become a
proficient crabber.
The items needed are minimal. Thin rope, a small weight,
a net, chicken necks and an ice crest for the catch are
all that are needed. The technique is quite simple once
the prime location has been secured. First, cut a piece
of thin rope around 10 feet long. Tie the appetizing
chicken neck, along with a small weight to the bottom of
the rope. Toss the line into the water and wait. Crabs
will be attracted to the free meal and will begin to
nibble on the meat. Inexperienced crabbers may confuse
the weight as being a crab, but it is the continuous
little tugs that are the clue a crab has begun to feast.
Here is where the skill and patience comes in. Once you
feel the tug on the line from the crab enjoying his
meal, you must ever so slightly raise the line to the
surface. If you are patient and bring the line up
slowly, the crab will succumb to his hunger and continue
to eat his meal. Once the eyes of the prey are seen a
member of the party on stand-by with the net should be
ready to swoop down for the kill. If proficient in the
attempt it will be a score…people 1-crab 0. And, the
exercise is repeated until the masses can be feed.
Katie Osten Wiseman
Crabbing spots
open to the public
1. Horseshoe
Lake off Frenchtown Road
2. Horseshoe Lake at Loop 108 (7th Street) bridge
3. North Jetty, at the end of 17th Street
|
