Maryland Groceries

[Johnsfolly]

We haven't been catching any food worthy fish and hunting season begins in Sept. So we upped my Betterhalf's game in regards to crabbing here in Maryland. We have been researching areas to try and catch a few. We do not need bushels of crabs only half dozen to a dozen crabs for a meal. So with a couple of new crab traps and razor clams and chicken necks as bait we headed to Slaughter creek and chased the high tide. I also picked up a dozen bloodworms just in case we could get into some fish as well.

There were folks on the bridge with many lines going over the side and traps in the water below. We got the traps baited and ready. Found a spot on the bridge and got the traps soaking. Tide was falling. Livie and I had our bridge/pier fishing gear with a size 10 hook and a half oz sinker. Baited with the bloodworms and cast under the bridge. Started getting bites right off. Several spot came up over the railing. We kept a half dozen for bait and released the others. All the while my Betterhalf would pull her traps about every ten mins or so. At first they came up empty. Then her first crab, a small male. Back into the river.

Folks all around us were catching a bunch. So we still had confidence. It took a bit but finally she caught her first legal crab!

Livie and I didn't need the traps to get our own crabs, all undersize though.

After a couple of hours in the sun we had only two legal crabs, we were checked by the MD agents. No issues with our licenses or the animals that we had in our cooler. The couple up from us did not get off so easy. They had many undersize male and females which can not be kept. They got cited and maybe worse. I ended up with 15 fish total, one white perch and the rest were spot. Livie caught eight spot. All in all we had fun and have a location with accessible crabs. We will be back.

As for the crabs check out the What's Cooking thread!

 

[Mitch f]

John, I have been to Pax River Naval Air Station in the past. We were scanning Fighter Aircraft. We would go to Solomon’s Island and walk around and enjoy fantastic seafood. 

As we walked we went by a bunch of people catching crabs 🦀. I watched for quite a while. I did noticed they were very accurate about measuring and not getting caught with an undersized crab. I wish the folks in Missouri were more like this. I hope your crabs taste good! Thanks for a great report!

Side note: Solomons Island bridge was notorious for having a sobriety check point on the way out. Of course I had nothing to worry about! 😂

[Johnsfolly]

Thanks Mitch! Great seafood on both sides of the bay. We looked at Solomon's Island to go crabbing. It was identified as a top 10 crabbing spot in MD. Big issue was the time to get to that area. It's about 2 and half hours from our house. Also meant dealing with traffic on the Bay bridge which in the summer can be brutally slow. Probably would have to be a weekday trip if I can get a day off.

Slaughter creek is south of us and also made the top 10 list. Seemed a good choice. We think that finding an early morning high tide and a few more traps would get us a full meals worth in a few hours.

[JestersHK]

Nice buddy!  Bet those other folks were crabby after getting tickets.  Looks like you and the girls had a great time.

[Quillback]

That is neat, used to catch Dungeness crabs in Puget Sound - drop a couple of pots on the way out to go fishing, pick them back up on the way back to the ramp.  Usually would get anywhere from 4 -6 keepers and maybe a bonus red rock crab or two.  

I found that fish heads/trimmings, basically the leftovers from filleting a salmon, worked a lot better for bait than chicken parts.  I had a couple of little bait cages that I'd put the fish parts in that were tie wrapped to the bottom of the inside of the trap, that kept them from eating all the fish parts, well kept them from quickly eating them.  

[Johnsfolly]

So far the heavy mesh bags we are using have been effective with keeping the bait. Will have to try some fish. Only have been keeping spot lately. We'll keep posting on what's working for us.

[Quillback]

3 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

So far the heavy mesh bags we are using have been effective with keeping the bait. Will have to try some fish. Only have been keeping spot lately. We'll keep posting on what's working for us.

I bet mackerel would work really well.  

[Johnsfolly]

We're too far south for mackerel. Do have bunker and alewives which would work. A bit more expensive than chicken necks😢.

[Quillback]

28 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

We're too far south for mackerel. Do have bunker and alewives which would work. A bit more expensive than chicken necks😢.

Carp chunks?  

[ness]

2 hours ago, Quillback said:

Carp chunks?  

Please don't