Crabbers in the Mid-morning

Crabbers aboard the boat Coriel busy themselves emptying pots in the mid-morning sunshine complete with a stiff southeast wind. A roofline in the Currituck Heritage Park across the sound shines in the sunlight.  I had not noticed the shine off the roof before now.  I thought it may be the Wildlife Center, but perhaps it is a large tent.

I visited the Wildlife Center recently; it is a very small but interesting museum with a concentration on the waterfowl hunting history of the area.  It is celebratory in the presentation with a nod at the the last exhibit to the fact that waterfowl numbers are gone from the big days of market hunting.  The birds are at trickle level today compared to the heydays.

Let's call it a season

Another unusually warm winter day and these crabbers took advantage to collect their remaining pots. Not sure they were catching anything they wanted, and the pots did need to come out of the water. A perfect (and last minute!) day to do this. Tomorrow's weather predictions foretell the beginning of our winter. It can be brutal. But today the sun was with us.

Updated: The crew is from CarolinaBlueCrab.com and the sturdy retriever aboard is named Fudge!

Crabbers working Pots

Crabbers spend the morning last week checking pots (cube shaped wire traps) for blue crabs. Monkey Island sits in the background, left; it looks bare but it is a rookery full of egret and heron nests right now.
We have our own crab pots and harvested enough for a fine lunch of steamed crabs today. First of the season! I picked out the crabmeat from the leftover steamed crabs and our fine lunch was matched with a dinner of crab cakes with a side of stir fried Sugar Ann peas fresh from the garden.
It's good eating, whether you buy it or work for it yourself.

Early bird ...

... gets the crabs? An early crabber was out setting pots last weekend in the bit of warm-up that we had. There is a man amongst that pile of pots, you will have to look close. Not sure how his pots have faired with the terrible winds of the past two days.

Crab pots

It's hard to see the watermen for the crab pots piled on high.

The Tagged Crab

A couple weeks ago we picked up this female crab in one of our pots, obviously recruited for a study of blue crab movement. We sent in our information to the collector in KDH and hope to hear back about her release point and the study itself. We clipped her tag and set her free, as we do with most of the females we catch ... doing our little part in trying to keep the numbers up.

Summer Dining

Old Bay, salt, vinegar and Jimmies equals one fine lunch. The leftovers make one fine crab cake dinner. And we can get fancy with crab stuffed flounder ... summer dining at it's best, all fresh from the Currituck Sound!

Good Crabbing Weather

It's a cloudy morning, plenty of rain last night. This gives the crabbers a break from the sharp morning sun. I love the sleek lines of the work boat I spotted across the sound. And many more will love the sweet steamed crabs on their tables tonight.