Archive for August 14, 2009
Trotlines and Dip Nets
Summer in the Outer Banks to me means sun, surf and picking crabs. After doing the beach scene, one of the most popular family activities, is the act of catching your own crab dinner. It combines some skill and a lot of luck. And crabbing just happens to be the easiest seafood to target on the Outer Banks.
The best way to catch crabs is with a trot and bait line and a net. You attach a chicken or fish part to a thin cotton string, find a place adjacent to the water, heave that bait out (don’t forget to hold the string line) and wait for the tug. You grab a hand dip net, retrieve your bait slowly and with some patience and stealth, you are off to a great meal.
The fist mate and I use a more aggressive method – commercial crab pots. For the last three months, we have been setting our pots in the Currituck Sound. The sound is a ten minute boat ride from our house. We have five pots and collected well over three bushels this year.
This week we introduced our son to the art of crabbing using pots. Seems we just gave him another reason to visit. As if he needs another reason to visit paradise.
NCsaltaire 