Catching Spider Crabs

[ickledevil]

Secrets for lobsters... mmmm now thats expensive information.. I go with the find a likely area and search search search.. small torch is handy and leanting to spot antennae (sp?) is an art form.
Joe

 

[johnnybuoy]

ah........just as i suspected:mute. you are wise my son.......my torch and I shall be going for a little trip to the seaside.:friday

 

[Spaniard]

nice one pav, they congregate in huge numbers to the right of the reef near bridport in dorset it seems bi annually dont ask me why bud ask neptune,but there some beauties there, scare the crap out of my kids when i bring them onto the beach i love it ,my dog used to like them too but a vet bill put paid to that,anyway bud stay in touch maybe we could hook up sometime so i can prove it to you

The early season congregations are mating groups, not sure if it is twice a year. I have witnessed this at Newhaven, hundreds of Spider crabs together - truly amazing spectacle!

 

[podge]

You’re right mate me and Jim bumped into a heap of spiders last year and there was a lot of love in that mass. Bit to pinchy for my taste though I prefer more of a one on one thing, or maybe two on one if she’s got a sister..roflroflrofl

 

[Spaniard]

You’re right mate me and Jim bumped into a heap of spiders last year and there was a lot of love in that mass. Bit to pinchy for my taste though I prefer more of a one on one thing, or maybe two on one if she’s got a sister..roflroflrofl

roflroflrofl You'd better get a quick release opening for your wetsuit in case you're in the mood next time...rofl

 

[podge]

roflroflrofl You'd better get a quick release opening for your wetsuit in case you're in the mood next time...rofl

What around Portland you’re having a laugh mate, the water is colder than this bottle of Pinot Grigio I’m drinking:fridayroflrofl

 

[Spaniard]

Don't worry, spider crabs aren't hung like donkeys anyway....roflrofl Ooops hijacking threads again whilst on the pop.

 

[podge]

Don't worry, spider crabs aren't hung like donkeys anyway....roflrofl Ooops hijacking threads again whilst on the pop.

GOOD MAN :friday:friday:friday

 

[Mr. X]

...only get one or two in every 10 pots. any secrets or would you have to kill me??rofl

Mine was caught in a cheap collapsible pot which I placed on the way out spearing & picked up on the return. My catch rate is about the same as yours. Don't know if it helped but I placed my bait (the skeleton of a filleted fish, wrasse I think, and a mackeral or mullet fish head) in a special bright orange plastic crab pot bait holder this time, for the first time. I found a couple of the bait holders washed up on shore some time ago. There was a feisty red-eyed crab in the pot too -- aggressive little b*gger, when I released it, it ran back into shore to attack my feet.

I suspect leaving the pot out overnight would increase yields considerably but I rarely get the opportunity. I think the pros have already vacuumed up many of the crabs & lobsters from the reefs, judging by recent activity.

 

[SurfnSpear]

This week on a secret offshore reef in about 8-10m of water I was hilariously having to move spider crabs to get a hand hold on the mussel covered outcrop and lie on top of the rest that would not move. I was chuckling how amazing it was as they literally were carpeting the reef. The nads were fine and it reminded me of the Gordon Ramsay king crab collecting below the ice.rofl

 

[felipe felop]

mid june in 2006 was the last the last time they all did the wife swap thing,down at burton bradstock, what a site to behold i did wonder why it was soo murky,maybe baby gravy,erhhhm anyhow i did'nt see any last year, but the mullet were plentiful,biggest one i had was just under 3 & anarf pounds, little tinkers run off like a steamtrain but it was an easy swim out but a long way out to get my float back on a strong outgoing tide,i hit him an inch too high, i dont like it when that happens, do you think it taints the flesh? felt better after he got smoked & warmed himself by the fire,heyho the things we do for love

 

[Padaxes]

I`ve been toying with the idea of actually keeping some spidercrabs to eat, but am unsure on how big they have to be to make it worthwhile. Assuming its a big clawed male, what sort of shell width would a spider have to have to make it worth eating ?

I`m also intregued by the one claw idea.... or I was until I read this

Crabs "starve to death" after claw removal - Fishupdate.com

 

[johnnybuoy]

unfortuately the majority of "clawed" crab do die due to stress or starvation. my zooologist brother told me one day in disgust after i came home from potting with a bag full of claws. i thought i was being humane but the chances of them surviving are fairly slim and they suffer a painful death apparently. So according to him its best to just take the lot........

 

[Padaxes]

Damn thats what I was afraid of. I`ll just take the odd big one I guess, my gf is keen to make thai crab cakes. As I understand it the best way to kill them is to stick them in the freezer ?

 

[foxfish]

You will need plenty of free space to freeze a 3-4lb spider! You will also need a big pot to boil it in too.

 

[scottie3030]

talking of big pots wheres the best palace to buy a big'un for crabs to take there last dip in

 

[ickledevil]

Got mine from a car boot, but Ebay is a fair bet, theres also a cookshop in Weymouth but probably expensive. Have cooked big lobsters in a tea urn borrowed from the village hall before!

 

[foxfish]

If you want to correctly cook your crustaceans then you need as much boiling water as possible, heated by the biggest flame you can manage. The bigger the volume of water the less affected the temperature will be when you place in the crabs. You dont want the water to stop boiling when you drop in the crab as "A" it is not very humane "B" your timing to cook the beast wont be accurate.
I would recommend a minimum size pot of one & a half gallon but the bigger two gallon stock pots are better. I have never found this size stock pot difficult to find, readily available in most cook shops or hardware shops.

 

[omega3]

Yes easy to find very good onesin the specialist cooking shops IE Nova or Lakeland in the UK . Wait for the sales if they are a bit too pricey. Got mine down from £100 to £30 to replace the 20 litre cooking oil drum I was using free from a hotel.
Those crabs look good, not seen any around here. "20 miles south of Plymouth harbour and the Southern Star has left her pots to soak.....meanwhile 10 miles South of Plymouth harbour and the Ramshackle is on the crab..." they are nipping fingers, yeah sounds like the deadliest catch!

 

[Padaxes]

Hey Foxfish, does freezing the crab first to kill it affect the flavour ? I dont think I`m quite up to chucking a live animal into boiling water yet