Fishing and Crabbing and a Surprise

Billy decided to try his hand at catching some blue crabs. My assignment was to be the "netter." This was a task I approached with some trepidation, knowing the likely consequences of failing to net one that was on the line. You don't want to disappoint the Captain!


Down to the dock we went. It wasn't long before one took the bait. The trick is to pull the line in very slowly and steadily and to get the net under them without them seeing it. The net has to be below the water's surface and then quickly moved under the crab in case he sees a motion that makes him turn loose the bait. I netted all but the first one which was kind of small anyway. Only male crabs can be kept and they must meet minimum size.

Mr. Blue Crab

Careful, they bite!

They chow down on the bait in short order so, in addition to pulling in the line when a crab was on, Billy had to keep the other line in to catch bait fish. That takes a smaller hook than the crab line. After a several bait fish and two large branches that were hurricane debris, something big hit the baitfish line. I grabbed the net and we were both surprised to see a nurse shark on the small hook. I netted him but he almost immediately started coming through the net. I got him on the dock and Bill took over to work on getting the hook out. No need, Mr. Shark took care of that, just like he took care of the net.

Checking out the baitfish

We hauled him back from the edge of the dock and Googled whether a nurse shark was good to eat and what size it needed to be to keep it. Turns out they are nothing special to eat and must be 54" long to keep. Bill estimated ours was about four feet. He was heavy; skin was thick with a uniform texture, like fine sandpaper but softer. We turned him loose.


The photos below were taken while the nurse shark was being reeled in -- a job well done given the light line and small hook.

The captioned photo is one from the site of the Key West aquarium and was included for comparison purposes.

 

Official Aquarium Photo

We ended up with about a half-dozen blue crabs and had a crab boil for dinner. Lots of work to pick out the meat but excellent flavor made it worthwhile. Earlier this week, the ocean provided a mess of snapper for supper. Also an excellent meal.