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| Bond relaxing on the jetty |
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| Blue Swimmer Crabs |
Mandurah has some great spots for crabbing just off the jetty. I use crabbing nets which I tie to the end and middle of the jetty. The best bait to use is tuna heads but crabs also will go for spleen or chicken wings. Some people like to secure the bait in a mesh cage so the blow fish don't eat all the bait, but I usually just let the bait free flow in the water and I use Metal wire to secure the bait in the middle of the crab net. Crabbing is definately my favourite seafood the meat is the best and nothing beats eating fresh crab. I also find that I prefer the taste of male crabs compared to female crabs. Now how can you tell the difference between male and female crabs? Its easy, if you turn them on their backs the male crab has a thin mountain shape flap underneath and the female crab has a broard, round, cloudy shaped flap. The male crabs also have bigger claws and more of a blue colour in their shell in comparison to the female crab. I usually throw the net off the jetty and pull the net in every 20 minutes. Make sure you pull in the nets hard because if your too slow, they will swim out and you'll loose the crab.
It's always handy to carry a crab gadge and measure the length of the crab to make sure that you have the legal size. Crabs must be the size of a can in length which used to be the way I measured the crabs. There is also a catch limit you can't catch more than 10 crabs per person. If you get caught with more than the legal limit you will be fined for it by the fisheries if you get caught. If you catch a female crab and she's pregnant you can tell cause she will have produced a huge amount of tiny orange eggs in her abdomen, the eggs go from orange to black as they mature. Make sure you put her straight back in the water for the preservation of future stock. Crabs are basically scavengers of the ocean, you will normally find them either offshore or commonly in estuaries. When I catch them in the net they have powerful claws so be careful not to get nipped. I tend to grab them from behind and I grab hold of both arms at the same time so they don't get the chance to nip me, sometimes I have had one really grab hold of the net, so if they grip onto the net too hard and you can't pull them away turn the net over and hang it over the bucket, give it a shake and they will loosen their grip and drop in the bucket, a handy trick for the stubborn ones. Half fill the water with sea water to keep them fresh. Before you cook crabs you can put them to sleep on ice but I usually just throw them in the pot.
The best way to cook crabs is in their natural sea water, I usually boil the crabs in a pot of sea water for about 8 minutes or until they turn orange, then pull them out of the water and cool them down in cold water so the crabs don't over cook.
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