Let's Go Crabbing! Simple and easy guide to crabbing and cooking your catch.

From South America to Canada……….we have crabs. Big, beautiful, angry, tasty, greedy blue crabs. They are everywhere, easy to catch, super delicious, and remarkably…well…kind of stupid.

Blue crabs are angry, hungry, greedy little creatures. I think they are truly nature’s “D” student (dumb and delicious). They would rather go down fighting to their death…than to let go of a raw piece of chicken. That’s it! It is all worth it to them……and because of this crazy crab hubris…..we can go crabbing and we can take our kids crabbing. It is easy, cheap, soooo much fun, and in the end…..downright great eating.

Let’s get started…….you don’t need a boat, fishing rods, a GPS system, or any expensive gear. You need some raw chicken, a net, some string (kite string will do….any string really), and a little piece of lead\sinker. A bucket or a cooler will do to keep your catch. And maybe a pair of tongs or crab tongs to keep them from pinching your hands.

Unlike some of our other articles that focus on how to fish, what to do, etc….this one has some pretty basic instructions. If you live near salt water or are going on vacation near the beach….you can do this….and your kids will LOVE IT! Here we go:

What you need:
- String
- A dip net or crab net. Any net with a 2-6 foot handle.
- A piece of Chicken
- A sinker or a piece of lead
- Butter (unsalted, 3 sticks)
- Some“Old Bay Seasoning”… a lot of this……don’t be shy. Add any seasoning here that you like…..
- Crab hammer or you can use a big spoon….

Find a dock, boat ramp, park, fishing pier, anything that will let you be in 5 feet of water or less (I know the tide will go up and down…..let’s be real here, we can all tell when there is no water left…….so…move with the tide…ok?).
Get some chicken. ANY chicken will do. Blue Crabs LOVE chicken. Some crabbing “experts” will tell you to use “Chicken Necks”…Whatever! Crabs are not picky eaters. They are the buzzards of the ocean. Any chicken will do. We use chicken wings, drumettes, cut up chicken thighs, anything. One rule though…chicken with a bone works a little better because it holds onto the string.
Now the tricky part (kidding), get some string. I use these pre-made (and super cheap) crab lines. They are great. You can get them for a few bucks, check this link (I am an amazon associate so I can earn a bit off of qualified purchases) Crab Line from Amazon. Or you can make your own. Use some kite string or any kind of string. We have used fishing line and even left-over yarn. As long as it will hold a crab….you can use it.
Take a knife and poke a hole in your piece of chicken….between the bones in a wing…slip the string through and tie a knot…or if you are using a little chicken drumette you can just tie a knot around the chicken. Just make sure it holds.
1. If you didn’t buy a crab line from the store with a weight on it, you will need to put something on there to keep your chicken on the bottom. Remember, crabs are not really free swimmers! If your chicken is not on the bottom…..you are not going to catch! So……go up about 6 inches from the chicken and tie on a sinker…not too heavy…..you want to see the crab pull the line. I use a “dime” size sinker (about 5 oz), and I live is South Carolina where the tide is really moving.
Alright…..you need to figure out which direction the tide is going. If you are on a dock, you don’t want your crab line to be under the dock…trust me, it makes it more difficult to know when a crab is on your line. So…hang all your crab lines where you can see them…the tide should be taking them away from you.
Drop your lines! Give it about 4-5 minutes. You will see the lines start to move.
And now is when the magic happens. Slowly and softly pull the string in. That angry crab is going to hold on to your chicken and fight you for it! He will not let go unless you make him. As you pull in the string, have someone ready with the dip net. Now…just slip the net under the crab……scoop him and his chicken up…and…BOOM…in the bucket! It is that easy. PS….don’t put any water in the bucket….crabs can live out of water for days….really. I have found a crab in my boat a week later still hiding under my cooler……I told you they are crazy right?
What if your crab falls off? Don’t worry! They are greedy remember? Just drop your chicken back down and give it a few minutes. That same crab will come right back and you can have a second (or third) go at him.

So now we go into the next phase of crabbing……..what do you do with all these crabs? If you are a crab addict (yes……I am), you already know what to do. If not, there are lots of options. First, crabs need to be alive when you cook them. If you’ve got a dead crab…toss it (do not mess with this rule!!). Next…with my kids…we have a long-standing tradition of crab racing. Before we cook our crabs, my kids and our friends pick their “horses” and we race’em. Ok, ok…I know they really don’t move or go very far…but we make a 12 inch mark and the kids compete….push…..sometimes carry their crabs over the line. My son actually put his crab on a skateboard for the last race…and claimed that it was not against the rules (since there was no skateboard clause in our bylaws……).

Post race…Get a steamer pot going. If you don’t have one, you can use any big stock pot you have. Just put some water in the bottom (2 inches at a minimum) and get it boiling with the top on. If you don’t have a steamer pot, drop some crumbled up aluminum foil balls in the bottom of the pot…or a colander to keep your crabs out of the water. We want the crabs to “steam” not “boil”. AND NOW THE OLD BAY.

We like our crabs spicy! I have a special seasoning mix that we use whenever we are cooking our crabs. It’s not a scientific blend of measured spices….we just know what we like and we mix it all together. First, we use about 80% Old Bay Seasoning…you can get this at any grocery store etc. Next, we go through our spice rack and add our favorites…a little garlic salt, onion powder, and a pinch of cayenne. Do what you feel is right here. There are no rules, just add what makes you happy.

When your water is boiling, I mean a good rolling boil, you want to add the crabs. One by one put them in the pot so they are above the water. I add a good amount of seasoning to each crab as it goes into the pot. Make sure each crab gets its fair share of seasoning. Keep adding crabs and seasoning until you have them all in there. Cover and steam for about 10 minutes. You will see your beautiful blue crabs turn red. Ok, and now we are ready to eat.

Warning….eating crabs will be messy. Use some newspaper to cover your table (about 3 or 4 layers). If you don’t have newspaper you can use any paper you have or we have even cut up trash bags and taped them down. Pile up the cooked crabs in the middle of the table, give them a good covering with your seasoning again…And, this is how we do it:

Hold the crab in your left hand (if you are right handed). First, I pull off the apron underneath and discard. Male crabs will have a thin tall apron like the Washington Monument….females will have a wide round apron like the U.S. Capitol Building. Look to where the top shell meets the rear end of the crab, right where the apron broke off. I pull up on the top shell to separate the top shell from the crab. The top shell will come right off (save for making deviled crab later).
After the top shell is off, I scrape out the grey lungs (they look like little fingers). Folks call them the Ghost Fingers…… throw these away, they are not good to eat.
Next I pull all the legs and claws off the crab and make a pile in front of me. The leg and claw meat is the best!
Now I break the main crab body in half, right down the middle. So you have the left side and the right side.
Let’s get to eating. You can pull\push lots of meat from the main crab body with your fingers. I also use a small cheese knife and a small fork to get at the little bits.
When you get to your pile of claws and legs…..I use a crab hammer and a couple small tools (super cheap…go ahead and buy a few to keep on hand). I carefully smash the shell and pull the meat.

So that is about it. I know it is a lot of work…but it is so worth it. As you eat more and more crabs, you will get more and more efficient at the process. Get a beer, sit outside, enjoy some music, and get to work! We like to eat the crab plain, right out of the shell with all the seasoning that was cooked into the crabs. We also dip in melted butter…and if we are lucky enough to have some left over crab meat when it is all said and done, we make a crab salad with a vinaigrette (see recipe here).

Well, that is all there is to the art of crabbing…and more importantly crab eating. We hope you have fun! There are so many fun parts of crabbing. My kids and our family just love to be out on the water. It makes it even more fun to cook together and eat together at the end of the day. Good luck, have fun, take lots of pictures, and watch those lines!~

Thanks for reading