Watery Fall Crabs

[fisheyed]

I have been crabbing the pax this year about once a week and have noticed that the crabs never really fattened up or got dark. I was wondering if anyone else noticed this on there rivers or on the pax and what it could mean. ( late winter, location, poor forage?) Last trip was on sat. 3/4bu 9foot 1200 line w/necks.

[Capt. Dale]

I saw the same thing where I crabbed South & Rhode Rivers this summer. May have been due to alot of frest water this year.There was a 3 week run of black bottoms in Sept. By late Oct I was getting some brown bottom's that were packed. I recently purchased a bu of Bay (potter) crabs that were black & full, nice fall crabs.

[lance644]

Saw the same thing my last few trips to the Tred Avon. Kept saying to my wife I must not be cooking them right?! Seems like the last shed went on forever.
Lance

[POLECAT]

Steamed crabs with liquid inside their shells usually (almost 100% of the time) indicate light crabs that have recently shed and not yet filled the body cavity with meat.

Experiment with steaming for a longer duration than normal to help expell this excess liquid, or cull them for quality beforehand.


Have you noticed that if these watery crabs are refrigerated after steaming and then eaten cold, there is no or very little liquid inside?

[Shaggy]

I bought a bushel of #1 crabs over the weekend and every crab was light. I was completely surprised and never would have expected it this time of year.

[Fat Jimmy]

I bought a bushel of #1 crabs over the weekend and every crab was light. I was completely surprised and never would have expected it this time of year.

They may have been advertised as "#1 crabs", but they certainly weren't if they were light.

[Burchbeer]

Damn crooks!

[msgrady]

I crabbed the Pax the last 2 weeks of Oct and twice in Nov and had the exact same thing. Even after being in the frig, they were still wet. Lite too. They got even liter after I cracked it open, but thats another story. YUK YUK But they were lite and wet as you say.

[Burchbeer]

My prior reply may have not been justified: Crooks

I too caught crabs this fall when I was sure I would get great fall thunkers!

The crabs I caught were like summer whites.

Maybe a late fall sluff was to blame and we will be rewarded next spring.

Mother Nature knows what she is doing.

Now though, if you wish to buy them, the comms have and still are catching black fall crabs in the bays main stem in deep water with pots.

Bob Evans in West River is one.

:rolleyes:

[POLECAT]

The 2 bushels of crabs I caught on Nov 4 had a few (maybe 14 or 15 total) light ones, but for the most part they were packed full with meat.
Yes, we did throw a some back that appeared light, but not that many.

I refrigerated 35 of them which we ate several days later and there was no liquid in any of them.

If you want to eat quality crabs you have to start with quality crabs. Cooking or steaming them won't fatten them up.:D


One important thing about refrigerating steamed crabs is to allow them to come to room temperature before refrigerating them. Otherwise condensation will occur inside a light crab.

[Johnfishes]

I have noticed that the fatter and darker the crabs are in Oct into November the worse the winters are. If you remember back two years ago their was an extremely high percentage of light crabs into November. Winter never came until Mid January that year. The other observation I would mention is that to make this comparison you have to be comparing apples to apples regarding the location you are crabbing. Its hard to compare crabs from Southern MD rivers with crabs from the Eastern Bay region.