Crabbing at Hilton Head

[KarenB]

Hi!

I have SO many questions about HH lately as you can read..LOL!

My kids (boys-11 and 12) want to give crabbing a try while we are at HH this June. Is there a place nearby to try this? What equipment will we need to purchase(at home or there) to do this? Will we catch edible crabs or do they have to be released? Is there utensils in the room (one bedroom) to cook and eat these with?

Thanks again!
Karen

 

[Tommy]

I got this from one of the web sites:

The only edible crab here is the Blue Crab, which is actually mostly green, except for the legs. Blue Crabs can be caught in tidal lagoons or in the ocean or sound. Female crabs have prominent red tips on their claws (the girls paint their fingernails), while males have little red. You can also tell one from the other by turning them upside down and observing their "apron". The male has an apron shaped like the Washington Monument, the female like the Capitol Dome.

Also check out the DVC activities sheet at my site. It has info on the DVC Crabbing.


DVC Hilton Head Member since 1997
My DVC Hilton Head Resort Page

 

[Lisa P.]

Crabbing season on HHI goes from late April through the summer (we just learned this), so you'll have fun with this! The DVC HHI resort offers use of crabbing net traps (the wire rounds with netting, on a length of rope) for $5/day, same as fishing poles. These used to be available for free use, but not anymore.

You may also bring your own but most inland sporting supply stores don't carry them. Some people also use a rope with a length of fishing line at the end and a hook/bait, then a separate net on a pole for catching the crab just as you lift it from the water. With kids, we like net traps and we have a couple of metal traps as well.

Bait is ~$1 for a couple of small fish or a half dozen small shrimps. Bring some raw chicken (like necks or excess meaty bones from dinner preparation) instead - people seemed to have good fortune with that last time we did.

You can go crabbing in the marsh right off the fishing pier at the DVC HHI resort at high tide. You'll catch a mix of small crabs and edible size. As I recall, you throw back all the females and any males under 5 inches from "point to point" (the widest diameter of the belly).

We did see a couple of pretty good sized crabs caught when we went one September and we caught some that were large enough for eating. But this kind/size of crab is a lot of work to eat (for the amount of meat you'll get). <IMG WIDTH="15" HEIGHT="15" SRC="/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif" alt="razz"> There's a regular pot in the kitchen for steaming/boiling. I can't recall what we did to crack them though. I think we used the handle of a butter knife, and cracked them on the cutting board over the wood table.

Anyway, our kids had more fun crabbing than almost anything when we were there one Sept! The resort also offers a crabbing event (fee) where they will take your family to another beach location, offsite, for a few hours. Everyone goes crabbing and they cook the catch. Either way, enjoy!

[This message was edited by Lisa P. on 03-22-01 at 02:20 PM.]