Mid-Cape Cod, Harwich 7/9

[bluecrab2u]

Crabs are definitely in Harwich's Herring River. At the moment, though, for every crab you see in the in this marshy area north of Rt. 28, there are 100 horseflies. Cutter's saved the day, except for one saw-toothed specimen that drilled into me so hard he left a good-sized bump and, as my wife described it, "I can see the hole where he went in!"

Never having crabbed the Herring before, I was unsure of the footing, which not much to my surprise turned out to be mucky and oozing in many places. This made for a lot of odd angles and slippage, which in turn meant that some of crabs I might normally have caught are out there still, including a couple that just flipped themselves out of my net as I twisted and turned in the deep and slippery going. And that was just from shore! (I actually did find some firmer footing when I went in the water.)

As the tide came in, so did more crabs. I wasn't looking for a major haul, 8-10 ought to do it, I thought. And I did get my eight. All nice size. The biggest and baddest of them and I got into it a bit. He grabbed both sides of my bucket with each claw and would not budge. If we could have argued about it, it would've gone something like this:

"You're going in that bucket!"
"Nope. You can't make me."
"No? Watch this!" (shakes net, crab doesn't move)
"Told ya."
"You're going in and I'm gonna steam ya."
"Am not and you're not"
"In you go."
"Not."
"Get in there!"
"Not gonna happen, sport."

It was true, he wasn't going in. I had to shake this cowboy loose and into the weedy mud. Now, I am not one to handle blue crabs much, as they seem to like to be picked up about as much as water snakes and snapping turtles do. Got some nice tongs to use on them. But this guy left me no choice. Grabbed him from behind by his little cojones and into the bucket he went, still fussing.

Despite the flies and muck, it was a beautiful spot....wide vistas of water, sky, marsh, and woods. Caught sight of an osprey and a couple of snow egrets in flight while I was immersed in the water just to cool off and rinse off (by that point I looked like the creature from the black lagoon).

I would say it was a kind of slow but steady pick there. Not much human traffic, a couple of kayakers was about it. I like it that way. Glad I took the day off from work!

[Ronster]

Thanks for the report.    Don't forget to put the date in the subject line of your reports.

[tattoo]

Nice report

[crabbyjim]

Nice to hear from the other side of the bridge, we may have to invade.

[robc22]

Darn greenhead flys are an extra extra PIA this year....... 

[wag]

Darn greenhead flys are an extra extra PIA this year....... 

   



   Is  that  the  same  thing  we  call  a  horsefly  down  south  of 

   the  Mason Dixon  line ?   

[robc22]

   



   Is  that  the  same  thing  we  call  a  horsefly  down  south  of 

   the  Mason Dixon  line ?   

It is a greenhead horsefly.....It only breeds in tidal area's......Here's a pic of the nasty bugger........

[BirdsNestKing]

Sounds like it was fun.

[bluecrab2u]

It is a greenhead horsefly.....It only breeds in tidal area's......Here's a pic of the nasty bugger........

They were horseflies, all right, got a pic of one...

[wag]

  
         LOOKS  LIKE  A  HORSE  FLY  TO  ME 

     That  is  cool  looking  ---->  Ya'll  can  keep  em  up  there