Delaware River 07-07-22

[divedeeep]

Friend told me they were catching decent crabs last Tuesday in the Delaware a few miles south of the Nuke plant, jersey side.  So I baited my line and headed out wit my son on Thursday for a quick late afternoon trip.  Wasn't expecting much and I also have a new boat too so it was going to be an experiment either way learning how to run the much larger boat with a trot line.  Launched out of Augustine Beach and ran south about 6 miles.  As we motored out we went right to "Alder's Cove" where he said they were, we saw plenty of comm traps in the water in this area so we figured there must be crabs.  Well happy to report there is crabs in 10' of water!  Dropped 600' of trot line instead of my usual 1200' as we were short on time.  We only crabbed for about 90 minutes and ended with 13 nice keepers in the basket ranging from 5.5 to 6.5".  Netted many smalls as well and only one female.  All in all it was a good start to the crabbing this year.  The new boat is going to be a challenge crabbing alone, like I often do.  My new 175 Yamaha SHO VMAX is way too fast to run the trot line in forward gear with no throttle applied.  A mate netting is required or I need to figure out an auto dipper to go alone or perhaps drift socks to slow me down.  I'll find a way to them crabs in my belly!  Good Luck!

PS-I cleaned the crabs and refrigerated them for 48 hours in sealed plastic containers.  Steamed them for 15 minutes and when we ate them they were mushy and not very good.  Not sure why or if holding them for 2 days cleaned was the issue.  Maybe I didn't steam them enough?  Too long? 

[charlietuna]

Anything dead begins decomposition. The muscle begins to break down from acids. It's easy to keep crabs alive for 48 hours if you can keep them on ice, but out of water.  often crab on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and keep my crabs well drained and asleep on ice, and bring them home for a Monday afternoon steam. All are alive. 

[Saminal]

Cleaning and chilling before steaming probably ruined the meat. You'll know what not to do for the next time. Thanks for the report.

[divedeeep]

Anything dead begins decomposition. The muscle begins to break down from acids. It's easy to keep crabs alive for 48 hours if you can keep them on ice, but out of water.  often crab on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and keep my crabs well drained and asleep on ice, and bring them home for a Monday afternoon steam. All are alive. 

It'll be on ice for me next time...thanks!

[discover]

I am hoping to follow your trail over there in the coming weeks. Good to see others with the same thoughts on why your crabs turned out little mushy.

[Woody T]

I always cook mine the day of the catch. I have not had any luck trying to keep them for a later date.