Stoney,
Lot of blue crab.What do you do with all of them? Do you sell them commercially to someone or can/freeze them?

A little patience ...... I have a couple of crap pots and when I want some stone crabs I gets home ponies with a cast net for bait , stick them on the crab pots hang them of the dock a day before I want to eat crabs and thats pretty much all there is to it.

Sorry to get impatient, I just wanted to learn about your crabbing.

I meant all they cost is a little patience.

Got it, thanks. Scuba 1.

Pretty much an automatic bushel when we go here in DE, but most of our crabs are 5-5 3/4", where Chesapeake Bay, Md crabs start at 5 3/4" on up to7+... we run 1200' snood lines too but use necks mostly.

Slick Pan,
I cannot sell crabs myself as I only have a recreational license.
I'm also not a fast enough picker to warrant steaming and freezing a large quantity. My wife loves having crab dip and crab cakes, and doesn't mind picking, so she will pick a pound of lump and backfin meat to freeze for later when we have an abundance.
Generally we try to crab on a Friday or maybe Saturday morning and invite as many people over as we can to share. Everyone enjoys eating a few or at least stopping by to socialize. I enjoy crabbing as much as trapping and would do it for fun even if I gave every crab away. Similar to trapping also, my marginal cost in going crabbing is limited to the bait I run plus fuel; all my gear and boat are already sunk costs.

We do have a fair amount of 6-7 inch crabs but can keep them at 5" during this time of the year.

Gosh I miss MD crab cakes!

And they say lobster is expensive.

How much is a bushel of lobster?

My wifes side of the family is from Maryland.Every other year we all rent a couple houses on the beach in North Carolina.Last year when we went her uncle from Maryland brought a couple bushels of Blue crabs,,and we had them with some steak and a bunch of other stuff.He asked me what do I think of them.I said,you can keep them,,im not much on wrestling tiny spiders to suck their guts out.Tomorrow I will get out the crabs I brought.The next day I broke out 20 lbs of Alaska King crabs.The BIG ones that are over a lb. each leg.Had them with some more steak and other stuff.Asked him what he thought.He says,,I never thought Id say this,,but THEM are crabs,,not the ones we have.LOLOL

They were selling them for $4.99/# on the coast of Maine a couple years ago when we went to Olsen's

Thanks, sawmill Creek.

You can look around and find them even cheaper right off the lobster
boats.