Population is down. Prices going up.

Price here just dropped 5 bucks per bu. #2's....overall population maybe down, but there's enough....price is always high in Maryland, those folks are nuts for crabs and pay ridiculous prices....I don't get it...but its good for the guys catching them i guess....

Nope, price been dropping here.
When's the last time you seen a bushel of #1s for $115 before Labor Day?

Or maybe you're talking about some other kind of Wisconsin crab?

Might crab tomorrow, but predicted NE wind says maybe I won't, lol

They ain't even close to getting what folks are paying

They never are....a lot of crabs are shipped up here to kill our price, lol

Saw the story on the news. Just shows not to believe everything you see on the news.

That would be a couple decades ago.

Exactly.

Just picking up here a little... been slow all year but had 2 bu. the last time we went in 3 hrs... very few sooks... on 1800' trotline.

Couple decades? Couple days...

I'll eat blue crabs, but I'll need something else to eat soon after to replace all of the calories I burnt picking those dadgum things.

lol. Gotta work on the picking skills.

Couple decades? Couple days...



[/quote]



Wow! Where is that!

This is what I’ve seen.

Like I said Md folks are nuts....
I catch the darn things commercially, if I want some crabmeat I'll go buy a can...lol

lol. I call a buddy who crabs or I just go catch them myself.

Cambridge, just off Rt 50.
Somebody on here last week was posting soft crabs for $1/ around Crisfield, I think.

Used to crab a lot.
Few years back, one of my sons was always borrowing my boat.
And trotlines, and baskets, and cooker, and...

But he was always bringing crabs by, so I was good.
Now, he's married, working two jobs, etc so I've been getting back after them a bit

Was inside the Mattamuskeet Crab Company (Eastern NC) a few years ago to pick up product for a seafood market in Hatteras. They were making crab cakes to ship to Baltimore.

We can harvest females and 5" males in NC. Our crabs can be declining in one location, yet 40 miles inland the catch might be good. Overall, statewide volume has been declining for twenty years. Blue crabs were once our number one seafood by sales. Could still be the case, or maybe shrimp is now number one.

Female blue crabs prefer saltier water than jimmy crabs. Our largest jimmies are typically in brackish areas of our sounds and rivers. There is always an exception.

I’ll check them out, I’m only an hour or so away from Cambridge. Those prices were for western shore, and I think he marks it up a lot.

That’s how it goes. Glad you are getting back out there. I don’t get out near as much as I used to. Super busy all the time.

Trotline is the way to go, in need to get one. I just run a dozen small traps.

Gotta up my game i suppose.

All I've ever run is trotlines, lol, probably still got sections from the 1970s in it.
Grandson got bored with trotline, so.ran some traps with him.last year, he was way more excited about it

Pulled about 75-100 pots for five years. Pulled half one day and the other half the next. We used mahi frames for bait. Sometimes blue fish frames from a church fish fry. Finished each morning by 10AM.

Bossman provided bait, fuel, and my dock slip. Used my 19' skiff. I got paid $.50 per 5" male crab, and nothing for females that we sold out of a live tank. That was 15 years ago. One a good morning I made $50. Many days a little less. I also cleaned fish with a team in the afternoons when the charter boats came in. This kept us in bait.

I was retired on disability for depression. Getting outdoors everyday was the key to my recovery. Being around happy people and away from phones, managers, sales quotas, budgets, and unhappy customers was a big help also. Fortunately, I didn't need the money from fish cleaning and crabbing. I would have done it for free. I never paid a dime for fresh-caught seafood. Lots of fringe benefits.

Yesterday

BLUE CRAB WEEKEND PRICES
#1 Males:
$40 Dozen
$120 Half Bushel
$230 Whole Bushel

#2 Males:
$20 Dozen
$75 Half Bushel
$145 Whole Bushe
l
Females:
$15 Dozen
$50 Half Bushel
$90 Whole Bushel
Light Males:
$12 Dozen
$35 Half Bushel
$70 Whole Bushel

Scallops:
$25 / lb.
Middleneck Clams:
100 count: $55.00
50 count: $30.00
Per dozen: $9.00
Top Neck clams:
100 count: $55.00
50 count: $30.00
Per dozen: $9.00
🦐Large 16-20 shrimp per pound!: $12.00
🦀 Local Lump Crab Meat: $30 lb
🦪 Oysters: $10 Dozen

Soft Shell Crabs: *also available fresh*
Primes: $6 Each
Jumbos: $8 Each
Whales: $10 Each
Shrimp:
5lb box frozen shrimp:
16-20 count shrimp: $60.00
21-25 count shrimp: $50.00
• Homemade Crab cakes:
$12 each and 2 for $20
• Breaded Clam strips: $4 bag or 2 for $7
* Flounder: $7 each
• Salmon: $7 each
•Jonah Claws: $15 lb
• Frozen crawfish: 5 lb. for $30
• Dungeness Crab Clusters: $25 lb.
• Snow Crab Legs: $15 lb.
• Mussels: $8 per bag
• Frog Legs: $13 lb.
• Lobster Tails (5-6oz each): $15 each
• Alligator: $25 lb.
⏰Hours:
Monday-Thursday 11am-7pm
Friday and Saturday 10am-7pm
Sunday 11am-7pm
Store Number: 302-378-8373
Located on Rt. 9
@ 1091 Taylors Bridge Road, Townsend, DE

Metompkinseafood.com for the softshells... 410-968-0660

I've never has soft shell crab. How does it compare flavor wise with the picked meat. Do you eat the whole thing but the lungs and guts?

Keith

It’s good! Cut off the face. Lift shell and clean out lungs and guts.

Fry up and enjoy!

They taste like crab ,you just eat the whole thing minus the guts, face parts and lungs.. usually fried, they'll turn reddish, like a cooked hard shell.
I'll eat a couple per summer, but rather turn them into gold, lol
They are an acquired taste, it's the look of them that freak folks out...

Might need to load up, thanks

I'll eat fried softshells til they come out my ears,

Same

Thanks guys.

I'm going catfishing in about 5 hours.

Keith

Heck yeah! Good luck Keith, hope you catch enough to almost sink the boat.

Thanks Rob. My friend's bass boat didn't end up almost sinking. I got enough channel cats for a meal for Diane and I and maybe some leftovers.



The strangest thing was that I had 4 Mystery Snails close on my line and get reeled in. 2 of them I caught at the same time, spaced about 1.5" apart. I've never had that happen before. I used to sell huge numbers of Mystery Snails to pet stores for 50 cents each. I made $954.50 on 1 load of snails once.

Keith