How To Crab With Kids – 10 Tips To Introduce Kids To Crabbing

It’s easy to learn to fish for crabs and introduce them to your children.

1. First, make sure you know your area’s crabbing regulations, what species you can catch, and what the bag limits are. You will also need valid fishing licenses for adults and older children.
2. Your state’s regulations will specify what type of equipment is legal, whether it’s crab traps, seines, hoist rings, cast nets, or hand lines. Or a combination of techniques. You can usually get this information from your state’s department of fish and game.
3. One of the easiest ways for kids to learn to crab is by using a hoist ring. It is basically a woven nylon net attached to 2 rings of different sizes, with a rope to lower it into the water. Load the net, lower it into the water, have a little patience – dinner is on the table!
4. For very young children, make lines with your hands. It’s like an old fishing rod. Take out a 4′ long stick, tie it with a 4′ long string. Tie a chicken neck to the other end of the rope and lower it into the water. A crab will grab the neck of the chicken and hold it. Just gently pull it up and out. Use a net of poles to harvest it.
5. Bring along a good garden or camping chair, a book for yourself, a fun game for the kids, and a small cooler to put your catch in, in case the crabs aren’t hungry and the action is light.
6. Use the right baits. Crabs like pieces of squid or fish. Chicken is also in his diet. Buy and cut the cheap parts: backs, wings, necks, and the like. Slightly “off” bait will work wonders – crabs locate their food by smell.
7. Harvest your crabs from coastal streams and rivers, or from the shoreline in the bay areas or off the beach. A hoist ring is perfect for learning to crab on the bank of a stream or off a dock.
8. The best times to catch crabs are on a warm summer morning with a storm and low tide.
9. Teaching kids to crab is easy. The hard part is the kitchen. Steaming is a good way to cook crabs. You will need a large pot with a lid and a steamer attachment. Steamed crabs are ready when they turn red (about 20 minutes).
10. Eating crabs is tricky and fun. You’ll need to open the legs, so have a mallet, hammer, or claw handy. You can eat the meat from the legs or from the body cavity, but be sure to discard the organs.

With a little thought, teaching children to crab is easy. From buying the bait to making or buying the equipment, setting the bait in the trap of your choice, hauling in the first cranky critter, cooking and (yum!) eating your catch, kids will have so much fun and make fond memories for years to come. come when Mommy and Daddy taught them how to crab.

(c) 2010 Richard S. Freeland