A Better Way to Crab

Capt. Dickie Colburn - For The Record

If you take folks fishing long enough you will witness any number of things that you would never even imagine happening and something that took place last week ranks well up on that list!

I was fishing a middle aged couple, as if age made any difference, and we were catching well enough considering the conditions.The wind was howling out of the southwest and we were catching a redfish or two on virtually every high speed drift across the shallow flat.Because the husband and I were doing most of the catching, his wife suggested that we try a more protected shoreline for a few minutes.

After a quick bathroom break, stowing away her thermal jacket and eating a quick snack, she picked up her rod and started fishing again.Her husband pointed out that the game had changed a little and that she now needed to throw her lure next to the shoreline and crawl it back very slowly.

“We might catch some more redfish in here,” he pointed out, “but we may also catch some nice flounder.”The words were scarcely out of his mouth before I netted a fat seventeen inch flounder for him.After missing two or three more soft strikes she rocked back on her rod and stuck what appeared to be another solid flounder.

“It doesn’t feel like a fish,” she stated while slowly cranking the reel handle.“That’s how flounder fight,” her husband pointed out while coaching her every move.“It might be a crab, but I am betting it’s another flounder.”

She was in complete control until he said the word “crab”.After urging him to get the net she immediately dropped her rod and started slowly hand lining her crab to the boat.“What are you doing,” he shouted in words a little stronger than that.

“You just hold that net in the water and watch,” she replied,” Daddy and I have caught more crabs off our dock than you will catch in a life time and this is how you do it!" Thank goodness she was staring intently at her line rather than his face following that statement or the trip would have been over at that point.

“What if your crab turns out to be a flounder,” he snapped back just as a very nice flounder exploded out of the water covering her face with dirty brackish water.Before she could unleash a string of descriptive curse words, the flounder plunged beneath the surface.Her husband immediately joined her in the rant when $600 worth of rod and reel, still attached to the fish, disappeared over the side of the boat as well.

We tried with no success to drag for the custom Laguna rod and Shimano Core reel for the next half hour in total silence.He eventually mentioned that she could have bought a hell of a lot of crabs for that much money, but he did so in a more subdued tone of voice.

Had she been using my rod and reel, rather than pick up the net per her demand, I would have grabbed the rod the second she laid it down. She was not my wife, however, and I didn’t have to ride back to Conroe with her at the end of the day.

I had never seen anyone do that before, but the best results she could have hoped for was one measly crab.If in the future your wife should choose to duplicate that technique as well………...no, I won’t even go there!

While on the subject of crabs, the Sabine crab trap clean-up is set for Saturday morning with collection points at both the Marina ramp on Pleasure Island and at Umphrey Park.They will provide volunteers with gloves and tarps to keep the floor of their boats clean.Max Smith also said that he will be cooking up links and boudain at the Marina site for the volunteers.The clean-up usually winds down around noon.

Louisiana has joined with Texas for the ten day closure lasting from Feb. 20 until March 1^st .During that period you can pick up unattended or ghost traps and the TPWD asks only that you report the number of traps you remove.

On the same day, the Saltwater Boys Kayak fishing Club will be hosting a redfish tournament out of Ancelet’s Marina.They already have a pretty solid field registered, but they welcome more participants and new members.For more information go to their website at swbkfc.com.