Along the Texas coastline, a fishing license and saltwater stamp is necessary to crab (unless you�re not required to hold a fishing license/stamp) and it�s illegal to keep a stone crab at any time. The right claw of a stony may be retained, but the body must be returned to the water.

This something I did not know...Just thought I would pass it along....Since my wife and teenagers are required to have a license, just to catch crabs!

thought so .

i have been thinking about trying it .
not sure how to prep and cook them.

I catch them on accident and release. Wished I knew how to cook them also.

John N.

Not sure about stone crab claws, but its really easy to cook a blue crab. I'm sure there are better ways, but you can cook them this way with stuff in your kitchen right now. Just get a pot big enough to hold how ever many you want to cook. Fill it with water and put in red pepper, Old Bay, Tabasco, Zataran's... anything you want (be generous). They also make crab boil with all kinds of spices in it. You just drop the bag in the water. Bring it to a boil and put the crabs (make sure they're alive) right in there for 6-7 minutes. They will be red all over when done. Take then out and you have a nice appetizer or a meal for you light eaters. I just catch a few at a time and mine go straight from the trap to the pot. So be careful when transporting them, keep then alive.
I don't know the size limit off hand, so that is an issue as well. Make sure you look at that.

Also, minimum size for blue crabs is 5in peak to peak, and no sponge crabs (females with eggsack) are allowed to be retained.

those little books you get every year when you purchase a hunting and or fishing license has all that info. read it front to back, it's very interesting. there are laws that seem out of this world.
ex.. It is illegal to throw a tilapia back into the water unless you remove the guts first.

You can't grab a game fish out of the water with your hands, and or cast net. It must be caught with a hook and line. (rod/reel, trot line, ect..)

you have to have a hunting lincense to catch frogs.

throw lines can only be used in fresh water, and the only game fish you can catch is catfish.

you can shoot a deer from your truck, but you cannot shoot a dove from a motor vehicle.

lots of neat stuff in those books. and by the way...ignorance of the law is no excuse, thats why they give us those books.

Boiling crabs is no different than a crawfish boil...same technique with the same seasonings. If you really want to get the intense flavor of your spices, use a big pot (at least 5 gallon size), add 1 gallon of water, bring it to a boil, layer crabs with spice/seasonings sprinkled generously over the layers, repeat with crabs and seasonings, repeat until you used all crabs. Cover the pot, cut off the heat and let them stem for 30 minutes.

Only the crabs on the bottom will be a little somewhat wet, but the others will be highly seasoned and easy to clean/eat and less messy.

Planning on getting a few dozen next weekend!

Good eaten yall,
Chris

Beleive it or not, I have just steamed crabs with absolutely no seasoning and found them absolutely delicious. I grew up in La. and like spicy stuff so it was just an accident that I found out crabs tasted so good with no seasoning. Maybe dip the meat in melted garlic butter. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Tasty!

Here's a great website on Blue Crabs:

http://www.blue-crab.org/

troutboy...like many of the strange laws, this is only for safety I guess, but you can't use sail lines in fresh water...hummmmmm

"but you can't use sail lines in fresh water"

WHAT ARE OR IS SAIL LINES???


LOVNTREE

There's an article about sail fishing in the most recent issue of Texas Fish and Game Magazine.

Like texcajun06 said, just boil them and eat them with no spices!!! Absolutely delish!!!!

DON'T YOU HAVE TO PREP THEM 1ST BEFORE YOU BOIL ??
NOT SURE ABOUT HOW.

LNT-they don't need to be purged like crawfish since they don't have the "vein" which needs to be taken out/cleaned.

Just boiling them right when you get home is great because you get the fresh, salty flavor they have inside them. It's your choice to eat as is or prepare some melted butter w/garlic/parsley, etc.

I've always had a problem cleaning/picking crabs right after boiling for stuffed crabs and being able to NOT eating them as I cleaned/picked. Oh well, sometimes you just have to go for it!