Peeler crab

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 1:34 pm

Hi all,

Managed to get the wife and kids out the weekend to collect some peeler, very productive managed to get 20 Saturday and 12 on Sunday happy

sorry but obviously cant tell you where I went!!

Currently in the garage frozen, I have just read on the net that you should take the lungs out before freezing, I've not done this does it really matter? planning to go later in the week/weekend so should imagine they will all be gone by then anyway.

Wanted to go yesterday but was blowing a gale sad

Will post a report when we finally get out.

Thanks in advance for any comments happy

Cheers Joe

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 2:30 pm

if you dont delung them they will turn black

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:24 pm

The bacteria that lives in the crabs gills (not lungs!) affects them and makes them go black even when frozen, spoiling the bait. If you're planning on using them in the next week like you say it probably isn't worth the hassle of removing the gills though.

I always peel any crabs that require freezing and wrap them individually in cling film. I do remove the gills as I like to keep a stock for the Autumn and Winter cod fishing.

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:32 pm

Give me a shout Joe if your going during the week winking

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:35 pm

ill give you a shout when the wind drops flattiefanatic happy

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:41 pm

as said above , make sure next time you remove the lungs , if you want to see what effect it has , wait and see what happens when a crab dies , it will stand out like a saw thumb the small will be that strong .

im with you rob on getting crab put aside for autem and winter , think i got around 15 dozen already frozen , but have collected over 400 from my traps so far this year ( dont bother asking were big grin

) getting around 2 dozen females a tide at the moment , no big males .

small tide tommorow so down selsey main carpark if anyone out and about . wind dropping right off , so should be spot on for it .....................

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:45 pm

That's some big numbers there Al, the late Captain Phil of the Cornelia Marie would be proud of that! You must have a very remote spot away from the masses.

Big male crab time is over, same here mostly females and the odd smaller males about.

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 4:09 pm

probably have a fish Wednesday high tides 18.30ish thinking of going to old portsmouth by round tower to see if there's any Bass about. should be there for about 17.30 if you fancy joining me happy

Joe

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 5:05 pm

bassmanrob wrote:

That's some big numbers there Al, the late Captain Phil of the Cornelia Marie would be proud of that! You must have a very remote spot away from the masses.

Big male crab time is over, same here mostly females and the odd smaller males about.

been crabing since begining of march rob . hitting them every day , some times twice , hence so many , but some days had none , they are very remote and hard to get to aswell winking

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 7:37 pm

im not sure if it makes a difference or not but i dont take the chance so i peel them, de-lung them and then freeze.

i read a post elsewhere about the damage the lungs/gills can do when a crab is frozen with the lungs still intact. some call it nonsense, others reckon its true. a lot of people reckon that if there is no air in the packaging then the lungs wont go bad and spoil the crab so the best option is to vacume pack before freezing.

most people dont have have vacume packers so how can it be done i hear you say big grin

, go and buy some sealable zip lock bags, wrap the crab tightly in clingfilm and put 5ish in a bag, close the bag almost fully and slowly put it in a bucket of water, this will force most of the air out, just as the zip is about to be submerged close it fully, its not as good as vacume packing but its a close 2nd big grin

Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 7:44 pm

worth ago .i freeze my crab on a tin tray ,wrapped in cling film.never de-lunged ,still catch fish.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 1:34 pm

Wont be making this trip, but good luck anyway. I have man flu sad

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 2:00 pm

Hope you feel better soon.

Me and the boy are going down for a couple of hours when I finish work, will let you know how we get on happy

Posted: Wed May 25, 2011 2:40 pm

pompeyjoe wrote:

Hope you feel better soon.

Me and the boy are going down for a couple of hours when I finish work, will let you know how we get on happy

Cheers fella, gutted i cant come but good luck to you both anyway winking