Catch, Cook, Eat...

I have never been a hunter or a fisherman, but I have to say, there is something entirely satisfying about eating what you have caught and cooked yourself. Only two days ago, I became one of those hunter/fishermen that I didn’t really identify with, and found that I am glad to say that I now do identify with them.

I’ve watched my father-in-law crabbing from Henley jetty numerous times - even helped him pull in the nets from time to time, but until you have gone into the ocean and looked these spiders of the sea eye to beady eye, you have not really been crabbing!!

When you’re chest deep in the ocean at 10:30pm, you would think that sharks would be the only thing on your mind, but armed with only a LED flashlight on a telescopic rod and a net, fighting off Jaws isn’t really an option, so you tend to focus on your prey, and surprisingly, there is a great deal of those little suckers under the waves at this time of year.

Having never done this before, there was a slight learning curve, but after a couple of attempts, it turns out that netting a crab was is not too difficult - making sure that it was of legal size was the biggest concern. It is also important to make sure that if they are female, that they have no eggs.

Bag limit per person is a whopping 20 crabs, although, we never actually got anywhere near this. However, 16 was more than enough to feed my family and have a few left over for another day.

With one more week before school goes back, I’m hoping to give this another crack next week. It was actually quite relaxing and, as mentioned earlier, there is something quite unique about eating the prey you have caught with your own hands!!